May the new year bring good things to you and your bug.
Cheers!
Indeed!
Guys,
Hope everyone had a good one and didn't suffer too much on new years day :P.
Regards
Sean
Here's to another year! I just love watching the years go by as my "old" bug just keeps plugging along! Here's to year 38!! Mostly happy car. Paint would make him happier, was one of my christmas gifts. Don't have a lot of money and looking at Maaco just to get some protective paint on the surface. Any opinions? Locol store is quite good.....
I'm with you on the paint job, but for now it has to be safety related items (brakes, engine, etc...)
My personal preference on paint is to stick with the original color. As far as Maaco goes. You get what you pay for. I had a prelude painted their 12 years ago and the paint lasted about a year before it turned to chalk.
Quote from: 71superbug on 02 January 2009, 20:47
Here's to another year! I just love watching the years go by as my "old" bug just keeps plugging along! Here's to year 38!! Mostly happy car. Paint would make him happier, was one of my christmas gifts. Don't have a lot of money and looking at Maaco just to get some protective paint on the surface. Any opinions? Locol store is quite good.....
if your wanting to get a protective coat on it less is more for later total restoration... sand and clear any rusty crusties if you can repair them do it right... if not then stop or slow the rust as much as possible and primer it evenly start in a none obvious easy replaceable spot like the deck lid pull it off sand it down and prcatice even coats with your spray can or if you have a compresser and gun your in buz
Maaco is probably the worse thing you can do to your beetle if you want it done right Invest to money you woulda spent at maaco on a Pawnshop bought Compressor and gun set up
I am not the Autobody expert pro and there are sites that talk about restoration if you plan on keeping your baby forever then do it right and research research research
As for getting a protective coat on it for now less is more so primer it and maybe a thin coat of flat black primer to give it that rat rod look thats popular there are a lot of sites specialized to autobody customization and painting but thin layers and lots of them is the key to a beutiful finish with clear coat protectin it if the finish is glossy
Just my 2 CP
hope it helps
I have painted a lot of different things ans you can do wonders with a spray can but not miricles so if budget alows try to score a decent compressor and spray goun or two... I swap em out for faster painting then refill em baoth in at the same time saves you from having to stop mid section
Also bear in mind strokes go the ful length of a section and if at all posible even strokes past the section allows thin layers to build smoothly
Hiya 71,
You just might want to check this out.................
http://www.rickwrench.com/index79master.htm?http://www.rickwrench.com/50dollarpaint.html
Darned interesting article. I'm not advocating this approach, but the results seemed pretty darn good.
I checked out the site with the paintroller corvair and must say its got me thinking. I have long since ground off all the surface rust and primed the car. Still need to get some bumps and ripples out ( I think a tree fell on the ass end, how else does the bumper get crushed "down"?). This has all been done in the backyard as I have no garage. Lick your finger and see which way the overspray is going to drift. I used to do a lot of work on wooden boats, and in order to get that mirror shine on the topsides we used to use a method called "rolling and tipping". Takes two people, one to roll, and the other to come behind and "tip" the paint with a dry brush. This knocks it flat so you spend much less time sanding. It had never occured to me before but if it works on boats that are worth $100,000 then why not on a car. I guess one just gets stuck in the mindset that it MUST be sprayed. Hmmmm......
Hiya 71,
Well, if the main objective in a coat of paint is a protective layer..............I say give it a shot.
At the worst you'll wind up with a protective layer of paint (which may look pretty crappy) and at the best you'll wind up with a protective layer that looks pretty darn good. Either way you are out a minimum of hard cash (at the expense of extra time and labor - but that is yours to give). And if it does turn out looking less than great it will keep the iron oxide at bay until you can get it painted at a shop.
This may be the classic win-win situation. Oh, and if you decide to go the paint-roller route or rolling and tipping, take pictures for the rest of us.