<sigh> What to do about my paint?

So, I have the dreaded paint peel on my 92. There are huge swathes of bare metal all over the car which are slowly getting larger and larger. The car looks like a map of some strange planet with unfamiliar continents all over it.

I assume that to even consider repainting, the car will need to be taken down to the bare metal since the existing paint is no longer a trustworthy base for anything to adhere to.

What I don't have is thousands of dollars for a good paint job. The car is starting to get embarrassing and a few rust spots have started to pop up. I've been considering trying to do some of the prep work myself and then pay someone to lay the actual paint in the hopes of getting a reasonable finish for a cost that I can afford. I don't need a show car finish. Anything would be an improvement over what I have now.

Can anyone offer advice as to whether a bare metal strip down is definitely what's needed and if so, what is the best DIY way to go about it? I've searched and there are proponents for all manner of different methods and I wonder what would work best for our particular cars.

I'd appreciate any advice any of our body work knowledgeable folks could offer.

Call Miata Solutiions

Get some gray and black rattle cans and do a digital camo?

I don't think there is going to be any TCB approved method. I'd do what black roadster suggests, and this is the only time you'll ever see me type those words.

Maybe a decal on the bad spots...

http://www.resims.net/data/media/66/...rebird.001.jpg

I spraypainted my daily driver white, it doesn't look that bad and I didn't even color sand.

if you have time, patience, and a garage....

http://www.rickwrench.com/index79mas...llarpaint.html


i love the stripes too....

Go art car/graffiti.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Jz5JhoNcrH...Graffiti+9.jpg

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Jz5JhoNcrH...Graffiti+8.jpg

The bright side is that, if the paint runs or you get overspray, nobody can tell. Or you can just claim that you got vandalized if people make fun of it...
I want to do something like this, it could be fun... maybe when the spyder needs a new paint job, i'll contact some inner city utes, or the Art Department from my school.

As always, I volunteer to help spray paint. I'm pretty good at painting wheels, and have been told i'm almost "incriminatingly good with a spray can"

Here's some of my work.
http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._3567145_n.jpg

http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot...7_997752_n.jpg

http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._3093116_n.jpg

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by black roadster

Call Miata Solutiions

---

+1

Most likely your whole car would need to be stripped and then primed if your paint is peeling. Unfortunatly that is common among cars of the 90s. Maybe only some areas. You dont need to spend thousands to fix it. Maybe you can take off alot of the parts that should be removed prior to paint, that would keep the costs down a little bit.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by jrj512

+1

---

+1 on Stevan. Does very good work.

You have no idea how many $50 rustoleum paint job videos I've watched on youtube. :-) It's tempting because it's cheap and it's not like I can make things any worse but it IS a lot of work and I imagine I would still need to strip the old paint off. Otherwise all of that work will likely just flake off in a few months as the old paint continues to release it's hold on this life.


I looked into the vinyl vehicle wrap as alternative too but even buying the stuff off of ebay is fairly expensive (~$400). I got a quote from a local place to wrap the whole car in plain white gloss vinyl.....$3K. You've got to be kidding me. So much for that idea.

My buddy at work keeps pushing me to paint it with Rhino Liner. Talk about no going back. <shudder>

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by 2zzmr2

Go art car/graffiti.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Jz5JhoNcrH...Graffiti+9.jpg

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Jz5JhoNcrH...Graffiti+8.jpg

The bright side is that, if the paint runs or you get overspray, nobody can tell. Or you can just claim that you got vandalized if people make fun of it...
I want to do something like this, it could be fun... maybe when the spyder needs a new paint job, i'll contact some inner city utes, or the Art Department from my school.

As always, I volunteer to help spray paint. I'm pretty good at painting wheels, and have been told i'm almost "incriminatingly good with a spray can"

Here's some of my work.
http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._3567145_n.jpg

http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot...7_997752_n.jpg

http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._3093116_n.jpg

---

That last one made me snort water out of nose. :-)

Lol

Taking off the old paint is easy with a good paint stripper, but you have to take off or protect any plastic,rubber and vinyl from the stripper. I used kleen strip aircraft paint remover on one car and sherwin williams aircraft paint stripper on another. Heavy slathering over the paint and it falls off in sheets. Protect your hands or they will hurt for a week from the caustic burns.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Radio-Active

Taking off the old paint is easy with a good paint stripper, but you have to take off or protect any plastic,rubber and vinyl from the stripper. I used kleen strip aircraft paint remover on one car and sherwin williams aircraft paint stripper on another. Heavy slathering over the paint and it falls off in sheets. Protect your hands or they will hurt for a week from the caustic burns.

---

Kleen Strip is good stuff but very caustic. I use it to remove paintfill on golf clubs, works like a charm.

You could strip it all down/prep yourself and take it to Maaco for the $299 paint job. Their paint isn't horrible for the price if you do the proper prep ahead of time since they just spray on top of whatever surface there is at that price point. Maybe 50 bucks worth of materials and some elbow grease and you could have yourself a nice looking paint job for $350 or 400.

cosmo has a good idea. if you want, look at my car. the p.o. put the cheapest maaco paintjob on it. i put alot of elbow grease into it and it is pretty decent....

We have a Maaco manager here on the forum... paging the Transformers!!