hey guys im planning on doing a roll on paint job on my hot rod. im gonna do a flat army green. have any of you guys tried this on your cars? i heard it really cheap and easy.. anyone have some pics??
There is a lot of info for painting with a roller on boat sites. Here is a Google search. http://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt...oggle=1&cop=mss&ei=UTF8&p=rolling and tipping The vehicle might be different but the process is the same. You probably wouldn't want to do the tipping part to get it that smooth but the rest of the info should help. Read what Don Casey wrote on prep work and you should be good to go. and as Deuces implied, the rust still has to go before you can do it right.
It looks like you're a long ways from paint, but there are some really informative threads on here. Just search a little. Good Luck.
Here is a process that I found surfing.. Wash hood with hot water, powdered Tide, and a red scotch brite pad Sand with 80 grit disc on PC to remove most of the layers of old paint Sand with 220 grit disc on PC Sand with 320 grit disc on PC Prime with Rustoleum automotive spray primer Sand with 320 grit using palm sander Prime again Sand again with 320 grit Applied rustoleum mixed 50/50 with mineral spirits using a high density foam roller (2 coats, 12 hours apart) Sanded with 600 grid and Meg's foam block 2 more coats, sanded again 2 more coats wetsanded with Meg's foam block and 1500 unigrit wetsanded with Megs foam block and 2500 unigrit Compounded with PC, 5.5" LC yellow foam pad and M105 (2 passes) Final polished with PC, 5.5" LC green pad and M205 from the picture..it looks dam nice
Over the past 45 years or so I have redone dozens of farm tractors using a brush.... Never had one look bad....Decent prep, more than one coat, and careful strokes with the brush will make it look real nice... Cheers, Bob
The roller is just the paint applicator. The prep needs to be as well done however the color is applied. The sanding is to remove imperfections introduced during the application process - with a roller there will likely be more than with a spraygun, hence more sanding (and consequent re-application). The less imperfections, the less post-paint work. All of which points towards spraying. But if a roller is your chosen way forward for whatever reason, then there's no reason it won't end up looking good after you've completely finished.
Paint with a roller... I like the sound of that. Cars many years ago were all painted with a brush. As a kid I watched my dad paint his F1 pickup silver with a brush, he didn't spend a lot of time and it didn't look real good. Unless you were across the street... He liked it so much he painted my sister's car white with a brush too. This time he went all out and trimed it with red. By the time I was 12 (1962) progress had been made. For just a few bucks you could order a gizzmo out of the back of Popular Mechanics or whatever magazine it was that let you hook up to the exhaust end of your mom's electrolux and paint cars. No kidding. We did an old Ford sedan and an old Caddy. They came out as smooth as 30 grit. hahaha Have fun.
It seems (to me) wrong to endorse even encourage a rat rod approach to rod building. Again just my opinion. Ron
It looks to me if it's done with time and patience it can come out great! It's a great for all of us who are a limited budget. Isn't that how Hot Rodding got started ? I was always told that in the early days they use what had or can get cheep. Most cars where in primer because the couldn't afford to paint them. I think a roll on Job is alot better than running a car around in just primer. Just my opinion as well.
Back in the mid 60's a fellow down the block from my house had painted an mga red rustoleum with a rubber roller, the car sat outside for about a year, he then wet sanded and polished it,it came out pretty nice, about ten years ago I was doing some welding on a Triunph tr6 ,and we got to talking, he was thinking about painting a car with a brush I told him about the MGA, and he knew the car, and that was why he was thinking about doing it, seems the car was still in decent shape. I don't know how it was stored, or anything else, but it seemed to hold up
Hot Rod magazine July 2007 had an article on painting a car for less than $100 with a foam roller that I read. Article goes into some pretty good detail of how to and problems that they had. You can still get the whole article online by searching for it. Here's a picture of the finished car.
Um... yes, it's very "ratrawd"- because... ...folks did it that way - and it was hotrod - to overcome the limitation of the "equipment" and specialized knowledge available in the day. Paint guns and compressors have gotten pretty cheap in the past decade or two and are available at your local hardware store. There are also 'cheap' paints available to use in those guns (thinking duplicolor). With the internet... well, you got the HAMB. 'nuff said. To the OP: As you've read, yes you brush/roller paint your car. Be prepared to sand. A lot. it's 4 times the work of spraying it, for 1/2 the results.
Painted the car in my avatar with Rustoleum and a foam roller as outlined in the Hot Rod article. Still looks good nearly four years later. You have to sand and buff a lot but you save a lot of work not worrying about completely masking the windows, not getting overspray on everything in your garage, and not worrying about blowing dirt off the floor into the paint or having moisture get in your air supply.
I painted my car with a touch-up gun and thinned Tremclad (Canadian branded Rustoleum). Virtually NO overspray (I did it in my home garage in a subdivision). Mixed some flat and some gloss for a "custom" flat/semigloss blue. Search this site if interested, I posted the how-to and some pics. I don't consider my car a "rat-rod" ... however, you are more than welcome to label my car anthing you please ... whatever makes you happy. Would I do it again? .... HELL YES (I built my car for far less than some people have in their paint job alone). PS. I just read the comment regarding the "rattle cans" ... here is why I did not go that route ... with an off-the-shelf rattle can, you can't custom mix your colour. Also, it is far cheaper to buy a quart and some thinner than it is to purchase a bunch of rattle cans.
Thanks for all the info!! I do realize I'm a bit away from painting the car, I just was curious. And im NOT building a rat rod. Just trying to think outside of the box a little, and please dont try to tell me no one in the 40s had roll on paint job. Yes the car isn't completely traditional but it's what I can afford and will look really bitchin when it's done! If I was building a rat rod I wouldn't paint it at all!! Haha and you won't find garish iron crosses, skulls, and webs.... Thanks again and have happy 4th.
We never used those cheap Electrolux vacs... we used Kirby's... the SATA of the vaccum cleaner painting world...
When my mother bought her Kirby she also got the paint sprayer attachment ... as I recall she hoped the old fella would use it to spray the aluminum siding on the house. Barry like that was gonna happen
My great grandfather was an ornamental painter and worked for the Pullman Railroad Car Co. in Illinois. He also painted signs and did gold leaf. Found his way to Oklahoma Territory in 1890. And he painted cars by brush. I never knew him but my grandfather told about his artistry. I have a couple of his guilders tips (for gold leafing) and a couple of his signs.
I have painted a car and a couple of trucks with a roller. I was going for the "flat" look and it turned out well. Easy to do. I even used latex on one. Still looks good. Tom
My recollection not being what it was... Seems to me PPG was selling a primer that was designed to be rolled on. (been several years ago that I read about it) perhaps a quick search would lead you somewhere with that company. Point is, the info for applying the primer may be helpful with the color coat of what ever you use. That said, you can buy pretty good quality spray guns for very low bucks now. The biggest expense is the compressor. If you decide to use a gun, find out what the air volume requirement is for that gun and see how much it will cost for a compressor that will deliver that number of cubic feet per minute. Regards: Paul
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