Flat black

[SnakeLogic]

I seem to recall that there was a thread in here about a month ago about someone looking to paint his Disco (or maybe Defender?) flat black.  I can't find the thread with the search, and as I'm interested in doing the same thing, I'd like to review that thread.  Any hints?

BTW, the reasons I want to go with flat black:

1.  I'm going to do it myself, and it's tough to get a decent looking finish (as a first time car painter) with a gloss finish paint.

2.  My paint now is wrecked anyway.  I don't mind the scratches (and dents) that I have from off-roading at all, but the previous owner had apparently tried to buff the bonnet and roof, and succeeded only in taking the paint off in many spots.  Looks horrid.

3. The previous owner also had the rear two fenders ONLY resprayed, and the color's a bit off.

4.  When I do it myself, I may either buy a cheap compressor and spray gun, or just use spray cans.  

5. Having it professionally repainted will cost me a MINIMUM of ¥300,000, or roughly 1,500 Euros.

[spy]

It was me that was considering doing it.  I didnt, mainly because of the problems sticking stickes to matt black. My land rovers always get covered in stickers and I like them that way. :)

To be honest, I have sold the thing anyway so its irrelevant.  I say just do it.  As long as you post some pictures for me to see anyway!

I think you will have to touch it in regular as it will scratch off easily.  I rekoned on about £40 to do it with cans!

[Leslie Henson]

Consider using satin black instead maybe, makes a truck look a bit mean in my opinion.  :)


Les.

[Lord Shagg-Pyle]

get hold of some black camo paint from an Army surplus store. Apparently ( i have been told on very good authority) it absorbs part of radar frequencies, if you catch my drift

[AbyssDJ]

so what you're saying is, when combined with the low radar reflecting lines of lets say, a defender.... we can use the incredible top speed to... well, get around speedily? :D :roll:

[Range Rover Blues]

If you paint it matt black it will go shiny in the areas that get rubbed the most, though I like your thinking.

TBH modern water based paints do the work for you, you will have the same problems spraying matt as you will gloss ie runs and dust.

Buy or hire a spray gun, rattle-cans are about as effective as using an artists' airbrush.  If you spray matt it will look like a big pile or wriggly black worms, there was a kid up the road did it once to a viva and it looked a joke.  By the time you have cut the over spray back that causes the effect your car will be gloss anyway.

So unless you particulalry want a non-reflective finish (bonnet) then do it gloss, but in a solid colour that you can touch-up.

[SnakeLogic]

I'm hoping to get away with just roughing up the original paint with a ScotchBrite pad or similar, and NOT add the expense of a primer coat.  I realize that this may not be the way a professional would do it, but I'm trying to do this on the cheap, not win a car show.

All of the online searches I've done for car painting info yield very professional level advice for top-quality finishes.  Anybody have a bare-bones advice?

The plan:

Buy a cheap home center compressor and spray gun.

Get some car paint.

Hang some tarps around the end of the driveway to keep drifting overspray off the neighbor's house as much as possible.

Mask off the bits I DON'T want painted with tape and newspaper.

Don some kind of cheap mask to keep the worst of the stuff out of my lungs.

Paint Disco black.

If I get a few runs or spots in the paint, I doubt I'll lose any sleep.  At least it'll look bad because I tried to paint it myself, rather than looking bad because some idiot burned the paint off the bonnet and roof with a buffing wheel.

Am I missing any crucial points here?

[drmike]

I painted my RR NATO black which is very matt indeed and cheap - I still have 4 litres left for under a tenner.

I used a small roller and many coats. Many people remarked upon the finish, but a smack in the teeth soon stopped that.

In fact with care the finish wasn't too bad but as someone else said it shows all the marks and scuffs which didn't bother me at all. It also seemed to absorb mud stains but generally it washed up OK and anyway you could always do what the squaddies do and put another coat of paint on!

Mike

[Lord Shagg-Pyle]

so what you're saying is, when combined with the low radar reflecting lines of lets say, a defender.... we can use the incredible top speed to... well, get around speedily? :D :roll:

PM'd you.

[Lord Shagg-Pyle]

I'm hoping to get away with just roughing up the original paint with a ScotchBrite pad or similar, and NOT add the expense of a primer coat.  I realize that this may not be the way a professional would do it, but I'm trying to do this on the cheap, not win a car show.

All of the online searches I've done for car painting info yield very professional level advice for top-quality finishes.  Anybody have a bare-bones advice?

The plan:

Buy a cheap home center compressor and spray gun.

Get some car paint.

Hang some tarps around the end of the driveway to keep drifting overspray off the neighbor's house as much as possible.

Mask off the bits I DON'T want painted with tape and newspaper.

Don some kind of cheap mask to keep the worst of the stuff out of my lungs.

Paint Disco black.

If I get a few runs or spots in the paint, I doubt I'll lose any sleep.  At least it'll look bad because I tried to paint it myself, rather than looking bad because some idiot burned the paint off the bonnet and roof with a buffing wheel.

Am I missing any crucial points here?

Sounds a good plan to me.

Just don't do what a mate of mine did with his Mini. He wanted to paint a Union Jack on the roof, so he did. In emulsion! He did it in his lunch break at work. It then rained. The station sergeant was not happy as red and blue rivers then ran down the car park.

[Range Rover Blues]

If you are using modern paints then you will be fine working at home, they are mostly water-based synthetics over here.  A face mast is a good idea though but don't use those cheapo disposable ones, they clog up way to quick leaving you breathing dust.

If you don't need a compressor then get an electric spraygun, much cheaper option and just as effective.

Don't scotchbright the car, wet flat it with about 800 grade wet&dry, otherwise next summer you will be avble to see all the scratchmarks you put in rubbing it down.

I would suggest a primer, for various reasons.

If you go through the paint then you will need to spot prime anyway and this leaves circles in the paint finish.

After the first couple of coats you may weant to rub the paintwork down to get it smooth, primer is easier to rub down and cheaper, even if you use a high-build primer like I do.

Primer will help the new paintwork stay on for more than a couple of years.

If you don't prime then you need to break the surface of the old paint, hence the wet&dry, though it's a good idea either way.

[landroverclan]

1.  I'm going to do it myself, and it's tough to get a decent looking finish (as a first time car painter) with a gloss finish paint.
.

Here r 110, 109 n 88 in matt black (not a disco).
all were sanded down with sand papers only, and manually sprayed using spray can.
not bad in my opinion.

cheers.

[CanIBeFrank]

My brother has spayed his 90 matt black using chassis undercoat, it coverd very well and is tough as nails, gives a good finish too ;) the truck can be viewed at here

[Littledan]

nice 90 that :D

[cardiff_gareth]

and a very nice 110, looks like it could take on the A team and win  :lol:

[SnakeLogic]

Say, Landroverclan, what's the crest on the door in that last pic?

[landroverclan]

Say, Landroverclan, what's the crest on the door in that last pic?

Oh, that's the Malaysian Red Crescent Society. we i.e. LR owners n other 4x4 friends assisted them in delivering flood relief supply to the southern part during the massive flood late last year.
it;s just a voluntary body.

[landroverclan]

Say, Landroverclan, what's the crest on the door in that last pic?

It's the same as the RedCross.

[muddyjames]

I bought a pot of paint from Paddocks a couple of years ago to pant my series landy. It went on very easily and it looked great at the end of it. I just used a paint brush. I got about 2 runs by the end of it and if you do it on a warm day it dries faster so less chance of any runs. I didnt even wash the landy first either!

Here is the result of my efforts.  BTW. It took me about an hour to do :D



Click image for more photos in my gallery.

[bezzabsa]

Love to know what the locals will make of it - didnt think there was much of a trend over there for offraoding / modifying ... apart from the 'Fast and Furious' type geezers that spends millions of Yen - and then sell it when its 3 years old!
ps - post some pix of your 'humble abode' so we can all get jealous ;)