$50 paint job in progress - Final Update

[Dodgy Haro]

Hi ppl,

The Mx5 is looking a bit shabby and I was going to give the $50 paint job a go ...

Just wondering from a prep point of view whether I can get away with using primer for all the chips in the paintwork.

I have a white NA6 which is sufferring from the usual flaking hence the odd chip or two in the paintwork going down to the factory primer.

Would primer (either in a spray or can) be thick enough to fill these chips or would you recommend using filler compound and then sanding back?

Just trying to get a smooth surface and am wondering if any of you use a rule of thumb as to when filler ought to be used over primer to fill the chips if at all.

I know if I do it right I'd strip it and restart again but I will see if I can get away with just a minor surface repair first.

Will try to organise some pics too as I know they tell a thousand words.

Cheers all.

[Pumpn'Go]

Undercoat and then use stop putty to fill in the chips, sand back and undercoat again before top paint. Good luck doing it for $50 The paint should cost more than that. Do it right or it will have to be done again, costing more, and more work. Dont use the cheap enamel because you won't be able to put good paint on top without striping it back off. I suggest using acrylic laquer, it's verry forgiving, you can lightly sand the finish even if it's bad, and cut back with compound, then polish.
Hope this helps.
Col

[Juffa]

Given that you have the dodgy white paint I would suggest that you need to strip her. You need a good base to start with, otherwise the new paint will be affected as the base white paint peels.....

I'm not a body work/paint expert.....this is just my opinion based on the dodgy factory white paint that I have seen.

J

[Dodgy Haro]

Thanks for the input ppl ... yes, white paint is very dodgy and you can imagine the brazilian wax it received when I removed the vinyl stripes off her. This prompted me to paint the bonnet JDM black style for now.

Car also had a minor rear end incident a few years back so half the car has good white paint but the front is the flakey bit.

Um ... by stop putty, I guess you mean bog? Or is it like those putty metal filler compounds?

I guess the main aim is to cover the imperfections and then sand back to get a smooth surface.

Been making a few phonecalls - Rustoleum hasn't been popular so it's hard to get them in a paint form (as opposed to spraycan) but I been quoted by a distributor at around $20 a litre excluding postage.

I am also still doing my research - it's so easy to get anal when you're looking for mineral spirits to thin the paint and all you can find are methylated spirits or general thinners which I do not believe are the same thing.

[Pumpn'Go]

You get stop putty from the same pannel and paint suppliers. It's a one step putty no hardener needed, it's use is for very small chips etc that get mostly sanded back off.
But if the paint is peeling it will not give a good key for the next coat, best to strip off all the paint that looks like it is going to peel or flake ,or you are just waisting time and money.
If you have painted the bonnet with enamel, you will have to strip that too.

[Dodgy Haro]

Cheers for all the advice above - well, just a quick update ...

I managed to pick up some K&H stop putty from the local Kmart auto section (of all places) and set to the car giving her lots of pimples.

I thought I could escape with having to strip paint however when sanding the car down, she began flaking badly on the right side. So, out with the scrapper and some paint stripper and she was soon bare on some panels.

A bit of primer and then more sanding during the week got her back to being smooth.

I finally got around to applying the first coat of paint yesterday ... despite what everyone says, I was expecting to have a difficult time however brightside paint is just so forgiving.

I got heaps of bubbles on application and it all self-leveled within a minute.

Going to check paint hardness later tonight and hopefully will be able to apply the second coat.

Given my irregular hours, hopefully I can get the car all done and back on the road within a fortnight.

Will update on progress but here's what the car used to look like before I did anything to her:




Some pics of the work to date:

[SuperMazdaKart]

get rid of that AE86 sticker, your meant to be one of us

[Ajay]

are you going to do the engine bay or anything eventually?.. or just leave it white

(this might sound like a dumb question.. but my mate got his car sprayed metallic purple from RED.. for $1000 i was like wow so cheap.. then he opened the doors and popped the bonnet.. a nice shade of red to go with that purple)..

atleast with a white car it wouldnt look as bad!

[davy]

good on ya for giving it a go!!! its lookin alright so far keep us updated ill be interested in what it will turn out like. where did you get paint?

[Fatty]

yeah i've been tossing this idea around too. i was trying to find a local source for brightside a few months ago, but no luck. can you share where you got it please? and you are thinning it with that tin of enamel thinner in the pic.. again what brand and where from??

i LOVE the colour too! but don't worry, i already have another colour in mind...

[Dodgy Haro]

get rid of that AE86 sticker, your meant to be one of us

Heh heh ... a lot on these forums here came from an AE86 background ... I won't ever forget my first love / car ... I hope she is still cruising the streets in Sydney and not drifted into a gutter:



As for the comments above, I won't be painting the engine bay. Car's not meant to be a showcar so I don't see the point. I did a dodgy matt black job before in my old AE86 and it's as simple as attacking the engine bay walls with a spray can as long as you're patient and careful.

The good thing is that as my MX5 is white, it is a neutral colour and so I have left the boot undersides and inner door sills partially white.

When it came to painting my MX5, my friend originally offered to lend me all the spray equipment + booth for free if I got the 2 pac paint however I thought I'd give this method a go as it works out even cheaper and I could do it in the comfort of my home in my own time.

Also, my funds re a paint job has been severely limited with a recent (2 month) order I've placed for some Work Equip 03 rims instead (fingers crossed).

I have learnt to save $$$ from doing the work yourself - the panda paintjob on the AE86 in the picture above cost me $3.5k a few years ago ... this paintjob on the MX5 will only cost me less than $180 and I will still be left with enough materials to do a 2nd car at least.

I tried sourcing Rustoleum paint originally but had no luck as they only seem to sell them in spraycans now as the canned paint format is apparently not popular.

Eventually I managed to source the International Brightside Topside paint at Whitfords ... they can deliver to your doorstep and you can order online too:

http://www.whitworths.com.au/

Gloss yellow was my first preference but I decided to go for a different colour to avoid people mistaking my car for a sunburst yellow wannabe. I went with Squall blue instead in the end.

After applying 2 coats, I have only used up about less than half a litre. You really get good coverage with this.

Unlike the Yanks, our thinners for Brightside paints appear to differ. They use #333? brush thinner but I couldn't find it in the local International catalogue. I ended up using International's #1 enamel thinner instead as recommended on the back of the Topside paint instructions.

Lastly, the beauty of it is you can work indoors and in limited garage space with no spillage / paint overruns if you're careful - just look how cluttered my old folk's garage is.

If you are game, I would recommend it but realise it's not for everyone.

My biggest hurdle was that despite reading all the (overload of) information on the net, it still does not prepare you for when you lay the paint to the car for the first time (ie. I still did not know how the paint would spread / level out or run on the car until I did it).

Still, it is very forgiving - I would get tons and tons of air bubbles upon laying it down however just running the roller lightly over them pops them out. My biggest specks are from insects falling on the car during the night but these would be sanded out no probs.

I applied the 2nd coat last night ... won't be any more progress until this Friday night at the earliest when I should have a chance to give it a light sand and then apply the 3rd & 4th coats over the weekend.

[AB7]

Good on ya for giving it a go.
Make sure you don't spill it onto that Merc

[PUR157]

Or have a little prang with the little bike...

I do like to think that the AE86 and NA MX5 are very close in philosophy
Though once my brother in law tsaid my MX5 was a relative \"fat boy\" (compared to his old 86) for being a shade under 1tonne...

Yes yes... I'm aware that sprinters were lighter...

[Dodgy Haro]

I do like to think that the AE86 and NA MX5 are very close in philosophy...

They are close but I would say that an MX5 is more of a grip machine with it's relatively short length (wheelbase?) but wide track. I haven't got my MX5 to handle like I wish it could but that is because I have compromised trackability for comfort.

Still, the MX5 is a better machine straight out of the factory ... you had to work a bit on an ADM AE86 to get it to be as good as a MX5 stocko and for ppl who complain about not having enough lock on an MX5, wait till you drive a stock AE86 then complain.

Hmmm ... just a brief update - I couldn't wait and applied a 3rd coat a night ago between 11:30pm to 1am without sanding first (naughty naughty!). I wanted to build up a good layer before sanding it out again.

I don't have much orange peel to date because I probably thinned the paint more than I should which minimises the sanding to come but does not give as much coverage.

Biggest problem is the dust and insects - even in an enclosed garage, there are all sorts of things which get embedded in the paint whilst drying but some sanding will remove them.

There is also not much spillage and having applied the 3rd coat, I am now getting full coverage, even over the dark spots where I applied the stop putty.

You may call me lazy but I probably intend on just applying 2 more coats before calling it quits. I will just sand with 1200 grit wet paper to get a smooth surface before applying the final 2 coats and then try either 1500 / 2000 grit to smooth it out.

The trick to getting a glossy finish is to apply the paint smoothly but will minimal brush marks as it begins to dry ... a lot of the rough patches is from me running the roller over the paint as it drys causing the paint to drag on the roller. You can see some of the 'spots' in the pictures below.







As for polishing, I was unable to find any Turtle Wax polishing compound at Supercheap last night but settled for Kitten's #2 cutting / polishing compound wax which appeared to be similar. Will let everyone know if this produces a glossy finish upon buffing.

Funny thing is that, although everyone has been saying you need at least 2-3 litres for the job, to date I have only used about 2/3 of a litre. Maybe because my car was already white to begin with but I am going to be left with at least an extra 2.5 litres of paint by the time I'm finished at the rate I am going!

Overall, the paint job is already far better than the flaking white paint my car was suffering from.

It looks pretty good now that I am suddenly accutely aware ppl may mistake this car as one which someone has spent a bit of $$$ on it and may key it ... Lol ... but at least it has now become a weekend car for me so will not be left in public spaces for long periods.

Yes, I have received wide eyes from lots of people to date, including my dad who freaked out when I mentioned I'd be painting the car in the garage (the Merc was a prime concern) to the Whitfords shop owner when told the paint will be going onto a car.

Also, my mate for being a skeptic about rolling on paint but so far, the results are turning out better than expected.

And the satisfaction from doing the work yourself ... priceless!

[bruce]

Is there a website for the Brightside paint, or an official distributor?
I told my friend who owns a panel shop and wants to try it on bumper repairs.