Touch Up Paint - Whole Car?

[coopns]

I sanded down a bit of rust on the Camry 02. I matched the paint and sprayed it on last night. Looks pretty good.

I know this is taking things too far but...you couldn't spray the whole car with a light coat could you? Probably have some drip lines. The hood has quite a few dings, I was thinking could I give it the whole things a light coat.

 

[racin4ds]

sure you can, you'd get what you paid for in the end though. If its a car you really don't care about then by all means go for it!

 

[qwertydude]

It's probably not gonna look good especially if it's a metallic paint. But I myself have used rustoleum black on a fender and after laying on a few heavy coats being careful not to get runs, after a wetsand and polish it was indistinguishable from a factory job in fact it had less orange peel to boot. Although it did oxidize a fair bit quicker than factory paint.

 

[Volvohead]

Touch up paints are only a fraction as durable as the original coatings.
There's a reason high quality auto paint carries a high price.
Like the other poster said, you get what you pay for, especially with auto coatings.

But on a beater that is otherwise going to rust away, it seems like a reasonable option. In that situation, industrial/exterior grade Rustoleum is probably an even cheaper path. I know one mechanic around here who did just that with a 30 year old K wagon, and it has held up.