Hey all, My Honey and I are getting a 52 Chevy. I, being a little ambitious, volunteered to do the new paint job on it. I've read a few articles/threads/instructional sites on how to do a paint job with a roller. Seems pretty simple to me prep,paint,sand and repeat untill you're ready for the last sand and high power buff. But all the pics I see are glossy. We're doing flat black. Has anyone done a roller job with a flat paint and had it turn out ok? Are the steps any different? I'm not looking for showroom or anything, but decent would be great. Any advice? Thanks!
The thing that makes it work is the sanding and polishing, which tends to be the enemy of matte paint jobs.
There was this guy in high school that painted his truck with a roller. He just put on a lot of paint, then wet sanded it smooth, then buffed it out. It was actually pretty good. Better than most One Day Paint jobs. Pretty suprising. The problem with doing this with a non gloss finish is that you cant wet sand and buff the unevenness out of the paint. You might be able to apply it with a foam roller. Try in on a little piece of metal before your car.
Here is an article you might want to read, http://www.rickwrench.com/index79master.htm?http://www.rickwrench.com/50dollarpaint.html CBB
Would suggest buying a cheap spray gun and / or hiring a compressor , matte ain't to hard to spray and once you have your own gun you will find yourself using it to paint everything !
A few months ago Hot Rod ran a story on brush/roller/foam applicator paint job uing (I think) Rust-Oleum. They did a '60 something Falcon in an off white. Machine buffed it and from the mag pics it didn't look bad at all. Back in the dark ages I had a buddy Larry that used to roller and brush all his cars with Rust-Olem. Foe fast and cheap they were okay!
I painted my car flat black with a high density foam roller came out great! I used rustoleum, thinned the hell out of it with mineral spirits, and painted about 5 coats. I learned all the tricks here: http://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads...t++job++budget&topic=&Search=true#Post4337483 PM me if I can help any further, or if you wanna see some pics. The trick I found is of course prep and taking your time, but the last step is superfine steelwool, not wetsand. Flat black usually comes up uneven when you rattlecan it, or use a brush... It came out really nice with the roller, but the steelwool really evened it out. Every once in awhile I wipe it down with a rag with a little WD40 on it and it looks great, also hides tiny scratches, and removes water spots! I get compliments on it all the time, and it took a weekend, and about $50. Sprayer might be quicker, and lay down nice but I did mine outside, and you really battle the dirt and dust with the compressed air. If it is a still day, or if you have a nice garage that you don't want to turn into a spray booth this is a nice alternative.
here are some pics, you can see a couple minor spots that look a little shiny, that is where I pushed a little too hard on the steel wool, definitely wanna do a tester first, but rattle can and brush don't even come close... Good Luck! Post up some pics when you finish. -MICHAEL
hey thanks. actually thats the article that got it all started in my lil head...I'm just concerned about how it would look in a flat paint. I may just have to break down and borrow the neighbor's gun...
we did the Nova with spray paint. it was....meh...no real bad, I wanna do a better job though. High pressure gig, ya know
Thanks! Great tips! Your car looks great, I'll ahve to follow through with your advice. Thanks for the help
i remember a tech article here on the hamb about 4 or 5 months ago that was really indepth and had alot of pictures over the months after he painted it to show how nice it stayed.
hehe they used to paint em with brushes, a roller is a modern touch! there were some old time restorers that used brush's, way back , of course. But they were slick as glass paint jobs.
Years ago I was in NZ and had a Morris Major that had seen better days, I needed sell to raise money and to get a decent dollar I did the detailing all over and painted all the guards (fenders) front and rear with a brush and high gloss enamel, Damn if it didnt look better than the rest of the car.!
Okay, i've never done a complete car with a roller but as a striper and letterer for 28 years i've done an awful lot of roller painting with graphics and lettering on large rigs and here's what i would do......Go get a coupla of those throwaway white rollers at your hardware store....The one's i use are made by Sureline...Stick a coupla 2" pieces of masking tape side by side and roll the dry roller back and forth a few times across it....This removes any loose fuzzy's from it and prevent them from getting in your paint....Mix up a batch of 1-Shot black lettering enamel with some PPG flattening agent....Ratio will depend on amount of sheen you may or may not want...Less will give you a satin black, more will give you a Bar-B-Que black......{Note....Some real 'ol timers say you can you use talcum powder to dull out a glossy paint...Cheaper than a flattening agent ...Try a sample}....The key to getting a decent paint job from a roller is to slow down the drying time giving the paint a chance to flow and level out, impossible to do with automotive paints due to their chemical makeup....Roll the 1-Shot on there pretty heavy and wet....You just want to get it on and covered.....Let it sit for about 5 minutes....You'll probably notice some small bubbles appearing......Now dry out your roller somewhat on a piece of cardboard and go back and smooth everything out using a lite touch with the roller....If bubbles still appear wave a lit propane torch over it....They will immediately pop....Oh, and don't do this in direct sunlight on a warm day....Black attracts the sun raising the surface temp alot....Finish painting in the shade then put it in the sun to dry
you know what i didnt read post #8 but heres a link to that article http://www.hotrod.com/techarticles/body/hrdp_0707_1962_ford_falcon_budget_paint_job/index.html
Gotta add Penetrol !!!!! Will make every brush/roller mark disappear !!!! Plus Japan Dryer to Rustoleum ( non-hardener paints) to make it cure faster !!!
Ya, don't use a roller unless your painting your house. There are so many things wrong with this statement. Doesn't that seema a little backwards? Spray paint not good enough but a roller would be better? Please tell me that is sarcasm??!!??!?
I just dont understand this shit...How hard is it to borrow a compressor and a gun and spray a car????..... Are you painting your friggin house or a car?????.... Billy, I agree with you 10000%.
Maaco paint jobs start at $100! There was a Thunderbird on the cover of Rod and Custom a few years ago that had a Maaco job done, didn't look bad and it was a cover car!
Paint roller method is great, screw the naysayers. All you have to do is thin it out, roll on a coat, then wait like a week for it to cure, then do it again, get the old foam off your roller, prolly get the paint all over your hands and clothes, then drop it on the floor or car, then worry bout that. Next put the new foam on, then mix your shit, do another coat, then wait like another week for that to cure, get mad bugs and dust in it. Maybe a month into it you might be somewhat done, then sand it and buff it, miss the whole show season and when its all done, proudly open your garage door, and get your snowblower out....cuz its prolly like December at this point. Is that a Rat Rod Barracuda?
I think it was more like 18 years ago, if Im thinking about the right article, but great idea. The roller thing seems like a ton of work. Harbor Freight has guns that spray just fine for $15-$20 bucks, you can rent a compressor pretty cheap. If I was lookin to paint on the cheap, I would sand out whatcha got with 120 grit, spray 2-3 coats of fill primer, if your feeling rich throw some sealer on it and then spray a little DP 90. Or just skip the primer and shoot it with a gun rather than a roller. It's waaaay easier than you think.
When I did mine it certainly wasn't a week to wait to wet sand. I painted in the morning and wet sanded that night, a year later still shines, still holding up and I still only spent 30 bucks on the job.
It is not impossible to get a decent finish with a roller, even if you probably won't get any award-winning show quality finish. Use a foam roller, quite warm paint (cold paint will not float as well as warm) and be very careful, let it take time. Most roller paint jobs look horrible, but they are often stressed out, no masking, etc. I would not use a roller myself (because it will take more time and the result will become worse than with a spray gun), but then, I have the possibilities to spray a car with a gun. I would rather use a roller than spray cans because it will probably be a better result and cost less, you are paying a lot for thinner and aerosols in spray cans.
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