Paint Your Wagon - with a roller!

[chuckle-bus-tom]

Great day for it folks! I've been out since 6 getting the final coat of White on the top. I really took my time today and I'm chuffed to bits with the results. I am now quite literally watching paint dry. Hopefully the weather will hold so I can start on the lower in the morning.

[SEREN123]

wow, very impressed. its quite stunning. in the process of treating rust and rubbing down my T25 , you've given me inspiration to get stuck in.

[Jase&Sar]

Quick questions:-

Is there anything else I can use instead of Rustoleum? Our van has been handpainted with household exterior metal gloss. Would Hammerite Repaint do the job, being rollered, if the van was rubbed down?

If not, is there anywhere else I can buy Rustoleum, apart from ordering from Lawsons. We are in Bristol.

Any Advice?

Many thanks in advance.

Sara

[Cruz]

Yes order it from http://www.combicolor.co.uk" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Jase&Sar]

Thanks for that Shaun, I'll check it out.

Sara

[CovKid]

Would NOT recommend Hammerite - it is a devil to flatten/sand and won't flow or have the same density as combicolor. Ask anyone on here that has ever been unfortunate enough to have a van painted in hammerite - it ain't nice to deal with. Hammerite is fine for wheels, things like that but body paint - don't do it.

[Jase&Sar]

Thank you very much for your help.

OK, we promise not to use Hammershite.

We are finding sanding it down not much fun at the moment, because the household gloss is on so thick. Will the combicolor cover the gloss, or do we have to take it right back to the original white paint? We were hoping that flattening down the bumps and giving the rest of it a good key would be enough?

Found the combicolor link good, I guess ordering it is the way to go. Was able to get a good look at the colours available. We're going for the palest yellow - RAL 1018.

Will spend the next week reading and re-reading the wiki guide, and this thread.

Thanks again.

Sara & Jase

[chuckle-bus-tom]

I must be going mad, I was up at 5 this morning putting a coat of grey on the bottom half in the rush hour traffic! I still made it to work at 8!

Jase&Sar: keep at it! I'd recommend getting the gloss off for the little extra work it'll take or ultimately all your efforts could be in vain. If you have a Lidl supermarket near you try them as I got an orbital sander for £20 which sanded my van a treat! The gloss could well be hiding bodywork horrors, so sanding it off will allow you to get those sorted before doing the rollering. Roller painting is rewarding and exciting, but belive me, you don't want to do more than you have to!

Get in there feet first, you'll love the results!

The best of luck to you!

Thank you very much for your help.

OK, we promise not to use Hammershite.

We are finding sanding it down not much fun at the moment, because the household gloss is on so thick. Will the combicolor cover the gloss, or do we have to take it right back to the original white paint? We were hoping that flattening down the bumps and giving the rest of it a good key would be enough?

Found the combicolor link good, I guess ordering it is the way to go. Was able to get a good look at the colours available. We're going for the palest yellow - RAL 1018.

Will spend the next week reading and re-reading the wiki guide, and this thread.

Thanks again.

Sara & Jase

[weldore]

ok just thought i would stick my ore in now...

before..

now i had a big problem that my van was hammerited when i got it and normal rattle can paint would react to it so when i'd welded/filled and sanded i couldnt see if i had got it smooth enough for the top coat..so i bought a can of barcoat and sprayed that on...



it came in premixed form so it was a breeze to spray on
then i thought i would have a go at spraying the van....big mistake as i have no-where other than the drive to do it and at the time it wasnt the warmest of days and it ran!!!big runs all down my van!!!

so thats what made me try out the rollering thing and it worked a treat,could do as much as i wanted and as little as i wanted at any opportune time.it has very slight orange peel effect but at 3 feet away it looks like any other paint job on a car ...


only problem i had was the colour difference from the barcoat to the white..it took 3 coats to cover it completely but i still have around 1/3 of the tin left

[Flibbertigibbet]

I have read all of this thread probably 3 times read the wiki and seen the video and about to ask a really silly question.......

Is flatting back simply rubbing the paintwork with wet and dry and soapy water .I did try google but mostly found Flat Eric

Also where can I buy Vatcan locally and is this just used on bare metal ?

[weldore]

i just went into my local car shop and asked for some rust treatment and they gave me 'rust remedy'..think its by loctite..seemed to work ok as i removed all the mastick from the gutters and i put it all down one side.i forgot about the other side anyway ive been out to treat the untreated side today as i found the side that i hadnt treated had rusty stains running down the side of the van but the treated side was fine.then i put a generouse helping of rustoleum in there to make it water tight again...looks good

rubbing down is just that...lots of soapy water and some wet and dry and a hell of a lot of elbow grease.i did a bit on my van the other day and it looks really good, but i would leave it 'at least' the couple of weeks ,as mentioned on here to give the paint time to harden up

[Jase&Sar]

Jase&Sar: keep at it! I'd recommend getting the gloss off for the little extra work it'll take or ultimately all your efforts could be in vain. If you have a Lidl supermarket near you try them as I got an orbital sander for £20 which sanded my van a treat! The gloss could well be hiding bodywork horrors, so sanding it off will allow you to get those sorted before doing the rollering. Roller painting is rewarding and exciting, but belive me, you don't want to do more than you have to!

Get in there feet first, you'll love the results!

The best of luck to you!

Jason is using an orbital sander - the gloss is on there that flipping thick!

We were talking last night, after seeing pics of Dave's lovely van, and decided if we're going to do it, we may as well do as good a job as we possibly can. So we've cancelled everything for the weekend and we'll be out there sanding. Cross fingers for good weather.

What grade sandpaper should we be using, and what grade do you use for the flattening back stages?

Sorry if I'm asking stupid questions, neither of us are mechanically or even DIY minded, so we don't have a clue.

Many thanks.

Sar

[CovKid]

If the worst comes to the worst, you could use a blowtorch (not near fuel lines or near ANYTHING that would scorch/burn) or paint stripper (again be very careful - read the instructions). Abrasive to get the gloss off - whatever it takes. 600 grade is ideal for final key to get the rustoleum to stick.

I honestly think Rustoleum was MADE for VW campers.....

[weldore]

if its as thick as you say it is get some 120 grit on your sander and do each panel at a time then when it seems to be flatting it move up to a finer grade then if need be move to a finer grade,on my van was a yellow band all the way round and it was thick..thicker than a thick thing and i ended up working my way up from 80 grit on that .
it is a big job and seems never ending but if you can do 1 side not including the door and get your first coat of paint on..it will inspire you to do the rest.if you can ,take the windows out (but expect rust and bodge jobs around the cut outs) but it will make a really good job of it.they arnt that hard to remove and a bit of a pain to put back in but once you have done one it gets easier.with gails help i can put a window back in and the trim in about 5 mins.

[chuckle-bus-tom]

Jase&Sar: keep at it! I'd recommend getting the gloss off for the little extra work it'll take or ultimately all your efforts could be in vain. If you have a Lidl supermarket near you try them as I got an orbital sander for £20 which sanded my van a treat! The gloss could well be hiding bodywork horrors, so sanding it off will allow you to get those sorted before doing the rollering. Roller painting is rewarding and exciting, but belive me, you don't want to do more than you have to!

Get in there feet first, you'll love the results!

The best of luck to you!

Jason is using an orbital sander - the gloss is on there that flipping thick!

We were talking last night, after seeing pics of Dave's lovely van, and decided if we're going to do it, we may as well do as good a job as we possibly can. So we've cancelled everything for the weekend and we'll be out there sanding. Cross fingers for good weather.

What grade sandpaper should we be using, and what grade do you use for the flattening back stages?

Sorry if I'm asking stupid questions, neither of us are mechanically or even DIY minded, so we don't have a clue.

Many thanks.

Sar

As Weldore says, start in the low numbers (the lower number the coarser the paper) and work up jumping no more than two grades at a time. Like Weldore I had to start on 80 and work up, although I was only removing spray and undercoat. I finished on 200 before the first coat of rustoleum and I've been using 600 to flat between coats.

Although the WIKI suggests getting your wet n dry paper from the pound shop, I splashed out and went to Halfords; I just preferred the selection and pack sizes!