What you will need

*a car
*black paint (rattle can works best)
*halfords viper stripes (£9.99)
*a sharp scapel or stanley knife
*a metal ruler
*a lot of masking tape and alot of newspaper

Start off by masking up your car, cover everything like windows and
body work like this;

Then clean to roof with something like paint prep wipes (about £2.99)
this wil make sure the roof is clean and the paint sticks, the spray
the roof with a rattle can of your choice, for the first coat do a light
coat and dont spray too close because then the paint will run, with
a good rattle can it will take about 20 mins to dry, then apply your
second coat, this time make it abit heavier.

Once the roof is sprayed leave it over night and check it, if you are
happy with the thickness then you can start on the squares, if not then
you can do a few more coats.

The viper stripes come as 2 really really long strips of white vinyl,
measure how wide the strip is and cut it the same width as length so
you get perfect squares, you will need about 20/30 squares, this should
cover any roof, I think I used about 20 but my car is quite small, once
they are cut start in the middle of the roof so you can work outwards,
make sure you use a credit card or something to smooth the vinyl on,
it also helps if you have 2 people, if you do it right it should look
like this;

When you get to the edges its best to put the vinyl on then let it hang
over the edge then cut the edge off using your metal ruler and scalpel
or stanley knife, this also applies to the sunroof. Once its finished
you can either spray it with clear laquer or just leave it as it is..

I also recommend using grafitti paint instead of car paint because it
sets harder and last alot longer and also dries 10 times faster. Iget
mine from this website, you can get 3 for 14.99 and three cans is more
than enough for one roof, Iwent through about 1 and a half cans, when
you order it doesnt have to be 3 of the same colour either so you could
do a multi coloured roof base if you wanted.
Thanks

Lynden

Ok so here is my guide to cheap-ass painting – be warned I’m crap at writing stuff up!

Ok so for this you will need…

• A car (surprise surprise)
• Course sand paper
• 1L – 2L of the paint of your choice
• A set of 3 – 4 household paint rollers
• A 1” paint brush
• Masking tape

Time scale 1 – 3 days with all important Tea breaks!

Step One

This is basically prep work, deciding the colour you want, what you
want to paint, what you don’t want to paint, deciding what you want
to modify, what you want to fix, making sure you have all the tools
needed etc

Make sure you have a clear plan as once you start you cant turn back very easily, decide if you want to keep your trim black or even if you want to keep it at all, all the little details that will help your car stand out.

But remember to stick to your plan because if, for example, you remove
your trim and smooth over the holes, you can’t easily go back and
refit it.

Step Two

Making sure you have a car to paint (LOL) perform any repairs or modifications to the bodywork

and then sand all the areas you’re thinking of painting to achieve a rough base for the paint to key to, make sure you also key around the inside of the doors, boot lid and bonnet

This may take half an hour with an electric sander, or it may take an hour or two by hand

Tea break

After you have keyed the car it will need rinsing to remove ant dust
created by the sanding.

I suggest rinsing it with tap water and nothing else as you don’t
want a greasy surface when you come to paint.

Step three

I suggest performing this the next day but it can all be done I one
day if needs be.

Mask off all the areas you don’t want to paint i.e. windows, door
handles etc

Tea break

Then…

Step four!

Time to start getting the paint on the car.

Going around the windows, lights ETC use the 1” brush to perform the
cutting in, this way you will avoid running the roller over something
you don’t want to paint.

Tea break

Next pour a small amount of paint into your tray supplied with the
rollers and start applying it to the car, try and work in sections
(doors and wings, bonnet, grill and bumper) this will make the whole
thing easier.

Once the 1st coat is on it will need 1 – 2 hours to dry depending
on the weather so its time for

Tea break

Then…

Step five!

Make sure there are no areas you have missed whilst applying your
1st coat.

If you find anything you have missed give it a lick of paint and let
it dry.

Meanwhile with a fresh roller start applying the 2nd coat, certain
areas may need more but you can work this out when the 2nd coat is
dry, try and apply the paint in the same section order you did with
the 1st coat this way each coat has had an equal amount of drying
time

Tea break

Then…

Step Six

After checking to see if any panels need any more coats and re-paint
if necessary.

Open all the doors, bonnet and boot. Paint around the panels making
sure as not to drip onto any windows, seats or vital engine parts,
and allow it to dry

Tea break

And..

Step Seven

Time for the second coat around the doors ETC

Same rules apply as in step four

Tea break

Step Eight

Now its time to remove the masking tape from the car, step back and
admire your handy work.

Step Nine (Optional)

After a few days allowing the paint to fully settle and many, many
Tea breaks (You can use the car during this stage) its time to add
and detailing you may have wanted i.e. pin striping, stencils ETC.

Be warned pin striping is not as easy as it looks, luckily for the
rat effect you can get away with it being slightly rough

It may be worth noting depending on the type of paint you use you
may have to wash the car a few times before adding detailing to avoid
any residue damage caused by any chemicals from the paint.

Mada2607

Rusting is not like painting so no real preperation is needed but
for best results make sure you rust vehicle in the dry (even when
using ‘wet and dry’) make sure that any areas that you don’t want
sanding or scuffing are masked off with a few good layers of Duct
tape (not masking tape as this may not protect the area adequately)
I masked off door and wndow rubbers. wiper jets, side repeaters etc.

Also check the rubber/plastic protection strips running down the length of your car….do you want them?
Find out wether they are glued/bolted or panel pinned on. You can do this be removing the door card on the inside, if there are no holes on the inside of the door usually these can be simply but carefully peeled off ( Heating with an air gun or hair dryer may help) If there are holes on the inside, the strips may be bolted or pinned on if removed these holes will require body filler so you may wish to leave the strips on.

mine were just glued on so later on off they came.

Most of my sanding was done with P40 grade sandpaper which needed replacing often but was very course, you can use any grade of sandpaper which ever suits you best, I sanded mine mostly by hand but for larger flatter panels employed the use of an orbital sander. If I’d had a belt sander at my disposal at this point it would of come very useful.
Sanding blocks would also be very useful and I used a hand held wire brush and drill bit wire brush for the narrow gaps where sand paper was difficult to use.

Its not easy to sand a whole car so maybe stick to just a panel a day because if you want rust you must make sure all the galvanization has come off. On some vehicles the galv appears lighter and then on others darker so you will have to trial and error with this. Which ever lighter or darker starts rusting first then the other is still galvanized and must be sanded through as these parts will take MUCH MUCH longer to rust unless you wish to leave it that way giving this effect:

Once sanded and all galvanization is off finish will look simular to this:

Now the sanding has been completed the rusting will begin.

It all depends how fast rusting will take place on the vehicle and environment, some cars rust faster than others and if you live near the salty aired sea side I’m pretty sure your ride will oxidise much faster than a car further inland.

There is a useful way of speeding up this process. when ever the vehicle is wet throw table salt over it….(or soak it in salt water and then add more salt over the body work) If that dries out add more water…..if the salt gets washed away add more salt. It really wont take long before the car is on its way to a satisfying rusty finish.

PLEASE NOTE: No car will last forever but rusting anypart or especially the whole car will significantly reduce its life span so is not recomended on newer vehicles. My Astra I do not expect will pass too many more MOT’s in financial reason this is why this vehicle was chosen for a rusty makeover.

However If you are a little worried about the cars overall condition after rusting only rust removable and more importantly replaceable, bolt-on panels. E.g. Bonnets, doors, wings etc…

If you are gonna rust some panels on your pride and joy why not try ordering a spare set off ebay or a scrap yard and rusting them instead. For example If i bought a 56 plate blue Golf and thought it would look sweet with a rusted bonnet… why not scowl Ebay for a matching bonnet (to be rusted any colour would do) Rust that…fit it and save the standard bonnet in the garage so that when I sell it 3 years down the line I could bolt on the origional bonnet to (ex-rat) and retain the value of the car. (the suceeding owner need never know) :gheyer

A way I have tried with a successful outcome is to massage WD-40 into the rust with a cloth. (Takes less time than to wash a car and only needs to be done every month or so). This protects the rust but does give the rust a constant dark brown shade and constant wet look which is not to everybody’s taste.

The last way of protecting your rust is the lacquer in the rust, thus protecting it from oxidisation.
this will give the rust a gloss effect unless you specifically use ‘matt lacquer’

IMPORTANT: for this to protect your rust the rusty body work must be 100% solid, oil and moisture free when lacquer is applied!!!!
If the slightest bit of moisture is on the panel it can get sealed in and when the lacquer is dried it will work constantly under the lacquer eating through the bodywork doing more harm than good.

The dis-ASTRA has been rusty for nearly 6 months now and as the rust
is begining to get thin in places that carry more water than others
(under the door handles) I will be trying to seal in the rust with matt
lacquer. See my thread for progress.

(A little tip for MOT’s…this is not official but if you’ve rusted your vehicle and it fails for excessive body rust, paint it in anything cheap, get it re-tested and after its passed sand it off again for another year. It may not work for you but has done for me.

Good luck
Jonboy