The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Roller paint project results

after spending three months reading these stories on rolling paint on your car or truck, I deicided to try it on my tailgate, which really needed something anyway. If you want to read farther fine, but for those of you that want to cut to the chase...DON'T DO IT!~

I bought the SherKem, followed all the rules, thinned it with Naptha and rolled on two coats...must have been too thin, since it was drying almost before I could roll it on so it never leveled off...so I sanded it down, reduced it to about 90-10 in paint vs Naptha and it rolled better, but alligotored with two coats, so I sanded it back down...this time I figured I would wet sand it after one coat, but the allogatoring was still there, so I sanded it down, got PO'ed and painted it 100% paint...lol...after seeing that result, and the fact it never dried in over a week I sanded it down again...(see a pattern here?)

So here I am, 10 coats, it looks shiny after I rolled on three coats at 80-20, in fact I can see myself in the paint, but if I go to a polisher it will show the alligatoring, I am not sanding anymore since it looks better than what was therewhen I started and when I take it to the paint shop (when I can afford it) I will blame the previous owner.....

Maybe it depends on the brand of paint you use, I have used Tremclad (konown in the US as Rustoleum, I believe) after reading an article in HotRod Mag and it works quite well:
I have sponged a '70 Impala (big car!) with flat black, 2 coats give an excellent finish;
I have rolled semi-gloss white on grill/bumper of my '57 Suburban, it does not cover as well as flat black, but gives quite a nice, satin finish, after 3 coats.
I remember HotRod Mag thinning their gloss white a lot (consistency of 2% milk), rolling a lot of coats (8 or 10?) and sanding for a nice finish.
Remember that this a CHEAP paint job, it will never win a show, but can be quite presentable. I certainly will do it again.

i've rolled epoxy primer and it looks good. good enough that i think its a decent solution that helped me avoid a lot of the hassels/hurdles of getting a hvlp set up.

it is a good way to get paint on to metal and stop the deterioration of the body.

i have not tried to get a glossy fininsh though, and all the sanding to there might be more trouble then its worth. i guess it comes down to the time vs. money equation.

Being a painter, I have to think that a Harbor Freight spray gun would make a better finish than a roller. For you DIYers, I would suggest a practice panel to fine tune the paint/reducer ratio, paying close attention to the air temp and sun exposure. Yes, I have painted with a HF gun, and they arent bad when it is hot, a bit fast flowing.

Wrinkling can have 3 causes; new paint accessing layers of old paint because the finish has been broken through by cracks or sanding, new paint not compatible with old paint, and recoating outside "the window".

I Have read some on this Rustolem thined with mineral sprits. Maybe the Naptha caused the problem. Mineral sprits will not go into any 2k or into sanding on standerd auto pait, however Naptha could. Naptha also has a high flash were as mineral will take longer to evap.

i read alot of those stories and articles ,i agree also with the opinion that you have to use the products mentioned to get the same results.i think they also used a specific roller also...dave

Roller paint jobs is one of those crazy things you run into during the course of your life that has more to do with it's oddity than it's actual practicality. If you have nothing but time on your hands and like the idea of seeing the disbelief on the faces of those you tell you painted it with a roller than go for it.

Otherwise throw it in the heap of worthless curiosities like being able to squirt milk out of your tear ducts. Yea, it can be done but so what?

You get what you pay for and the work you put into it.

My opinion is mine. I got what I paid for.

I 'rollered' my 55 2nd about 8-9 years ago. I still believe it is a 10 foot paint job. I used rustoleum. $50 for paint and the truck is one color. I just put it on with the small 3 inch rollers. Not the sponge ones but the matted ones. I did the truck in parts and a roller was good for a fender, cab, bed, etc. I think I used about a dozen of them.

Again. You get what your time and money paid for.

I leave the truck outside and use it for chores. It is a work truck which will see no trailers or shows. It is fun to drive.

Otherwise. I recommend go for a good paint job by a professional. Pay the money and be happy.

I don't worry about stones, scratches from others at HD or Lowe's. I have a can of rustoleum touch up paint.

I only wish that rustoleum gave a harder finish. Or a hardener could be mixed in prior to application. That would be nice.