Paint your waggon

[barnfind]

Whilst researching paint for my refurbed chassis , I have come across several websites from both sides of the Atlantic singing the praises of roller painting cars. Sounds crude doesn’t it, but the results that can be achieved appear generally to be better than the average amateur spray job and don’t require expensive spray gear, and don’t have the same environmental consequences as spraying cellulose or 2 Pack.

The technique appears to be that the car is prepped pretty much as for a spray job, all trim is stripped and any bits that are being retained (eg: windows) are masked off along their edges, albeit it isn’t necessary to totally blank off areas not being painted, just apply enough tape to provide an edge.
On the paint front, Rustoleum Combi Color is a particular favourite. This is a rust resistant paint, high gloss and with extremely good self levelling properties. It is thinned to a milk like consistency( with white spirit) and rollered on in a series of thin coats using a small dense foam gloss roller, each coat being flatted before recoating. After four or five coats the final surface is flatted and polished, or treated to a very much thinned gloss coat. Finish straight from the roller is similar to a BL orangepeel and is probably acceptable for, say, a van, but most appear to flat and T Cut and end up with a finish as good as sprayed. Plus they haven’t also spray painted the inside of the garage , the dog and their lung linings.

The process is a bit drawn out, because the paint has to harden for a while before you can flat it, but the car is usable during that time, once the initial drying has taken place, so rolling restorations are no problem either. UK painters report that cars 3 plus years old are still looking good and that touching up of bumps and scratches is extremely straightforwards, just rollering the panel again after repair and then flatting and polishing to match surroundings, (the paint is self priming and rust resisting, incidentally) .

This technique is particularly finding favour in the VW camper fraternity and they have a fairly detailed Wiki about how it is done on one of the club websites. They claim that a decent quality diy £50 paint job is quite feasible even with something VW bus sized and certainly their photographs seem to bear that out!

Probably not one for the officianado, but potentially a good budget solution for someone looking to smarten up a daily driver without spending a grand in the spray shop.

I may buy some paint and experiment on a panel. I’ll let you know how it comes out.

 

[iMacThere4iAm]

That's interesting for me, because it describes my situation quite well – rolling restoration, small budget, moderate expectations, etc, etc. Can you post a link to this wiki you found?

 

[barnfind]

HI
Just google this:

bodywork and glass roller painting

It should give you a .pdf file about 2.5 meg all about roller painting VW campers.

 

[barnfind]

Or try this link to the same article:

http://wiki.club8090.co.uk/index.php/Bodywork_and_Glass_Roller_painting#Introduction

 

[barnfind]

So far, so good!

Just a quick report of my success with this technique.
As I suggested, I have taken a door, previously prepared and primed and applied the roller technique, using the Combicolor with approximately 10% thinner and a dense foam gloss roller.
The paint went on quite easily, with a second light rollering to take out any bubbles. The first shot shows the initial coat, good and even, but with the primer still showing through.
After flatting and two more coats, the second shot shows the result straight from the roller. Colour is solid and already has self levelled to give quite an acceptable gloss. The bucket is positioned to indicate the level of reflection, although the light colour does not show this off terribly well in the photograph.
I estimate two more coats and then a good flatting and some TCut will give a very acceptable gloss finish. If you are going over sound paint and arent changing the colour too radically, then three coats will probably do the job.
It is worth doing any awkward corners with the brush initially, to get the cover, the roller seems to blend it in quite well. As a further experiment, I carried out a brush finish to the door insides, using a good quality gloss brush, and this again has produced a fine full gloss finish, brush mark free and will have given full cover after two coats.
Final finish is handleable after around four and a half hours on a warm day, and dried to a good hard finish, sufficient to be flatted, after 24hours

If you are doing a fairly radical colour change, it is probably worth considering a base coat of aerosol primer, just to help kill the old colour and to cover any bare metal areas that your prep has revealed, albeit the paint is supposed to be self priming. It will also help with the final stoppering of any minor blemishes.

I propose to do final coats over the next couple of days and will post further pictures of the finished item. At the moment, I am impressed with the finish obtained and consider it to be as good as, if not better, than a low budget spray job, with only a fraction of the hassle and cost.

 

[DavidN]

Whow that's amazing!
Quite an alternative to the DIY garage-paint-jobs.
I'm curious to see the finished panel!

Cheers,

David

 

[pepper]

Funnily enough we rollered our VW camper years ago, it was cheap, quick and simple, but just like normal spraying it is the preparation that makes the difference, get the metal work right and the paint will look good, have a rubbishly prepared panel and the paint just makes it look even worse!

 

[DaveP]

Old time coachworks used to use brushes and sandpaper to get stunning paint finishes. I've seen a chap handpaint a 1927 rolls royce with something like 15 coats of paint and 7 of lacquer, flatted back between each coat and it looked incredible, took over a month mind.

I once lent the same bloke my mk1 escort mexico for 3 months while I was away and when I got back he'd rebuilt the carb and got about 15hp extra power out of it, sorted the idle, fitted a manual choke and improved the fuel economy by about 50 percent and still said he felt bad about not paying for the usage.

Really must get back to the uk and lend him the renault.

 

[iMacThere4iAm]

I'm going to prep my manky old bumpers and try out this technique.

 

[barnfind]

Have a go!

Best of luck with it.

I am quite convinced that for renovating and smartening up a car for day to day use, this is a good way forward, providing that you take the same steps with prep as you would a spray job. I wish I'd discovered it a few years ago.

A few hints.

The main thing to remember with this stuff, as opposed to Cellulose which surface dries in a flash, is that in order to self level, the paint takes a while to become surface dry. So your enemies are dust and insects. A tack rag will take most of the dust away, and if you take the sort of precautions that you would to spray, then you will be okay, but my advice is once you have painted, then leave the room for an hour or so, to avoid stirring up more dust into the air.

If you are brushing, invest in a good quality brush that won't have you picking stray hairs out of your work.

If painting with a light colour over dark, after you have prepped, filled, stoppered etc. finish off with a white or very light grey rattle can primer, to kill the base colour.

I have now done three doors (both sides) , all four outer and front inner wings. As soon as the shell comes home, I will paint that too, and then I can start to reassemble as each panel is finished. I will put pictures on my thread in the Projects section.

 

[barnfind]

For anyone who followed this earlier thread, I am now pressing on with the same technique for the main shell. All the removable panels are successfully painted, but alas winter isn't the best of times to be painting in an unheated garage and if you are also following my project thread, you will see that I have made limited progress on the main shell. However, results are encouraging and I anticipate eventually having a reasonable looking car that will certainly be presentable enough straight from the roller , to use as a daily driver, and with some extra work could be well up to decent respray standards of finish.

For those of you still contemplating rollering or brushing your car, I have come across another product that is also designed for coach painting, made by HMG and sold by Craftmaster paints. Unlike the Rustoleum, it requires a primer and has limited rust killing properties, so your prep has to be as it would be for cellulose or two pack, but the results from a good brush seem to be quite impressive. There is a full system available with primers, enamels, clear lacquers and additives to improve flowing capability from the brush etc.

http://www.craftmasterpaints.co.uk/

There is also a relevant thread on the Classic Car Forum (which is, incidentally, worth a browse in its own right). Try this URL:

http://www.oldclassiccar.co.uk/forum/phpbb/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=6540&highlight=craftmaster

For further inspiration, there are some cracking photos of a brush painted Wolseley 9 on here, in black, possibly one of the most unforgiving colours you could choose. When I have another coat on, in the next few days hopefully, I will post some more pictures of the Renault, to give you a better idea.

 

[barnfind]

Some of you might have already seen this on my project thread.
I have now painted the whole car, and the effect from the roller is good, with only a few blemishes here and there. I shall flat and polish these out when I have finished reassemby and touched up a couple of small battlescars that have arisen.
My general feeling is that this is a good way forward if you don't want the cost or hassle of a full blown respray. It has taken approximately 3 litres to do the car inside and out and I have used aerosol primer whilst pepping bare metal areas and eventually to kill the old colour. If you were going for a similar shade, then the latter step would not be necessary and you can simply rub down, degrease and paint straight onto the old finish. It isn't cellulose based so you shouldn't get a reaction with the old paint.
I'll post some more pictures when I have finished the car properly and polished it up.

 

[montenegro]

what about the finish being petrol proof ? if it's thinned with white spirit, that would imply it isn't ?

 

[barnfind]

Using white spirit on fully hardened Rustoleum to remove marks and sealant does not appear to remove any of the finish, so I conclude that it will be reasonably fuel resistant in the context of splashes when filling up at the pumps.
Only 2K, of course, can be considered properly petrol proof, anything solvent based, such as Cellulose, will react badly to prolonged exposure to petrol.
I have read up extensively on the use of Rustoleum for cars on both UK and US forums and nobody has complained about it reacting unfavourably to petrol splashes.

 

[orsome]

painting my R4 soon

I will take my 1977 to be painted next thursday. It will be done with 2K.
Cost will be around 450E and i had to do all surface preparations my self plus tapering windows and selas at paintshop.

Let,s see it wil be a green one, namely vert jardin 907.

I'll put here some shots before / after painting.

Still have to solve the electric problems(Snoopy..the diagrams?), adjust valve rockers and face the MOT.

Tumps up, gus!:!: