Before you ask, I did search. I found alot of useful info, but would like more details here.

I just picked up an EF Hatch, its a 91. It has alot of body damage, I will be replacing the fenders, hood, rear bumper, and possibly front bumper with parts from a white car. My car is green, and it small specks of rust, and some bad spots on the edges of the door that haven't (thankfully) started to eat all the way through the metal.

Should I just sand the rust down until I get to bare metal, and use a rustoleum primer of some sort to cover it up?

Alright, now to the rest of the car, since i want it all to match - Should I sand all the panels down just enough to make the car very "scuffed" and flat looking, then start to spray primer? Got a recommendation on brand?

Now, for the paint - not sure on scheme/color yet, but what brands should you guys recommend? I plan to get the flat nozzles to make it fan out.

If I do this, will it be easy to have it professionally painted down the road? Or am I making it harder on myself? I just want to temp fix body damage and stop rust before it gets serious, you know? Is this the right course of action? By the time I get enough money to have it done professionally, itll be worse rusted. Also, the car is a beater, I dont care if it looks bad, as long as its one color its better than nothing, you know?

CLIFF NOTES: Mismatched body panels, and rust - is rattle can primer/paint the way to go, and what suggestions for the rust removal, primer, and paint process do you have?

 

if you SPRAY CAN the car your autobody man will hate you for that. also spray can primer probly wont hold up and will start to rust under the primer on the bare metal spots. go to your local autobody paint suplyer and get some good primer. hope this help you and good luck

 

Yeah it does. I plan to paint on top of the primer, as well, and possibly a clear coat, too. I know it'll look tacky, I just want it to stand up for a year or two, and get rid of the rust. It may be ugly, but itd be alot uglier with 10 different color body panels. Its my beater, so I'm not going to be picky about how it comes out

 

my other option is to attempt to paint match body panels, and rust spots that i sand down - i think all one color would look better.

If it'll hold up, I'll leave it that color, I don't care, I hate rust, it looks bad as is, it cant get worse. I just want it to last so I can atleast sometime down the road get it done nice, if my beater ever makes it that far. Cheap paint = more money for performance, and this LS swap needs some boost

 

I sand my rust/car and primer (grey), then primer sealer then White primer over it.
So far it's 1 1/2 year sitting in the sun. No rust or anything. I use grey primer / sealer (autozone) and brought the white primer from home depot.
I probably get the final color this summer, after I finish my project.

 

sounds good. why primer OVER primer sealer, I mean, why primer twice?

 

I want the white color look. didn't want to paint it yet. still doing small repair and project not done. Plus I plan to paint it Champion white. Want to see how White looks on the car.

 

Oh ok, sorry if this sounds like noob questions, it is, haha.

Why not just start with a white primer, instead of sealing or priming again?

Is it because you needed it to seal so it'd be safe in the weather, but you still wanted to have white primer for when you DID paint the car white?

 

will the sealer help seal the primer to the car, so it won't flake or peel off.
I started with grey primer / because the sealer is a grey color.
Reason primer white is just to get the look of white for a while before I get it paint it white.

I'm a noob too.

 

Oh ok, haha . I'd love to do a flat grey or black. I'd actually love to do a flat black, flat grey, and charcoal camo pattern, but I'm afraid it'd turn out horrible. I still might. I know I'll get flamed but its my car, and I think **** would look hard, haha

If I do a flat color, would I be better off just adding sealant then using the color primer I want then?

 

any other input? I mean, is repainting this car w/ rattle can a good choice of action? Its not about looking good, just keeping the car one color and getting rid of rust. Soo...

or

 

I have/had(the'had' part now) rust on my fender on my 99 civic 4dr because of the inner rubber seal. i cut out the metal that was rusted and welded in new pieces...i have primer and paint over the metal until i have time to fill the imperfections with Bodyfiller(I got Evercoat Rage Gold) and top that off with the Evercoat Easy Sand Spot Putty. I got the actual matched paint for free at a local Honda bodyshop(they are a bodyshop that the local honda sends their body work to) because the guy had extra that he coulsnt use because he didnt have enough to do a whole job but it was enough to do what i need. i have the rattle can primer and then the factory paint on it right now until i am able to fill it and smooth it out with the filler and putty. im going to go to the local body shop supplier and see what they have for clear coat and primer.

Has anyone used the rattle can primer for a small spot like the fender? NAPA has a high build primer(fills in small scratches) that seems to be used for automotive but ill check on that

 

use some SEM high build primer to get rid of minor imperfections or SEM self etching primer whitch will fight against rust. expensive stuff about 12 a can but worth it because its spreads evenly and thick

 

where can i get that at?

 

any auto body supply store should have

 

so how does the high build help smooth out imperfections? just wondering. I've definitely got alot of little imperfections, haha

 

its sprays thick so it basicly fills imperfections

 

rattle cans

 

Thats exactly what I need. I've got some places that are very small, that wouldnt really need serious filler, just small little rock dings and stuff. Is it rattle can primer?

I've been considering a spray gun down the road, how much would a cheap one run me? Ive got somewhere in the country I can spray to my hearts content and practice

 

rattle can

 

Awesome, awesome... any suggestions on prepping the paint to primer? I can just use some fine grit paper and scuff it all up real good and spray it right?

What color primer should I use for a brighter color? I might just do a flat green, since my car is tahitian green, and i dont want to match the jams if I dont have to, I guess.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Syzle &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I can just use some fine grit paper and scuff it all up real good and spray it right?</TD></TR></TABLE>

no no no...if ur talking about scuffing up primer to paint thats a bad idea. what u would want to do is wetsand the primer smooth and then apply paint...making sure theres no scratches in the primer. what iv found is ur suposed to keep everything as smooth as possible. if there are scratches or what not, get a highbuild sansable primer so u can get it smooth. use maybe a 400 or 600 grit to wetsand the primer. any scratch in the primer will be magnified by paint. paint is made to adhere to primer...hope that helps


Modified by silentblackhat at 1:08 AM 6/7/2005

 

Use rattle can High build primer (Duplicolor), it is very good can primer.

 

wetsand it with 800 first and then go over it with 1000 grirt and then clean the car down with some soap and water and dry it very well before you start to spray it.

 

i always found that wet sanding the car...and spray painting it "SATIN" (duplicolor) works the best cuz its a flat black...and it doesnt leave spray lines like some other primers do