Hi all,

Has anyone had good results with painting moderately large areas of their Z with a rattle can? I'm thinking areas like door panels, valances, spoilers, and maybe even the hatch. Assuming one had good quality paint in a rattle can ( stuff like that provided by www.paintscratch.com ) are good results possible? I keep hearing that painting is 90% prep and 10% spraying. So if one did good prepping, could you get away with ol' marble ball spray gun?

Best Regards,

Landmizzle '72 240Z

Seriously not for a big area no. My mate did a rear lip spoiler on his car (Not a Z) bought paint in a can and I can definately tell it's not as good quality.

I've never had much good luck with using this kinda thing, good for touch ups but not on a large scale.

Just my opinion.

Briefly and succinctly: (and I apologize if it seems rude.)

What do you consider good?

There's color, I can't see the primer, and who wants it to shine so you have to wash it, it's good.

Or:

Dang, that paint's so shiny and smooth and it reflects so good that if it were black, chicks in mini-skirts wouldn't go within 5 feet of the car.

If the first, then Yeah, you can get results from a paint can.

If the second, nope.

Very small areas, IF you have a perfect color match, then you might be able to get away with it. Larger areas? Very doubtful, the first few inches of paint would already be drying or dry before you finished the piece, not good.

Additionally, most spray cans are formulated with solvents specifically designed to atomize and propel as well as dry quickly. Most paint mixed for painting with spray guns, you want a small period when it is still liquid. This minimizes Orange Peel, helps eliminate Dry-Line and allows you to build up each coat with successive passes of your spray gun. Too much and you'll get a sag or a run. Too little and it will have a sandpaper type feel, little shine and excessive orange peel. Other painters will immediately ask you if you painted it with a "rattle can".

Lastly, the solvents in use in the rattle cans are not necessarily compatible with either your base coat(s) of paint or future coat(s).

2¢

Enrique

landmizzle

I painted the engine bay on mine with rattle cans ( see my gallery). Looks OK from a distance but close up its nohing like as good as a professional spray job. It will however do for an engine bay where a large number of other components obscure any imperfections. I wouldn't attempt any exterior painting with a rattle can.

Granted mine was a race car and as long as it fits the 50/50 rule it was fine. It took 6 cans of primer and 11 cans of color. Looked pretty good... for about a month and then the sun faded it terribly. Changed from bright yellow to butterscotch.

Go with quality paint or else you will have to sand it all off and do it again later.

I use the rattle can for small items. Like suspension parts or engine parts. Mostly just for detailing.

Then I stepped over the line and decided to paint the gas tank on my motorcycle. Not too bad but you can definately tell the difference.

Spray paint white and wash the car with Comet or Soft Scrub and soon the paint will be smooth and even and lovely. Touch up bare spots with more white. Rattle cans work best for the 50/50 rule.

The solvents and propellants in spray cans are designed to make drying time minimal for the paint. So by the time the atomized paint actually hits the surface, it's almost dry!

Regular automotive paints are designed to go on wet and stay wet long enough to let the paint "flow" over the surface. Thus allowing the smooth surfaces you see on nice paint jobs.

It all gets down to what you level of nice is. I sprayed the tank and tail panels on a motorcycle once with a spray can. Turned out fairly nice, but I had low humidty levels, a constant temp. and a very clean area to paint in. That helped. But it still wasn't as good as the 2nd motorcycle I did with a spray gun. That one came out like glass.

I used about 4 coats of primer, 5 coats of black paint, and about 7 coats of clear coat on my mirrors and they came out GREAT!

but mirrors are baby minor things..

Cut it to fit , Beat it to $^!# , Paint it to match!! Thats the way I describe the rattle can job my brother did on his car a few years ago.

- Jeff

Hi all,

Wow! Thanks for all the input. Looks like the consensus is "don't expect much" with the rattle can.

I've painted smaller parts ( likewise, many of you have too.) with good results. I define "good results" as it appears that someone with experience actually did the job <grin>. All kidding aside, that's not far off. I suppose I could go into depth of gloss, no runs, orange peel, etc, etc,. Essentially, though, a job you wouldn't be assamed of having your name attached to.

The largest item I've painted has been the upper fairing of Kawasaki GPz 550. That turned out great. It did take a whole lot of time though and a lot of wet sanding through the various grades of sandpaper upto and including 2000 grit and finishing off with rubbing compound.

That being said, I'm not confident that anything larger would come out o.k. I didn't consider the fact that some of the agents in rattle cans assist with quick drying-good point. I had in my mind the difficulty in maintaining a good spray pattern on larger objects, especially considering that rattle cans are frequently inconsistent in this area.

I guess I'm begining to rattle on myself.

Again, thanks for all the advice!

Best Regards,

Landmizzle '72 240Z

The paint shop I get my paint from can put the paint in a spray can. They have a machine to do it. Its the same paint they you would use in a spray gun, ony in a spray can.

I use one of those electric compressor spray guns. Like a vacuum cleaner, only it blows instead of sucks.

I get good results using acrylic paint. You have to sand it when its dry though, to get the smooth mirror finish. then buff it to bring the shine back.