My friend had some left over single stage from his last build, and I figured anything was better than faded sunrise red, so we decided to paint my car. We prepped my car and sprayed it in a local booth.

Turned out alright, there's some orange peel but you cant argue against a 21 dollar paint job. Some buffing or wet sanding and it should turn out pretty good. On top of all that it"s a mazda color, dark titanium grey from new mazda3's.

Before:


The picture makes it look a lot better than it was.

After prep:


And now:









One for fun:


There are still plenty of things I need, like front lip, wheels, and coilovers, but its coming together slowly.
Thanks for looking

 

pictures are soo small!!!!

cant argue about the paint job tho =p

 

nice, like the color

 

awesome paint job.

 

I like the color. Actually looking into repainting my car. And you say this is the same color they put on the new mazdas? Hmm....

 

nice looks good on there

 

Who cares about the lip and all that. That paint is hot. Not bad for $21!!!! I wouldn't argue either. More pics in higher resolution please!!!

 

Yeah I'm not too worried about it but man do I want some fitment. Some great fitment on stock fenders would make me so happy.

I didn't post the larger pics because the one time I forget to set my ISO it happens to be at 1600. So I'll post up a larger one but don't mind the grain.




'
Thanks for the compliments.

 

Is that the Shadow Silver metallic 3G Mazda Apexi paint?

 

Metallic is the most difficult type of paint to shoot. Especially silver...

2 tips for you to make the most out of the paint. Looks like you got pretty good coverage correct?

-Let it be the way it is for 1 month... It needs to cure and harden all the way.

-Pic up some 2000 grit wet sand paper. Soak it in cold soapy water for an hour or so. Arm yourself with a soapy spray bottle and a garden hose. Sand all of the major areas of orange peel, or if any bugs or trash got in it. The goal is to get the surface as flat as possible. The further down you sand it without sanding through the paint or making thin spots is most desirable.

-Go to NAPA and buy some 3M liquid rubbing compound, some 3M compound scratch remover, clean pads for your orbital buffer, and some cleaner wax. I prefer Xymol.

It will take 2-3 applications of the rubbing compound to remove the scratches from the sand paper. 2-3 applications of the mid grade scratch remover to remove the rubbing compound scratches. 1-2 applications of the cleaner wax to top it off and protect the paint.

Don't just buff the places with orange peel. Do the whole car.

 

^ Great advice, thanks a lot. I'll have to try that.

 

Looks awesome. Nice shots. What kind of camera?