Festiva progression thread

[Team Lightning]

Got rid of my "Wife" problem last year. Now peewee's getting better!!! All ready spent several hundred $ on it this year. Paint should be next. Hopefully

[lanemeyer14]

Go for it! This has all been a learning experience for me and I love it!

[brickdog2000]

Well looks like I might have plans for labor day now, if I can get the wife to part with some of my paycheck lol.

[lanemeyer14]

So are you doing the $50 roll on paint job? If so that looks great and gives me inspiration to attempt it myself. I also read how you paint your seats. Your seats look like fabric to me, are they? I am just amazed with all stuff you can do with a festiva. I originally bought mine to be a gas saver, but after reading and browsing this forum the car is slowly turning into my little toy. I feel sorry for my truck because she just sits in the drive way.

Yep, doing the $50 rustoleum roll on job. I did paint one of my seats, haven't gotten around to painting the other one yet. I used duplicolor fabric/vinyl spray. Turned out pretty good, but does stiffen up the fabric a little bit....looks better than the faded blue that it was though!

[brickdog2000]

So are you doing the $50 roll on paint job? If so that looks great and gives me inspiration to attempt it myself. I also read how you paint your seats. Your seats look like fabric to me, are they? I am just amazed with all stuff you can do with a festiva. I originally bought mine to be a gas saver, but after reading and browsing this forum the car is slowly turning into my little toy. I feel sorry for my truck because she just sits in the drive way.

[lanemeyer14]

Did some wetsanding and a little more painting today. Right now I'm up to 4 coats all around (except hood and hatch), and I have pretty good coverage. I read that to get rid of the orange peel I needed to wetsand until smooth after every two coats. I had a good bit of orange peel that I tried to wetsand out, but I couldn't get it all out unless I sanded back down to the original paint! So I think my goal is to get a "Looks good from far, but far from good" paint job. Other than the orange peel it looks good and the shine is incredible! I can live with a little orange peel anyway. I love the color and I don't have to have a show winning paint job to enjoy driving "HULKSTIVA" around! Besides....I'm sure the hulk has less than perfect skin! Here's a few updated pics....

[lanemeyer14]

This is going to be a killer ride. I have to ask, where did you get the grille? I have seen them on several festys on here, but I am not sure where they come from.

Thanks! If you're talking about the red/burgundy grille in some of the pictures it's just an 88-89 style festiva grille with the center bar cut out. Other guys on here have gone a step beyond just cutting the center piece out and they also fiberglass/bondo the holes that are left to smooth it all out and give it a really clean look

[doylerl]

This is going to be a killer ride. I have to ask, where did you get the grille? I have seen them on several festys on here, but I am not sure where they come from.

[lanemeyer14]

I thought you wet sand between every 2 coats. That's the downfall of this method wet sand forever. Coat, Coat, wet sand, coat, coat, wet sand, Polish, done. And that is if you get enough coverage with 4 coats.

Maybe I didn't say it right, but I meant between every 2 coats. I guess I'll just wetsand it til it's smooth. I know I won't have enough coverage with 4 coats though....probably doing 8

[jcbgrady]

I'm doing this process right now as well. It does seem to take a lot of wet sanding. But I don't mind the meditative time I get to spend in the garage with the little Ford. =)

[big_ty2003]

I thought you wet sand between every 2 coats. That's the downfall of this method wet sand forever. Coat, Coat, wet sand, coat, coat, wet sand, Polish, done. And that is if you get enough coverage with 4 coats.

[lanemeyer14]

Ok, since this is my first experience with this $50 paint job stuff, I'm a little curious...How much do I need to wetsand in between every other coat to make the paint look good? I'm pretty happy with the way it's looking without wetsanding, so I wonder if it's really worth the effort? This is in NO WAY going to be a show car, so it doesn't need to be perfect. I wetsanded one of the fenders and put another coat of paint on it, I'm just not sure I wetsanded it enough. If anyone has any idea please help me out!

Edit: I also put another coat on part of the car that I didn't wetsand at all and I can definitely notice a difference. Still not sure I wetsanded the fender enough before I put that other coat on, but it does look better than the other part of the car

[JPT]

That color looks excellent with those rims!

[lanemeyer14]

Forget the beach, where are your priorities ? J/K

I know, I know. I feel like I neglected my baby!!

[freshtiva]

Forget the beach, where are your priorities ? J/K