NEW: "The Paint Your Car For $50 Paint Job Myth"

Paint your car for $50 fifty dollars? Is this possible? REALLY paint a car for $50 fifty bucks?

A $50 Paint Job? $50? Did I read this right... a $50 paint job, a serious paint job, or a joke paint job? What kind of paint job can you get or do for $50? Just think for one second, don't  you think EVERYBODY who knows cars, who knows paint, would be talking about this kind of paint job if it were actually a practical method of painting your car, for $50 or even $100? Let's examine this with a working brain....

Today someone forwarded a link to a page claiming a "Paint Your Car for $50" paint job, and I'm happy to share it with you http://www.autoblog.com/2007/07/03/need-a-paint-job-50-will-do-it/

What the page doesn't tell you is the WHOLE STORY which can be found here

http://www.rickwrench.com/50dollarpaint.html

I think if this was really a practical and easy method it would already be very well known, but the fact is, it has some inherent problems. Yes, you can also grow all the food you eat for pennies, if you have all the time and energy in the world. But, I for one, do not.

I once did indeed paint my Datsun station wagon with blue rolled on tractor high gloss enamel.

It did NOT look like either like the Corvair (keep reading) or my Lotus, or even my Honda.

To summarize, here are the problems-

1) The paint must be EXTREMELY thinned down in order to dry within a day to sand. Rustoleum will NOT dry sufficiently without thinning for a VERY extended period of time, weeks and weeks. Anyone who has every tried to sand enamel out of the can will know that for the most part it is impossible.

2) Thinned paint applied with a brush will likely (almost certainly) run and drip on vertical surfaces. Oops!  Sorry, I thought you cared about that. Never mind.

3) Many coats are required with 6-8 hours drying time between each coat. In the project above, the painter used 6 coats--- that's three days -- not counting the SANDING and SANDING and SANDING. And rolling paint on a car FIVE TIMES. Many people report having to put on 8 to 10 coats before the color actually finally covers the car sufficiently. Let's see, two coats a day, for 10 coats, that's five days..........I quote from the page itself:

"...Six coats was very complete coverage, with plenty of paint thickness to wet sand out any orange peel. Shot of the hood, sanded smooth. Other have reported applying 7, 8, sometimes 10 coats before complete coverage...."

Now, when you spray on urethane, unless you are going for a hand rubbed finish, you don't have to sand at all. This is how most factories do it-- spray paint applied correctly does not need sanding. You can do this, but it adds significant labor--  for example, I did this on my LOTUS. My arms went numb, and it looked amazing. But I did not do this on my HONDA.  You decide. With roll on Rustoleum, you will have to Sand.

And Sand

And Sand

And Sand

And Polish

And Polish

And Polish

And Sand

ETC ETC ETC ETC

Get the picture?

Urethane color covers in 3 coats absolutely. Period. It will ALL be totally dry in an hour. You then put on the clear coats. They will also be dry in an hour.  In two hours you have an EXTREMELY shiny car.

No sanding.

What is your time worth?