Paint Your Wagon - with a roller!

[gaz f]

I put the first coat on yesterday afternoon/evening and had the same issue a few folks have mentioned about bubbles due to the roller. I'm actually wondering if the rollers I got are not really suited to it. BnQ jumbo gloss rollers, maybe it would be better to use the smaller diameter ones as they would surely soak with paint easier? Anyway, I found the best thing to do was as soon as a panel was covered was to use the dry brush technique and this got rid of all the bubbles. I've missed a couple of bits and got a couple of runs but for a first coat I am quite impressed with the finish. It already looks a better paint job than the one it's replacing! One thing to note, I did the roof with black and it was mixed to 25% thinners this was ok but I reckon I should have maybe thinned it a bit more. The light grey though when I tried the same ratio was way too thin and wanted to run off the van! Same ambient temperature so I can only assume the lighter shades require less thinning for some strange reason.
Anyway here are some pics, they were taken at 9pm with my phone but you get the general idea!







Covkid, all I can say it thankyou. If it wasn't for you and this thread I'd have never had the gall to attempt to paint this way.

Supposed to be lots of sun today so it can get a good bake.
Roll on a week so I can get on with the sanding and second coat.

[CovKid]

Looking good! The dry brush does the job if you do get bubbles.

Heres Chickenkoop and myself (yesterday) prepping his camper for repaint. Note wet van, NOT wet sander. And a trip is fitted to cable. Saves mucho time!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KlMc_y8O6Q" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; - AVITT!!!!

[rattybird]

Looking good! The dry brush does the job if you do get bubbles.

Heres Chickenkoop and myself (yesterday) prepping his camper for repaint. Note wet van, NOT wet sander. And a trip is fitted to cable. Saves mucho time!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KlMc_y8O6Q" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; - AVITT!!!!

AVIT !!
i take it that you was using wet and dry fitted to that sander ?

[CovKid]

Yep, naturally.

[gaz f]

I think I will go and buy a cheapo sander and use this technique for rubbing down the first coat. It should make a flatter job of it on the big sections compared to a sanding block too I would imagine.

[CovKid]

Ensure you use a protected power supply. We are not advocating this method whatsoever. Water and electricity do not mix. An orbital sander designed to be used wet is the correct gear to use. In our case, we're sanding a moist vehicle with a FULLY protected supply on awkward areas only.

[boatbuilder]

I'll be doing my entire van very soon....has been rubbed down to bare metal in some places.... rustoleum is ordered.

I'm thinking of vactaning any bare metal, then filler, then a coat of bonda zinc primer, then a few coats of UPOL P88 high build primer. Just want to check with you fellas before I order it.

I'll be using all 1K products, mainly because my apollo spraymate doesn't do 2K.

Q1. Any recommendations for a brand of filler?

Q2. Is it acceptable to apply filler on top of vactan and if so, how does it hold up long term?

Q3. Will there be any sign of the vactan peeling etc?

[CovKid]

If I'm filling over vactan, I usually hit it with the sander seconds before I apply filler. Seems to give better grip and doesn't give the air chance to start corroding again. Rest is fine. Plenty of ways of skinning a cat.

[jackytwoshoes]

What's the best thing to seal the seams back up with?

[CovKid]

Theres a search box top right of this page. Type 'seam sealer' - lots of answers on that one.

[boatbuilder]

If I'm filling over vactan, I usually hit it with the sander seconds before I apply filler. Seems to give better grip and doesn't give the air chance to start corroding again. Rest is fine. Plenty of ways of skinning a cat.

Sounds good, any recommendations on filler brands? There are loads out there and its very confusing!

[rattybird]

If I'm filling over vactan, I usually hit it with the sander seconds before I apply filler. Seems to give better grip and doesn't give the air chance to start corroding again. Rest is fine. Plenty of ways of skinning a cat.

Sounds good, any recommendations on filler brands? There are loads out there and its very confusing!

P38

[CovKid]

No, the newest one with aluminium particles - greater strength than P38 and dead easy to sand. You should find it next to the P38 in Halfords etc.

[RichardN]

Hi, I'm just at the last stage of preparing the doors for painting and was wondering what people have done about the strip of rubber that runs down the front of the door (called a wind deflector I think)? It is pressing against the edge of the door so will make painting without removal tricky however, after 20 years it, it seems fairly well stuck in position.

I don't want to risk damaging the rubber as you can guarantee it's not available any more so can anyone offer tips on it's removal or let me know what they did?

While we're on the subject of doors, how much of the door's window trim did you need to remove? I'm doing this without taking out the windows which is easy on the other windows (I'm lifting the edges with thin cable and then masking) but my door trim seems to be (by now brittle) silver plastic which is not so easy to mask around.

Thanks for any advice.
Richard

[Cruz]

I thought the wind strip could only be removed when the doors are taken off?

I removed the cab door scraper and U channel.

However I did paint that area and the area where the cab door seal sits first and very early in the morning so I could leave the doors open all day to allow it to dry as much as possible before closing the cab doors and replacing the window seals. Didn't bother lifting the rest of the seals with wire though and just masking the rubbers did a great job.