Rattle can paint job... HEEELLLPPP

[RebekahClydesdale]

It's just so annoying that iv spent so much time on it. I know if I had used autosave for the paint it would have came out good enough. I know a sprayer who would do it pretty cheap but I'd rather keep trying it myself till I get it right.
Tonight's task is replacing the window motors tho, cars driving me craazyyyyy!

Good luck finding Nessie!

[Ludecruz]

I've been respraying my whole car with spray cans.once the paint is on it has a shine.I rubbed that back to a matte finish then given it 1 coat of laquer all over to protect the paint.I like to leave a day or more between coats so it can settle.Especially on top of filler/primer .
Once I'm 100% satisfied with my knock and scratch repairs I'm going to give it as much laquer as I can, to build up a good solid finish.But again for each proper goat I will leave at least a day of curing before adding the next.

It's always too tempting to prep for the job and get it all done in one afternoon but the results would be devastating if I'm impatient.You only really need to wet n dry between each coat of lacquer if it's not maintaining a smooth finish .. otherwise you are taking 2 steps forward 1 step back with your layers.

I've found car plan laquer the best to use without " splats" coming off the fricken nozzle.Halfords Lacquer was a real pain to use as I had to keep sanding back random blobbs . And always before it was ' ready ' for me to sand lol.

Once I've put my final coat on and its had 1 or 2 days to harden I'll bring out the 2000 grit paper and then some G3 on my 240v polisher.
To give you an idea the picture on my signature is with 1 lazy coat of lacquer while I took a couple of weeks break from the respray .No wax and a quick once over with G3 is all .I will be giving it a once over with 2000 grit wet n dry before commencing with the grand finale to remove any dirt etc.

I love using rattle cans but I've gone through many learning curves .
My top tips for what it's worth:
*Never spray if there's wind ( You will go through a tin 10 times faster.
*Never spray on a super hot sunny day (dries toooo fast)
*Leave an absolute minimum of 20 minutes between lacquer coats if not a whole day
*Don't just use a cloth to remove lint surface debree etc. Use you're hands too.Amazing what you can feel and remove by touch.
*work on 1 panel at a time unless you have an indoor dust free environment to do your biz.(I do all my work out in the elements cos I'm a rebel )
*Leave Primer/Paint/Lacquer 1 whole ( Dry) day before attempting any sanding .Sanding too soon will remove too much and can move /crease/weaken the coat.Not to mention create micro pits which you will later regret.
*Wear a mask! That stuff is nasty to your lungs.Worse than any cigarettes or london smog.Your car will out live you if you are not safe.

Can't think of anything else off hand but good to hear there's others attempting to D.I.Y your own style.

"Yay to rattle cans and dry, windless days!" lol

[RattyMcClelland]

5 mins between lacquer coats. Letting each coat dry is the worse thing you can do. Paint crosslinking happens in the 1st 24 hours.

All your doing between coats is letting the solvents flash off, letting each coat dry means paint won't crosslink and won't stick and eventually goes dull.

With rattle cans 5 mins between coats and do 4 coats. With my spray guns and propper lacquer I do 2 full wet coats with 3 min flash of between coats and 10 mins flash off before applying heat via infra red.

[RebekahClydesdale]

Yeh I was only leaving the lacquer about 5 mins between coats, just til it was slightly tacky to touch. Still not got round to sanding the clear coat yet but hopefully once it's got a bit of a shine to it the colour match won't be so bad, here's hoping anyways