# aerosol can or brush, whats best for painting



## Guest (Jul 27, 2014)

*aerosol can or brush, whats best for painting rust spots*

Got three rust spots each about size of 50 pence piece. Got rust treatment, wire brush, lacquer and will get paint mixed to manufacturers spec at Halfords. Now question is do I go for the aerosol can or the bottle and brush

What produces a better finish for a first timer like me I.e whats easier to work with, spray can or using a brush


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## Guest (Jul 28, 2014)

Bump


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## supernova-dw (Apr 26, 2014)

Certainly a spray can, don't even consider using a brush to paint anything apart from the most minute of areas such as a stone chip.

Basically make sure you get all the rust out using a wire wheel on a grinder, anything left will bubble back up through in no time! Skim any areas where it's needed with filler, sand back to shape and prime (2/3 Coats) Once its dry wet flat wet flat the primer using 600 paper then clean and ensure everything is thoroughly dry and it's ready for paint! 

When painting the colour remember that you are not trying to make a shine....That is the job of the lacquer! Apply several light coats of paint until you have full coverage after which let it dry for a half an hour and it's ready for lacquer! When applying the lacquer I suggest doing a 'Grip' Coat which is basically a dusting of lacquer over the area, let this flash off for 5 Minutes and then go for one nice heavy coat to create the shine. Once done don't be tempted to keep adding coats of lacquer as many people do as it does not help but instead causes the finish to dull, risks making runs, solvent pop and makes the finish more susceptible to stone chipping.

As for products then try to use some 2K Lacquer which I believe is available in aerosol form as it is a million times better than 1K Lacquer and so much more durable! If you get any dust in the lacquer or orange peel then once it's cured you can wet flat it with P2000 and then polish it back up using a orbital polisher with some G3 & G10.

Hope this helps?


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## Guest (Jul 29, 2014)

Thanks for the detailed reply. Just curious whats difference between 2k lacquer and normal laquer?


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## supernova-dw (Apr 26, 2014)

Tamoshanter said:


> Thanks for the detailed reply. Just curious whats difference between 2k lacquer and normal laquer?


No worries, glad to be of help.

2K Lacquer as the name suggests is made up of two parts (The lacquer itself and a hardener) 1K Lacquer is just the lacquer on its own which simply air dries as opposed to 2K Lacquer which dries using a chemical reaction. 2K Lacquer is more hard wearing, has better gloss retention (1K Lacquer is equally as shiny to begin with but looses it gloss fast) and is petrol proof.

When using 2K Lacquer make sure you wear a proper mask and use it in a well ventilated place where others won't breath it in.


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## Guest (Jul 29, 2014)

supernova-dw said:


> No worries, glad to be of help.
> 
> 2K Lacquer as the name suggests is made up of two parts (The lacquer itself and a hardener) 1K Lacquer is just the lacquer on its own which simply air dries as opposed to 2K Lacquer which dries using a chemical reaction. 2K Lacquer is more hard wearing, has better gloss retention (1K Lacquer is equally as shiny to begin with but looses it gloss fast) and is petrol proof.
> 
> When using 2K Lacquer make sure you wear a proper mask and use it in a well ventilated place where others won't breath it in.


Learned a lot from your posts, I feel a lot less apprehensive approaching the task now.

So who does the best spray ca paints? Are the Halfords ones any good? Little worried the paint will streak. Anything I can do to prevent this?


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## supernova-dw (Apr 26, 2014)

Tamoshanter said:


> Learned a lot from your posts, I feel a lot less apprehensive approaching the task now.
> 
> So who does the best spray ca paints? Are the Halfords ones any good? Little worried the paint will streak. Anything I can do to prevent this?


I'm glad that my posts have been of help, it's a pleasure to be able to share information!

I'd suggest you simply get the cans of paint from your local motor factors matched to your colour, the off the shelf Halfords cans are not great (Narrow spray pattern) but the mixed ones are good. As for lacquer and primer take a look on Ebay, I'm unsure but they may even sell 2K Primer in a can, if so go for this as it's much much better!

As for striping in the paint this should not be problem at all especially in your case as you are only painting a small area. When painting the base coat (The colour itself) do a 50% Overlap, I.e. when painting after the first pass the second pass needs to overlap the first by 50%, if you don't do this you will get stripes as the edge of the spray pattern is narrower than the middle.

If you need any other info then feel free to ask. :thumb:


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## Guest (Jul 31, 2014)

Are rust treatments any good or they are useless


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## supernova-dw (Apr 26, 2014)

Tamoshanter said:


> Are rust treatments any good or they are useless


In my opinion they are useless! They may slow down the corrosion but are not a solution. Any areas of rust get a wire brush attachment on the grinder and bring back to bare metal.

Do you have any pics of the repair you are intending on doing?


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## Guest (Aug 1, 2014)

Here you are mate


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## supernova-dw (Apr 26, 2014)

Tamoshanter said:


> Here you are mate


They look pretty deep to be honest but still worth a go. Get the wire brush on a grinder and take them right back until all the pitting has gone. Ideally you'd cut them out and put in new metal to be honest but if funds don't allow then do as I say just make sure all the corrosion has gone.

If you end up with holes then use some bridging filler like P40 (The fibreglass stuff) After this go over the top with standard body filler and then sand that back to shape.

The two rust spots on the panel under the light as it's only small you may as well paint the whole panel and then of course lacquer it. The one spot on the corner of the boot lid is a bit more tricky, do the repair as detailed above but then when it comes to the paint you just need to fade it out, I.e. cover the area you repaired plus flick the paint along the panel to blend out the new colour. When it comes to lacquering the boot lid you can either fade the lacquer out like you will do with the paint of alternatively (My preference) re-lacquer the whole boot lid. If doing this then you need to wet flat the whole boot lid with P600, clean it all off and then re-lacquer the entire panel.

If you need any more info then feel free to ask.

Get some pics up of your progress as you go :thumb:


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## Guest (Aug 2, 2014)

supernova-dw said:


> They look pretty deep to be honest but still worth a go. Get the wire brush on a grinder and take them right back until all the pitting has gone. Ideally you'd cut them out and put in new metal to be honest but if funds don't allow then do as I say just make sure all the corrosion has gone.
> 
> If you end up with holes then use some bridging filler like P40 (The fibreglass stuff) After this go over the top with standard body filler and then sand that back to shape.
> 
> ...


I will do. Thanks


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## Guest (Aug 6, 2014)

So one can repaint the whole boot using spray cans?


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## supernova-dw (Apr 26, 2014)

Tamoshanter said:


> So one can repaint the whole boot using spray cans?


You don't need to re-paint the whole boot as I mentioned but you can re-lacquer the whole boot with a spray can yes...It's certainly not the most favourable option but certainly can be done so long as your using quality cans, also good idea to warm the cans in hot water prior to painting as they spray better.


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## Guest (Aug 14, 2014)

I think i might have overdone the spray on one area and it looks thicker/darker there. What can i do to rectify that mistake?


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