J____
02-24-2010, 12:34 AM
So when I was doing by datsun Z project, a friend of mine forwarded me a thread on the Mopar forums about a guy painting his charger with a roller and $40 paint from home depot. Reading through the thread and process, I was convinced I was going to do it. The method? Thin out Rustoleum Rust paint (Tremclad here in Canada) with mineral spirits and roll it in thin layers onto your car. Once dried, wetsand with progressively higher grit sand paper between each layer until the final layer. Finish with a 2000 grit wet sand and polish with an orbital + compound.
Of course, once I started ROLLING on paint out of a can onto my datsun that I spent 2 summers restoring and doing body work on, I was shitting my pants because it looked like crap with the uneveness and marks. I bit my lip and stuck to the process and eventually when the final layer (10th) was dried and wet sanded, I crossed my fingers as I lowered the PorterCable and meguires rubbing compound onto the Home Depot paint and prayed. The result? Truly amazing, and worth every $40 and 20 hours of rolling + wetsanding. The paint was smooth and glossy as can be, with the perk of being extremely hard and rust resistent.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Blinky2001/IMG_7963.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Blinky2001/IMG_7964.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Blinky2001/IMG_7965.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Blinky2001/IMG_7962.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Blinky2001/IMG_7966.jpg
That was done with a final 1000 grit sanding, and there are spider webbing that's visible into the sun. If you go with 2000 final grit, it would get rid of the marks.
Ok so the pros/cons of this method:
pros:
- Cheap
- durable, the stuff is very HARD. it's hard to scratch (and sand compared to normal car paint)
- easy to 'retouch' (if you scrap it, just roll on some more and wetsand + polish)
- can be color matched to any color via Home Depot, I brought my friend's extra Type-R spoiler into Home Depot and had the lady color match 2 cans of paint to Champion White. Everyone was staring as to why I was inside Home Depot with a car spoiler.
- paint doesnt fade or change color, at least mine hasnt.
- and oh did I meantion CHEAP?
con:
- needs ALOT of elbow grease. Remember, it's not how it looks after you roll the stuff, but all about how you prep the surface and ESPECIALLY how you finish it with wetsanding and polish.
- as time went on (it's been 3 years since i did the process) i found a few hidden cons:
- the rustoleum paint (tremclad here in canada) is not very grime resistent. Unlike normal 2 stage autopaint (base + clear), when grime sticks to it, it's hard to get off. If your hands are oily and dirty from working on ur engine and you put 5 prints on your white fender, you cant just wash it off with soap. You'll have to use some sort of abrasive compound like polish or rubbing compound to get it off. Even the exhaust fumes that leave some white car bumpers black can't be completely washed off. You can get off 80% of it, but you can still see the residue and will need to polish it out. This I believe is due to the nature of the paint as well as how i finished it. I only went up to 1500 grit sandpaper so there are nooks and crannies for grime to easily stick to. I'm sure if i went 2000+ grit, the grime wouldnt stick as much.
- as the years pass, the lusture and gloss of the original buff has been lost. Lots of swirl marks and downs look that great anymore. Have to re polish again.
Ok so I'm 100% positive that there's going to some of you who will say, WTF what a waste of time, the time and effort you put into it is worth more than a $4000 paint job. Yes, that's true, but you're not going to learn anything from sending it to a shop and you wont feel as good driving it and telling ppl it only cost you $40 to paint your car with a ROLLER and Home Depot paint and watch their jaw drop as they see the results. Plus I build the car for track so I'd care less if I crash it or scrape it with a $40 than a $4000 one. Now I'm not saying you should go out right now to buy a bucket of paint and roll it onto your Ferrari, but if you do, props to you and enjoy some major bragging rights haha.
So, now that it's been 3 years and hundreds of ppl trying and mastering this technique and lots of failed attempts at finding a better paint product, this guy from the miata forums found a product to beat the Rustoleum. Same technique, different paint. The guy used a marine boat paint called "Brightside". Not sure where to get them in canada/usa but the results look amazing. My rustoleum (tremclad) paint looked fantastic after a wet sand and polish but never to that 2 stage base + clearcoat shine from normal automotive paint. This paint looks amazing though and apparently even harder and tougher than rustoleum.
Here is the thread with the brightside. truly amazing in the shine over the rustoleum
http://www.miataturbo.net/forum/t5199/
http://swoolmer.bigblog.com.au/data/1/8197/image/RIMG00036645620061119100452.JPG
http://swoolmer.bigblog.com.au/data/1/8197/image/RIMG00156645720061119100452.JPG
here is the brightside company website. Company is called interlux.
http://www.yachtpaint.com/usa/default.asp
anyone knw where to get it locally?
1 good thing about rustoleum is you can get it at your local homedepot and they can color match it, I'm not sure you can colormatch this though, however the shine over the rustoleum is worth the lack of color choice.
here's the thread i started on our Datsun forums. It's 11 pages of trial and error and results from the members for those interested in undertaking this method.
http://forums.hybridz.org/index.php?/topic/42580-painting-a-car-with-a-roller/
Of course, once I started ROLLING on paint out of a can onto my datsun that I spent 2 summers restoring and doing body work on, I was shitting my pants because it looked like crap with the uneveness and marks. I bit my lip and stuck to the process and eventually when the final layer (10th) was dried and wet sanded, I crossed my fingers as I lowered the PorterCable and meguires rubbing compound onto the Home Depot paint and prayed. The result? Truly amazing, and worth every $40 and 20 hours of rolling + wetsanding. The paint was smooth and glossy as can be, with the perk of being extremely hard and rust resistent.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Blinky2001/IMG_7963.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Blinky2001/IMG_7964.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Blinky2001/IMG_7965.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Blinky2001/IMG_7962.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Blinky2001/IMG_7966.jpg
That was done with a final 1000 grit sanding, and there are spider webbing that's visible into the sun. If you go with 2000 final grit, it would get rid of the marks.
Ok so the pros/cons of this method:
pros:
- Cheap
- durable, the stuff is very HARD. it's hard to scratch (and sand compared to normal car paint)
- easy to 'retouch' (if you scrap it, just roll on some more and wetsand + polish)
- can be color matched to any color via Home Depot, I brought my friend's extra Type-R spoiler into Home Depot and had the lady color match 2 cans of paint to Champion White. Everyone was staring as to why I was inside Home Depot with a car spoiler.
- paint doesnt fade or change color, at least mine hasnt.
- and oh did I meantion CHEAP?
con:
- needs ALOT of elbow grease. Remember, it's not how it looks after you roll the stuff, but all about how you prep the surface and ESPECIALLY how you finish it with wetsanding and polish.
- as time went on (it's been 3 years since i did the process) i found a few hidden cons:
- the rustoleum paint (tremclad here in canada) is not very grime resistent. Unlike normal 2 stage autopaint (base + clear), when grime sticks to it, it's hard to get off. If your hands are oily and dirty from working on ur engine and you put 5 prints on your white fender, you cant just wash it off with soap. You'll have to use some sort of abrasive compound like polish or rubbing compound to get it off. Even the exhaust fumes that leave some white car bumpers black can't be completely washed off. You can get off 80% of it, but you can still see the residue and will need to polish it out. This I believe is due to the nature of the paint as well as how i finished it. I only went up to 1500 grit sandpaper so there are nooks and crannies for grime to easily stick to. I'm sure if i went 2000+ grit, the grime wouldnt stick as much.
- as the years pass, the lusture and gloss of the original buff has been lost. Lots of swirl marks and downs look that great anymore. Have to re polish again.
Ok so I'm 100% positive that there's going to some of you who will say, WTF what a waste of time, the time and effort you put into it is worth more than a $4000 paint job. Yes, that's true, but you're not going to learn anything from sending it to a shop and you wont feel as good driving it and telling ppl it only cost you $40 to paint your car with a ROLLER and Home Depot paint and watch their jaw drop as they see the results. Plus I build the car for track so I'd care less if I crash it or scrape it with a $40 than a $4000 one. Now I'm not saying you should go out right now to buy a bucket of paint and roll it onto your Ferrari, but if you do, props to you and enjoy some major bragging rights haha.
So, now that it's been 3 years and hundreds of ppl trying and mastering this technique and lots of failed attempts at finding a better paint product, this guy from the miata forums found a product to beat the Rustoleum. Same technique, different paint. The guy used a marine boat paint called "Brightside". Not sure where to get them in canada/usa but the results look amazing. My rustoleum (tremclad) paint looked fantastic after a wet sand and polish but never to that 2 stage base + clearcoat shine from normal automotive paint. This paint looks amazing though and apparently even harder and tougher than rustoleum.
Here is the thread with the brightside. truly amazing in the shine over the rustoleum
http://www.miataturbo.net/forum/t5199/
http://swoolmer.bigblog.com.au/data/1/8197/image/RIMG00036645620061119100452.JPG
http://swoolmer.bigblog.com.au/data/1/8197/image/RIMG00156645720061119100452.JPG
here is the brightside company website. Company is called interlux.
http://www.yachtpaint.com/usa/default.asp
anyone knw where to get it locally?
1 good thing about rustoleum is you can get it at your local homedepot and they can color match it, I'm not sure you can colormatch this though, however the shine over the rustoleum is worth the lack of color choice.
here's the thread i started on our Datsun forums. It's 11 pages of trial and error and results from the members for those interested in undertaking this method.
http://forums.hybridz.org/index.php?/topic/42580-painting-a-car-with-a-roller/