Rattle Can Paint Jobs For Work In Progress Jeeps?

My '66 will be work in progress for the next couple years. I want to drive around town and do some local trail rides during this time. I want it to look decent but will have several body repairs and mods along the way so a "real" paint job isn't realistic.

Please give your tips and show off your paint jobs for a work in progress Jeep....

 

Go ahead and do it. Camouflage is easier to do with rattle-cans.

 

One of my favorite paint jobs I ever had on any of my jeeps was dark grey primer, polished with #0000 steel wool. I makes a charcoal colored matte/semigloss finish. I know people say primer is pourous and will rust through, but the hood I put on MM 2 years ago had been stored outside since I painted it in '93, and the only rust spots are where it was scratched or rubbed through.

Edit: This is actually the paint in my avatar pic.

 

Won't most rattle can paint will come off with lacquer thinner? Even if not, one app of liquid paint remover would. Graffiti remover too. An old body guy on IFSJA suggested that, if you are going to do your body work in stages, rattle can what you finish with whatever you like. The when you are ready to spray the whole car, strip off the cheap enamel and paint everything. I think you'd need to be careful with whatever you wash the body with last though ... likely a reducer compatible with your paint would be best, followed by wax and grease remover.

 

I stripped my whole jeep to bare metal and sprayed expensive rattlecan self-etching primer and cheap hardware store paint. The paint comes off easy (I can rub it off with some mineral spirits... ask me how I know) but the primer is stuck on there and so far preventing rust very well. I don't think what I've done will be any harder to remove than the layers of paint that were on it before and it's allowed me to enjoy it these last few years.

 

Nothing wrong with rattle-can paint, if you do it well. Any kind of paint, good preparation is 90%.

Don't leave primer in the raw - it is not moisture proof.

 

They make a Grey primer sealer to put over primer if you plan to leave it for any length of time.

 

I leave my project vehicles in two part epoxy for years at a time. Unlike regular primer it won't allow water to penetrate. While not available in rattle can if you already have a compressor an inexpensive spray gun will do the job. My 73 F250 waiting on a paint job living and working outdoors.

 

My paint job is farm implement paint. Maybe look into that? It would hold up better than a rattlecan, but it may be a PITA to remove down the road.

 

Rattle can paint was part of my plan from the beginning. Trail rash is easily remedied with a shake and squirt.

In all honesty I don't understand why some go the the expense and trouble of a fancy paint job for a trail jeep. If it's a once a week grocery getter, OK. I recall wheeling with a former ECJ5 member who had completed an extensive build with really nice paint. Metallic with deep clear coat as I recall. Second or third time out he rolled it. What a shame.

 

But that is what the rocks and bushes are for!

 

That stuff is easy to remove... for a while. Once it fully cures it gets brittle and comes off in tiny pieces.

 

use any paint, the only spray bomb primer would be etching. cheap black enamel,just sand smooth when done working on it and prime over with a quality 2k product. i use tons of black spray bombs as guide coat when block sanding anyway,and always black the wheel wells and frame that get overspray.

 

There's a thread about a guy who does fabulous work with rattle cans. I think it's on jalopy journal, jalopnik, or H.A.M.B. I forgot. But he builds up layers of paint, polishes and paints some more and he turns out the kind of quality you'd see from a 1930s assembly line, I guess.

But I get it. I have a decent compressor and I wonder why I'm not using 'real automotive' paint from a jar. The windshield frame needs repainting on mine, for starters. What is a good tutorial and a good gloss/semi gloss urethane(?) for the frame?

I was gonna use some Rust Oleum...

 

Two-part black epoxy primer is good for frames and under-body. Not glossy. Only problem with epoxies is they yellow on long exposure to sunlight. SPI makes a very good epoxy primer, and they add UV stabilizers so it can stand sun exposure. On a chassis it usually does not matter.

For a black windshield frame, I would use Kirker, but they only sell it in gallon size. Your local auto body supply can sell a quart of black. When you get into real automotive paint, you need the paint and the hardener and the reducer ... and then you need to follow the proper safety procedures. There are also the implement paints that can be catalyzed; again you need the paint plus hardener and reducer. Anything with hardener contains isocyanates, (cyanide - poison) and can really mess you up if you get it on your skin or in your lungs, nose, or eyes.

 

good enough for a wheeler

 

I see your parking brakes are as good as mine ;p

Nice Jeep.