Painting cars with roller

[Normspeed]

The new issue of Hot Rod Magazine has a detailed article about the roller painting process. They gathered all their info off the web, then repainted a Ford Falcon (white) Lots of photos and tips. It's a good recap of all the info out there about doing this.

[55 Fargo]

Hi Norm, I happen to know one of the perfectors of this method. He goes by the handle 69chargeryeeha on www.moparts.com. To view the thread which has been running about 2 years see "Paint Job on a Budget". This thread is lengthy, but will detail all you need to know about the process, it startes with Tremclad Paint, or Rustoleum in the USA, then graduted to Brightside Marine Urethane paint. The cars are wet sanded, every 2 coats of reduced paint, up to about 8 coats, then polished out with compound and swirl remover at the end. the guy who started the thread, painted his 69 Charger dukes of Hazzard orange and his 73 VW Beetle also orange as well he has painted other cars, he has sprayed other cars with single stage enamel auto paint, he prefers this method to spraying. Less, mess , less dust to worry about less masking and simpler for a lot of folks who don't spray or own a compressor and spray gun. The other day I was on the Tremclad(Rustoleum site), they have recently added a lot more colors to there paint line. You never know, I may still try this on my Coupe, heck if it doesn't come off well or I don't like it, the car can be sanded down and painted right over with Auto enamel, even urthane if prepped first...........Fred

[greg g]

I am planning to do my Stuedebaker truck project with a roller.

[55 Fargo]

Greg, do a practice run on the hood or a door. Follow the methods perfected by the others on www. moparts .com, I know it will come off well, I think your friends and relatives will have dropped jaws when you tell them the stude was painted with a roller. Of course the prep work is no different than a conventional paint job, the better the prep, the better the finished product......Let us know how things go on this project.Fred

[greg g]

Fred,years ago I painted a winter rat Subaru with a roller. It was a bile green color so I two toned it gray and black, Used rustoleum, cut with turpentine. I did a very minumum of preperation. I washed the car and went over it with a scuff pad. I did it in my basement garage in November. It was about 55 degrees in the garage so I did not expect much. I put on a pretty heavy coat and went to eat dinner. When I went back down to the garage, it was dry to the touch so I put another coat on. The next day I ent back and was pleasently suprised by the results. I taped off the dividing line and did the same with the gray. No sanding, no rubbing and from 10 feet it looked pretty darn good......for a winter rat. Apparently the low temp in the garage allowed it to flow out for a long while and it smoothed out pretty good.

[Normspeed]

When the time finally comes to paint the Suburban I might try the roller method. Or maybe teach myself to shoot paint and try some John Deere Blitz Black.

[bob_amos]

We do electrical and air conditioning work for a local paint and body shop and some of the paint jobs coming out of the place look like someone just threw the paint at the car right out of the bucket!!! But, once they sand and polish them the cars look great. Not quite the way I learned to apply paint but if it works ya can't fault it. So, painting with a roller and sanding down and polishing would have to be better what than this particular paint shop is doing. Besides, in the early days and bodies were painted with a brush and they came out fine.

[Guest 50Plymouth]

I also plan to try this out on either my hood or deck lid or maybe a dinged up fender ; if I really like it I'll go from there.

Heres the direct link to the above mentioned article again if you want (the concerned method begins just a few posts from the top:

http://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=2331682&page=0&fpart=1&vc=1

[randroid]

Gents,

I am in the process of doing a roller job on my '48 4-door SD, but first I must remove five coats of old crap and take it to bare metal. I started with the trunl lid and should have it ready to go in a few days but, being a waiter and this being a very busy weekend, it will be a few days before I can get to it. Hell, I need to earn the money for the paint before I can buy it.

Since most folks who sell Rustolium aren't set-up to mix PPG formula colors, I'll find a swath of color as close as I can to Cruiser Maroon and be very pleased with it, then I'll post a buch of pictures on the Bucket once I get going.

Having been following this post for nearly 1.5 years here and at www.thesamba.com (a VW site I also visit) I will buy a couple gallons of paint, a gallon of mineral spirits, a 4" high-density roller (or eleven, lol) and a bunch of w\d paper. Here's my plan of attack:

I'll take it to bare metal so I can see what I'm up against, then once the dings are removed I'll hit it with 280# on my DA sander to make it all tickety-poo. Once that's done I'll paint it with two coats thinned 25% and my first sanding will be with 600#. I'll go progressively finer from there, but would like to hear comments from those of you in the business because I want to finish with 2000# and want to know the most efficient middle two grits out of the four I'm planning on doing.

The car will be painted Cruiser Maroon, and the interior deck lid and the wheel wells will be medium gray. I think the contrast will be not only tastful but add a subtle elegance to the ride.

I'll keep you posted on the progress and welcome any comments along the way.

-Randy

[greg g]

if you're going to bare metal, you might want to use a couple coats of primer.

also, i just saw a demo of a new rubbing compound from McGuire's. they fad a fender that was sanded in segments with 600, 800, 1000, and 2000 grits. after the compound the difference between the 800, to 2000 segments was nearly indistinguishable.

[Plymouthy Adams]

the difference between the 800 and 2000 is there..but to the naked eye it is had to see..the 2000 when compared is a more mirror finish, sand marks are in microns..and when compounded, and I prefer hand polish over machine, the swirl marks by hand are not noticable in bright light. The paint job I did on my friend's Tiger was hand poloished with Maguires to the tune of about 25 hours...lots of work but worth it..he always gets class and best of show trophies out the yang...I was amazed at bestof show, Spartenburg BMW all European show..over 400 cars that day...with time, and lots of hand work lots of paint jobs can be turned around..it is according to the amount of work you want to input..the paint shops cannot work to this level and stay in business...they are there for the quick insurance paid collision repair work..with base coat clear coat quick shine no effort paint of today.. I still prrefer a single stage enamel and the shine will be top notch with a bit of hand rubbing...

[randroid]

greg g,

One of the big selling points of using Rustoleum is that it doesn't require primer. Still on schedule to have the deck lid done in a few days.

-Randy

[Plymouthy Adams]

then why do they sell primer? why do they recommend it ? Sorry but I would never go to the trouble to prep steel without priming...just not worth the shortcut...Then again I never apply primer without etching with acid either..

[D25_Steve]

I've never seen a primer for tremclad, and never used a primer when using it.

[Plymouthy Adams]

Tremclad markets 5 primers for their paints...three are general application for all surfaces:

274102 Red Oxide

274103 Gray

274301 Galvanized white

and for automotive specific they have these two items for use on cars:

278106 Red Oxide

278106 Gray

They offer paint for automobiles also....their recommendation is to use their rust converter first, then the primer and then the topcoat...from their website.

[Norm's Coupe]

I've read a little on the subject via links various people have posted and given me on the Rustoleum Roller paint jobs. Looks interesting. Because of "The Other Norm's" post about the article in Hot Rod Magazine, he forced me to buy a copy today just to read that article.

That article is much better than trying to read a bunch of different post on other forums because it's nice and compact.

After reading the article though, think I'll stick with Maaco for my paint job. It won't be as cheap, but it will save a lot of elbow grease. Don't think I could do all that sanding with my arthritis. But.........for those who can it looks like a good way to go to me.

Tim, as far as primers go, I've never used a primer with Rustoleum or XO Rust (True Value Brand Rust Paint), except on my car wheels. The only reason I used it on my car wheels is because the shop that blasted my old wheels primed them. Then when I bought the Vintique wheels, they came already primed. Even the article in Hot Rod magazine said it is not necessary.

To prove that point I still have something that I used XO Rust paint on sitting out in the yard. They are a pair of the wooden spoked old car wheels with rims. The rims were caked with rust when I got the wheels. I tried to wire brush them off before painting them. However, the rust was so thick and caked on it would have taken ten years of Sundays to get it all off, if that fast. So.........I just knocked off the loose stuff and painted them with XO Rust paint. That was about 1993 or 94. Those wheels have been outside ever since and not one speck of rust has come through. I've painted other lawn stuff after taking it down to bare metal with it too, without using primer and never had the rust come back through the paint or paint peel. So........I agree even if they do make a primer, it's not needed.

As an interesting side note, all I did after knocking the loose rust off those wheels was rinse them with a hose before painting.

[Plymouthy Adams]

Norm..to quote you..."Don't think I could do all that sanding with my arthritis" and that is more than enough reason to leave it be..however I stand firm on the Tremclad website and thier own specific instruction to clean, sand, convert, prime and then topcoat...I just cannot justify omitting a step when you are already there to begins with...if it will last for years with just a so called one step..think of the lasting qualities floowing the prescribed steps...I have been using Rustoleum Rusty Metal Primer for base primer now since 1984...but I still block that..apply my primer surfacer in prep for a top caot..i still do not top coat Rustoleum..

[55 Fargo]

Hi all, Tremclad does market there product to be used on bare steel. But they also recommend, using primer with excessively rusty metal, pitted metal, galvanized metal. It's anyones choice. Go to www.Moparts, you will see 69chargeryeeha's cars.They were all painted without primer, the 73 VW Bug and the 69 Charger, in fact the hood and front fenders were aftermarket fibreglass, that he bought brand new.

I personally like primer, especially on exterior car sheetmetal. Infact my car is Tremclad grey primer, reduced with 25% Automotive enamel reducer, (yes they are compatible), the primer was sprayed on with HVLP, 3 coats wet on wet. I also know I can use bondo, epoxy, urethane, auto enamel right over the Tremcalad primer as long as it is fully cured, about 1 month full curing time, this primer is way superior to lacquer based primer.........Fred

[Normspeed]

I'm with Norm on the sanding. It's a necessary evil but not something I enjoy. The roller method calls for a lot of full-body sanding.

Enjoy the magazine Norm I subscribed a while back, couldn't pass it up for $12 a year and a free baseball hat!

[Brad Lustig]

If and when I try this on my Datsun, I'll more than likely use a primer. Possibly one with some thickness to it. A buddy of mine said that he almost gave up on painting his car because he kept sanding through the paint because his bodywork wasn't perfect. You have to thin out the paint to roll it so much that it's extremely thin. I'd rather get the lines right with primer than with the body paint.

[Plymouthy Adams]

get it ready for paint Brad, pull it to GA (5 hours form your house) and I will bomb the little bugger for you...or..you can do it yourself, use my booth and my guns....the fun is in doing it yourself....anybody can pay for a paint job....lol

[Brad Lustig]

Saw this paint on Trucks on Spike. Could possibly be used for rolling. Much more durable than rustoleum I would guess.

http://www.duplicolor.com/products/paintshop.html

[Guest 50Plymouth]

I'm now on my fourth coat of paint on my deck lid via this roller way. Just goofing off, testing. I took off my deck lid, cleaned up (didn't do any bodywork so its complete with a historical ding! circa who-knows-when..) wet sand every two coats. I only had 400 and 600 grit so we'll see what happens with those for starters.

I'm just using the rustoleum (7.50 a quart) hunter green which is kind of similar to original color mixed with mineral spirits, and after wet sanding another coat or two tonight or tomorrow I'll post a picture.

[55 Fargo]

If you are using mineral spirits to thin, and your coats, have minimal peel, and you wet sand with say 1000 to 1500. Then use just elcheapo Turle Wax white polish, it's mildly abrasive. this will bring back the shine. Looking forward to your pics, I have tried this method before with test pieces, was always pleased with the results. Nice thing about painting like this is, no overpsray, dust, doghair in paint, less masking to worry about. It's ideal for the home garage without decent equipment that you need to do quality paint work. I have seen many very examples of cars painted like this, some were excellent, and some were just okay. But the price was always right, and heck if it does'nt look good, just sand it down and paint over or go to Macco.......Fred

[55 Fargo]

Brad a paint system like this, most likely you would not be able to roll, as the paint would flash far to quick. The roller method is used with a mineral spirit based paints, it dries ever so slow, after you roll on thinned tremclad or rustoleum, the paint self levels before it dries, it is ideal for rolling, you need to thin the paint about 25% about the consistency of 1% milk, a little thicker than water, 6 to 10 coats, with wetsanding and bufffing and polishing at the end. I went to this link, not sure if I missed the article you were referring to.........Fred