barnfind
Enthusiast
- Messages
- 323
- Location
- Lancashire
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.
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.