After seeing several people paint their kids plastic toys with spray paint I decided to makeover our Little Tikes Cozy Coupe with a fresh paint job too! Our Cozy Coupe was several years old so I figured it couldn’t hurt to try!
I had a major FAIL at this the first go around. Here are a few of my mistakes:
- Did not use a separate primer
- Took the car completely apart. The paint in certain areas was ruined when putting it back together. This might only apply to the model I have.
- Sprayed too heavy of coats and had LOTS of drips. Didn’t have a sponge brush on hand.
- Attempted to fight strong wind to get this project done
- Rushed in general
Here we go again! I am not giving up on this project. Here is are the supplies you will need to complete this Little Tikes Cozy Coupe Makeover.
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Supplies
- Painters tape
- Plastic to section off areas getting different colors
- Plastic or canvas drop cloth (If you have a model you can take apart you would want to use a canvas drop cloth so the paint doesn’t stick to the plastic drop cloth…trust me it happened to me the first go around)
- Rust-Oleum Painters Touch Flat White Primer (1 can)
- Rust-Oleum Painters Touch Satin Aqua (4 cans)
- Rust-Oleum Painters Touch Semi-Gloss Ivory Bisque (1 can)
- Krylon Fusion Burgundy (1 can)
- Rust-Oleum Universal Titanium Silver (1 can)
- Rust-Oleum Painters Touch Semi-Gloss Clear (2 cans)
- Sponge paint brush
- 220 Grit Sandpaper (if you want to sand in the beginning)
Here is what the car looked like originally. I believe this is the 30th Anniversary model.
After my first failure, I sanded with 220 grit where the paint was flaking off. I hosed it all off with water and let it dry completely. When doing this project originally I did wash the car with soap and water and then sanded it with 220 grit sandpaper as I read online that it would help. I can’t say for sure if it was necessary or not.
Step 1: Clean car
Since you are most likely starting fresh you would just need to clean the car with soap and water and let it dry completely. You could sand if you want. I did with a 220 grit sandpaper and hosed it off afterwards.
Step 2: Take some of the parts off (not all)
I took the steering wheel, tail lights, gas cap, and key off of the car. I left the rest put together. If you have this model, I do not recommend taking the car apart entirely. I did that the first go around and the paint was ruined when we were putting it back together. It was really hard to get it all back together, trust me.
Step 3: Prime
Cover the wheels and prime the entire car. I did 3 coats of the primer on the entire body. Where the door will rub I did 1 more coat, so 4 total in just that area.
Tape off the black part of the steering wheel (if you aren’t painting it, I didn’t). Then prime the horn and other parts you already took off the car….key, gas cap, and tail lights. I did 3 coats.
I did all coats a minute apart per the can instructions.
I waited 24 hours for it to dry per the can instructions. I did not want to rush this time!
Step 4: Paint
My inspiration for the colors came from my father-in-laws 66′ arcadian blue mustang convertible.
I kept the wheels covered and covered the roof since I am doing that in ivory bisque. I then painted the body aqua. I used two cans and ran out before I was able to finish. I would recommend getting enough paint otherwise you have to wait 48 hours to paint again like I did.
The tail lights got 3 coats of the burgundy and 3 coats of the top coat.
The key got 3 coats of the ivory and 3 coats of the topcoat on just one side. Wait for it to dry before flipping it over. I waited 24 hours since I had more to do anyway. You could probably get away with waiting an hour.
The gas cap and horn got 3 coats of ivory and 3 coats of the top coat.
Step 5: More Paint
24 hours later…I flipped the key over and did 3 coats of ivory and 3 coats of the topcoat.
I covered the body of the car with plastic and painted the roof and underside of the roof ivory. Top coated it 3 times.
I taped off the black tires with painters tape and plastic and painted the wheels titanium silver and then top coated 3 times. I didn’t feel like priming them.
Step 6: Finish the body if you ran out of paint like me
Since I ran out of paint I waited 48 hours before I continued painting the body. I re-covered the roof and wheels and painted until it was complete. Then I did 3 coats of the topcoat.
Step 7: Flip it over and paint the underside
Since everything was already covered I did flip the car over the next day and painted the underside aqua and top coated it. I don’t think this is necessary but it only took me five minutes so I went for it.
This took me 5 days to complete. I put all the parts back on on day 6. I put on the replacement stickers at this time as well.
I am going to have the kids wait around 5 days before I let them start playing with it since the can says 5-7 days to fully cure. I will do an update to let you know how it holds up.
Please read before beginning: I want to be very upfront with you. The car will not be perfect or look exactly like it would from the manufacturer. I believe they dye the plastic and then place it in molds. Spray painting in general is pretty tough and the paint is very grainy especially on the body where the plastic is not very smooth to begin with. Overall, I think it turned out cute but if you are not ok with some imperfections I would skip this one! Here are some close ups so you can really see what I am talking about.
Update: The paint is definitely peeling where the door opens and shuts. This happened right after we starting using it again. I was expecting this but hoping that the amount of primer I used would solve that issue. It is not too bad, but if you don’t want to see any peeling paint I would avoid this project.
Please let me know if you did a makeover on your Little Tikes Cozy Coupe or if you have questions!
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