I've been searching around the forums trying to find a thread that shines some light on the OEM matched aerosol spray paint. I think it sounds like an attractive option to a lot of people given the cost of paint on body kit parts. Here is my experience...

I was mainly curious as to whether or not this is a feasible means of getting fiberglass kit parts painted cheaply, so I bought a Viniati spoiler and all the stuff I needed to do the job from Automotivetouchup.com.

• 2 cans of Scion 209 BSP paint
• 2 cans of clear coat
• 2 cans of primer
• prep solvent, sand paper, tack cloth, etc...

I sprayed the test cards with primer/basecoat/clearcoat as instructed and the paint actually matched pretty well. I was encouraged. The only thing that worried me was the amount of dust and random particles that made it onto the card before it dried at each stage.

I spent a good 4 hours getting the spoiler sanded and ready to start painting. I wet sanded the entire spoiler with 320 grit to get rid of the pitting, uneven edges, etc.. that were present from the factory. Once I was happy with the surface I re-did the entire thing with 600 grit to get it ready for the primer. I found that it was easiest to do this in the back yard with a hose in one hand and the sandpaper in the other.

I let the spoiler dry completely then cleaned it thoroughly using the prep-solvent. I sprayed 3 coats of primer onto the spoiler then wiped it down with the tack cloth. The primer seemed to go on fine. I had no problems up till this point. The basecoat is a different story.

I found that the spray pattern from the cans was not wide enough and the flow rate was too low for larger painting projects like this one. It was difficult to avoid a "banding" appearance where some areas obviously got more paint than others. There also seemed to be a lot of paint particles that dried before they even hit the spoiler. It looked like a layer of paint dust. This dust wiped right off the spoiler with the tack cloth. I attribute this to the low flow rate from the can combined with the 8-10" distance from the spoiler. It's sort of a catch 22. If you move in closer to make sure that the paint coats sufficiently, then the banding gets worse, but if you move further away to fix the banding, then about half of the sprayed on paint is dust that just wipes off between coats.

I basically went through both cans of basecoat trying to get a decent finish across the entire top of the spoiler. I was unable to achieve anything that wasn't embarrassing. On top of the issues described above, I also had to contend with the dust and random particles. I'm not sure how you would get a good paint job done at home. Maybe I picked a bad time of year, or maybe my garage is dustier than a normal garage, but I can't imagine this working without a clean room.

The dust seemed conquerable during the basecoat phase, but as soon as I sprayed the first layer of clear coat it was just COVERED in dust. I didn't even attempt to sand and spray another layer.

I think that the aerosol cans would actually be a great way to do touch up painting... just as they're intended for. Unfortunately I'd have to say no way to using these things for anything more.

If anyone knows any good techniques for creating a clean space for the purpose of painting at home, then I would love to hear. I intend to invest in a HPLV spray setup next to see if I can get closer to my goal.

:::EDIT:::

This project has turned from a review/question thread into a thread with a DIY method. I will post a summary at the end of the thread detailing everything required to make this work.

 

I generally clean the area an hour before hand, throw down a drop cloth, and have a fan running the entire time directed above the item. This keeps dust from setting on what your painting and ventilates the fumes a bit. Also allows for bad portions of your spray to be carried away instead of oversaturating the item.

 

what i do is let it dry completely and wet sand it so its a bit smoother, but u need sand paper that is supper fine

 

I don't know how you are getting it to turn straight to dust. In Texas, I've been painting stuff in the middle of the day and it's working just fine. Are you using the dupli-color paint matched spray cans? Dupli-color FTW

 

This strikes me as a good idea. I did try and clean the garage before painting, but the airborn particles proved to be very difficult to get rid of. I can't help but think that any particles that got sucked in the back of the fan would just get blown onto the surface. Maybe it would be worthwhile to try and attach an air conditioner filter to the back of the fan and let it run for a while? I'll give this a shot in the next go-round.

I tried fine sanding between basecoat layers with 1500 grit. Even though I was spraying the surface and the sandpaper clean constantly, I was left with small scratch marks that would show through subsequent coats. This did, however, leave me with a more uniform application. Maybe I should try it again with an even higher grit?

I wasn't able to find Dupli-color in Black Sand Pearl, but the automotivetouchup.com stuff has to be similar. The paint does match perfectly, but maybe the spray nozzle they use isn't up to the job. It seemed like about 1/2 of the spray pattern was just an overspray cloud which settled as loose paint dust... on everything BTW. I swept up the overspray off of the floor with a broom when I was done painting. Not sure if that's normal.

 

The local pep-boys has BSP paint matched dupli-color.
Dupli-color is know for their paint nozzles. Really good at distributing spray.

 

That would definitely be nice. I need to see if Pep Boys has it here in Kansas. That would make all this testing much more practical... instead of having to wait a week between tries while waiting on the next order of paint to show up.

On a side note: Can you strain pearlized paints into a spray gun like normal paints? I'm wondering if the metallic flakes get caught in the strainer.

 

All good suggestions. I'll add one more helpful tip... because of the type of paint gun (in this case a spray-can) You could help avoid the banding/streaking by keeping the can a little bit farther away from the part you're painting. It will take a bit longer because you will be laying down more coats and it will gradually build up to the amount of paint you need, therefore you have a good shot at avoiding the banding issue.

 

i actually found that having the can further away creates the streaks ...because the aerosol isnt constant and throws out different amounts of paint when its feels like it. what i do is just do 2 light coats from about 8-10 inches away and then 2 coats from about 4-6 inches away. never had a chip or scratch...just make sure you overlap each stroke. Oh and 1500 to 2000 grit sandpaper works excellent for wetsanding inbetween coats. dunno about having a fan on as fan blades tend to get dusty thus resulting in your

 

I got to the point of painting 2 light coats of paint. Let it sit about 10 minutes between coats, then one heavy, semi close, spray which leaves a good amount on it for each stroke. Enough to get a good wet coat that is close to sagging, but doesn't.

 

I don't think anyone mentioned this trick:

Throw the cans in a bucket of hot water for a few minutes before use. The heat raises the pressure in the cans and prevents sputter/splatter and the mist comes out finer and faster.

I did an oem front lip w/ a premix flint mica aerosol and it turned out pretty well. Biggest complaint is the color is slightly light/flat even though I put on the clear wet and heavy. Wouldn't notice it unless you were looking for flaws tho.

 

Fan should be pointed above object, not at. It actually prevents the particles from landing pretty well. The filter would probably help aswell.

 

Those all seem like promising tricks. Enough so that I'll go ahead and sand it down and give it a couple more tries with the aerosol cans. I'd hate to abandon it now if it's going to work with a little more effort.

We finally got some rain here, so hopefully that will put an end to cottonwood shedding season. I have a feeling that is one reason that I had such a hard time with "dust".

I need to add some pictures...

I do still want to try HVLP though. Does anyone have any input as to whether or not it's ok to strain pearlized paints?

 

Pretty sure you will strain out the pearl particles. I know they have to use a diff nozzle for the pearls to allow the particles to pass through the hplv.

 

I've only used a hvlp gun on base colors and clear, so i can't comment on straining paints.

Only advice I have on hvlp setup is: Make sure you have a water seperator inline and practice on something you don't care about so you can dial in the flow vs psi vs hand motion. I like to put it on as wet as possible so its good and glossy, but not so much that it runs.

 

Oil/Water Separator looks like an easy/cheap addition. What happens if you don't have one?

I haven't been able to find any straining filters specially for pearlized paints. I have to assume that you either A) don't strain them.. or B) normal straining filters work just fine. I think I'll take the safe route and order some filters and see what gets caught in them.

The website also sells premixed paint for HVLP and they specify the recommended nozzle diameter for the specific paint. 1.3mm to 1.4mm was recommended for BSP. Nozzles, however, are also cheap. I'll need to get several anyways because I think I'm going to buy a mini gun. That will just make it even harder to decide what nozzle size to use. My compressor isn't all that awesome.

 

paint in swirls not fanning motion will prevent runs and a spray painted look

 

wet the floor of your garage. In body shops before painting they hose down the floor of the paint booth so that no dust is disturbed by moving around and settles in the paint. You dont need it to be a flood, just hose down the floor and wait about five or ten mins then go ahead and paint, if you need to wet the floor between coats you can, just make sure to get no water on what you are painting. Another thing is that ventilation is key, so maybe a few big fans sitting on the floor with your garage door closed almost on top of them would help so that dust doesnt fly in from above. Wet sanding is very important as it will get alot of the dust that settled in your paint out.

 

Watching for pics!

 

^^ lol im waiting to see how well all these good tips have helped. i never thought of putting the cans in hot water