How come Spray paint doesn't look the same...

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E-dogg

Senior Member
Saw a truck at the red-light last night and it was spray painted black. Then I thought of the guys with the Kill Yoda thing and I started to wonder, why does spray paint on a car always look like shit. Is it just not possible to coat the car completely? Or is the paint lower quality perhaps? Just didn't make any sense to me. I would never do it because it seems even if you tried you would spend way to much on enough cans. Maybe close to what it would cost for a spray gun.

On a side note, I plan on attempting a paint job on my beater. Any suggestions from you shop owners on a kind of spray gun/compressor, or whatever I will need to do a good job. I have extensive experience with spary cans and I figure I can get a gun and practice on my beater until I get it down and do my other two cars. Any answers and advice will be much appreciated. Thanks guys.
 
I've seen some pretty good spray paint jobs. I think most of the time, it has to do with the fact that people just don't put as much time into painting their car when using spray paint and are less careful too.
 
spray paint is a all in one laquer.(base color and clear mixed in one). Most quality paints are 2 or even 3 part. If you screw up w a spray can, it shows in the final finish. with a base and clear setup, you can sand any bad spots in the color before putting the final clear/sealer coat on. even after that you can still color sand the finish coat for a cleaner look. spray cans shoot paint thin and layering it to "look" right, is next to impossible. its just really comparing apple to oranges....
 
because its noobs who spray paint there cars. have someone rattlecan there car flat black then have an autobody shop paint a car flat black and youll see the difference.
 
Rattle can jobs can be OKAY if done right. Sand, clean and primer what you're painting. Clean it well. Then, use a flat, or a semi-gloss color coat. Quick, fast dustcoats work better than huge gobs of paint. Try to to use a gloss clearcoat (clear, obviously) - and apply a good deal of coats. Regardless, this will give you a mediocre paint job. Ultimately, you'll want to have a shop do a whole-car job.
 
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