Paint Your Wagon - with a roller!

[Cruz]

It's a good feeling to be sat here looking at others ongoing hard work knowing I've done my bit

[Ian T]

Hi

Searched most of the thread but can't find info - dim question but I am going to use either satin or matte black on my van. Would I still have to flat back between coats?

Yep, especially with matte as you'll want a super smooth layer to paint on or any roller mark will show through.

Cheers was a little confused so very helpful. I am hoping that a matte finish in this will be different than normal matte paint as it is a pig to keep clean. I am hoping the texture is different which allows for cleaning.

Anyone with experience either way would be wonderful

[bmouthboyo]

I will hopefully be preping my van for a roller job in the next few weeks and wanting to make sure i know what is the correct method to apply filler etc.

Am i right in thinking i clean back to bare metal, apply thin amount of filler to a larger area than the dent etc, then use a flexible rule to remove excess, allow to dry (not sure how long), then flat back (not sure what grit?).

Do i then repeat? when done should I prime as it will be a long proccess prepping the whole van? if so what with?

Also the previous DIY owner seemed to have slapped thick paint allover! And i mean all over, rubbers too . should i try and remove all this to original paint? Or just key and feather any obvious edges / marks?

Cheers guys

[Bulldog1]

Hello,

I've used a dremel to take the seams back to bare metal. Can anyone recommend the correct filler for the seams?

It's been suggested that I paint a couple of coats and then use the filler, prior to the final coat.

Any help appreciated.

[Trundler]

There's a bit of a hiatus in my activities at the moment while the van is in the bodyshop having the N/S rear wheelarch and side panel replaced. Adam at HSG (Hosier Street Garage, Blackburn) is doing the usual great job, as he did on replacing the rear side window but it looks like I may not have the van back for this weekend... damn damn I'm itching to get rollering again!

Still, I've been in to have a look at how the job is progressing and it's looking good! I will post some before and after pics when the van returns and the roller comes out again...

[randiandipandi]

Sorry if this has come up before (I have searched through many many pages of this thread but not all of them!)
How many coats can you get out of 2 x 2.5l cans?

Thanks,

[CovKid]

About 4 coats I'd say. 1 can is a bit mean. 2 cans is ample with enough spare for those 'ooops' incidents later on.

[randiandipandi]

Thank you, starting on the preparation this weekend (and every evening!!!) with a view to 1st coat at the bank holiday but the Great British weather is sooo fickle.

[Trundler]

....but the Great British weather is sooo fickle.

You're right there! The upside of not getting my van back this weekend is that it's going to p... down here in Lancs so it would have been a frustrating painting weekend anyway.

[logeyboy]

Hi,

I've been reading this and thinking about taking the plunge with a little bit of difference.
I have a MK2 Golf Gti that needs a respray. I don't have the £2.5k to get this done professionally as I'm saving all my cash for my wedding this year.
The problem I have is that my car has metallic paint - Volkswagen code LP5U (Bright Blue Metallic).
As I can't roller metallic paint I was wondering if I could find a close matte paint and roller my car. Once cured, then rattle can over the top to get the metallic finish then lacquer?

My thoughts are that I can build up the base colour in Rustoleum (rattle cans for this wouldn't give me a good finish). Once I have a good base finish in near same colour, I can literally lightly dust over the top with a metallic rattle can, as I'm not going for a deep finish with the rattle can just giving it a "top coat"?

Any thoughts? Anyone done anything similar? Am I mad to do this on a rare coloured and specced car?

Thanks

[Trundler]

Only my personal opinion but I think rattle cans are expensive and difficult to get a good finish with, especially on large areas. They are OK for small components, wheels etc but I would never try to do a whole car with them!

If you want to keep your GTI original then you are faced with the cost of a professional respray I think, but if you are of the same mind as many on here, just choose a suitable Combi-Color gloss and get rollering! Some of the solid gloss blues look great (look at CovKid's van for instance) and I recently saw an Audi S3 in a solid light blue which looked brilliant. In fact, I almost think metallics are becoming a bit passe now!

Anyway, back to my van...

Got it back with O/S rear corner repaired and N/S rear side panel and wheelarch replaced (top job by Adam at HSG again).

This weekend, weather permitting, will be a marathon session, painting the whole front panel, the N/S rear side panel, the O/S corner (wheel-arch still needs replacing), the rear lower panel, PLUS a second coat on the roof and rear tailgate. By Monday, more than 50% of the van should have new paint on!

[Trundler]

So, as above, last weekend saw me tackling the front panel, the N/S rear side panel, the O/S corner (wheel-arch still needs replacing), and the rear lower panel. Luckily, the metalwork was not in bad nick really so prep was relatively easy. Excellent repair and panel replacements, already done, helped here.

With rain forecast for bank holiday Monday I decided not to tackle flatting and second-coating the roof and tailgate just yet.

Here are some before and after pics:

Rear corner before paint.JPG

Rear corner after paint 2.JPG

[Trundler]

Continued...

Nearside rear after paint 1.JPG

Front before paint 1.JPG

Front finished 2.JPG

(after the rain came)

After messing about with rattle cans trying to paint the bumper silver-grey I decided to go for body-colour so got the roller out again... result!

[Trundler]

I painted the front in the evening and it got rather cold just after. When I got up in the morning the paint had 'bloomed' in one area:

Front corner paint bloom.JPG

I applied a second coat with some success but having done this before, I don't really think recoating within 24 hours is a good idea. The new paint softens the original layer and you can end up struggling to get a finish in the same way as if you work the paint for too long on initial application. You get one chance only with recoating - one pass then you have to leave it.

It's far better to leave it 3 weeks then flat it before recoating.

[CovKid]

I do say 3 weeks - several times I'm afraid, as well as the need to get cracking early.