spraying a nova. advice needed please.

[Ricky G]

right im looking to spray a nova with cans, now before you all tell me not to bother its only going to be raced at standlake arena in oxford so it doesnt have to be perfect. but at the same time i want it to look good. i can get a panel heater from work to dry it once painted but will i need to prep the car 1st with primer?
im looking to do it farely cheaply hence spray cans but i dont want it to look realy tacky. any help or advice would be appreciated. thanks

[General Baxter]

right im looking to spray a nova with cans, now before you all tell me not to bother its only going to be raced at standlake arena in oxford so it doesnt have to be perfect. but at the same time i want it to look good. i can get a panel heater from work to dry it once painted but will i need to prep the car 1st with primer?
im looking to do it farely cheaply hence spray cans but i dont want it to look realy tacky. any help or advice would be appreciated. thanks


spend ?100 on a little air compressor, will look far better then any can, even if its your first go :thumb:

[euro sbd]

although i spoke to a sprayer last month and he said in the first 3/4 of a spraycan there is more pressure than in a air compresser, how true that is i dont know. so if its only gonna be raced and you can get the cans for cheap enough, go for it mate

[General Baxter]

lol the place i get my cans from have 4000psi in the can lol

[novaco]

your going to need a **** load of cans imo..otherwise your going to have a realy thin coat which will look ****...then theres laquer on top + primer..

and since your average tin is about 7quid + it would be chaeper to buy a little compressor and paint..plus your going to get a better finish and can easily find other uses for the compressor in the future to make buying it worthwile

[General Baxter]

if you really want to do it from a can, have a look on here http://www.paints4u.com/ProductDetails.aspx?productID=3258

all i will say is that you get what you pay for, ?10.99 for a 400ml can, but its worth it :)

[Ricky G]

a friend of mine has a compressor with a spray gun so i spose i could try n borrow that. but what about preping the car? will i still need to primer it? i dont want an amazing brand new shining nova look but without runs and looking half decent would be good. bearing in mind most of them are hand painted no matter what i do it'l still look good.

[paul james]

I think you really ought to use primer, particularily if your going for a different colour. If you can borrow a compressor and gun then thats the obvious way to go. Get yourself some celulose primer, topcoat and thinners and that'll be much cheaper than cans.

Buying cans will cost you nearly as much as buying a compressor, spray gun and tins of paint, so if your likely to need to paint again, buying all that will be more economical in the long run.

I do think using spray cans is a lot easier, no hose to get in the way or big compressor to move about, no messing around with adjusting the settings on the gun or compressor. But cans don't contain all that much paint, you'd need tons of them to paint a whole car.

[shy witness]

if you can get a lend of a compressor and paint gun............then buy a litre of coachpaint(under 10 quid) and some synthetic thinners

its good enough for a track car

u'll only need to prime over repairs...or bits where youve rubbed back the the bare metal

i'm not sure what colour youre painting it but try n go for a darker colour............as it will cover alot better (blue or something for examlple)

if you use a lighter colour (red/yellow or wotever) you would v better priming the car ....unless you want a patchy finish to be honest

but if your on a budget....deffinbatly use the compressor..spray gun.....coach paint...dark/deep colour


that'll b your cheapest option...for best results

[125scouse]

as said get a compressor out of machine mart and a cheap gravity fed gun spraying is a piece of piss if you take your time

[Ricky G]

thanks for the advice lads. not sure what colour im gonna go for yet. maybe something realy in ya face like bright green. i like to be noticed lol.

[125scouse]

go for something easy to paint, metallic silver

[Ricky G]

would be nice if i could get a sponser from a body shop but the racing im doing wouldnt earn them anything from the sponser realy.