Club 80-90 Forums

Pleasure Geoff although if I had been given a pint from everyone who has followed the article, I'd be legless

I also understand that there will be those that will only put their bus into a spray shop. I'm a realist, and any knowledgable T25 owner (in fact owners of any vehicle over 20 years old) will tell you that no matter what you do, the rust worn will make its presence known eventually, particularly down seams. For many, the hand rollered finish, even without flatting suits them fine, shrugs off the British weather easily and at the same time slows down corrosion. You can also match (and even surpass) a sprayed finish if you build layers slowly and use a little elbow grease. I guess you could look at it as the same kind of spruce-up carried out on narrowboats, protecting it from the elements and giving it a new lease of life.

For me, a £2k spray job (whilst great looking) is a rather short-lived result unless you're willing to put it back in the shop at some point to sort out minor rust bubbles and scrapes, as well as matching the colour again. The cost starts to stack up then - nothing lasts forever. Rollering is a more practical approach and you can even give it an extra coat just before the winter on areas that are likely to face salt and grit with little extra prep involved. The technique works particularly well with Rustoleum Combicolor and theres a wide range of colours to choose from as well (if you want to go that far) the possibility for mixing your own or matching an original VW shade.

For T25 owners over in Ireland, Paintshop.ie will give you a discount if you're painting a camper and give them my name - they know the WIKI article and Youtube video well but wherever you buy the paint, the cost is significantly less that a sprayshop. You can spray it of course, but rollering is within most peoples budgets/expertise and its helping to keep these wonderful vehicles going for a great deal longer.

Ralph - CovKid

P.S. The other good thing about rollering is that if you have to do a major repair (see below) - repainting the area takes a few minutes at most!

Paint came today, grinding, prep and filling 2moro providing weather is ok!

Thanks covkid, just got a 15% discount from kate at paintshop.ie after mentioning your name. Many thanks again.

A great family-owned firm who are very helpful and were quite impressed with the WIKI article. Glad it saved you a few quid!

They do a lot of industrial paints so well worth exploring their website http://www.paintshop.ie/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Helpful on the phone too!

is thiswho i speak to when ordering the paint!

I'm eager for spring to arrive so I can get my 2nd hand cab door on and get the 2nd coat of rustoleum on the van. Hopefully doing 2nd and 3rd coats this year.....but I said I'd do two last year but was far too busy camping in September

I am hooked now as well, just ordered two 2.5ltr tins of ivory from rawstons and just waiting for a brake in the weather to start. I have read this tread a number of times and have tried to take on board all the good advice. I am treating the small rust areas with Vatcan as per the instructions, Just one question. Is Vactan water resistant ? As when i used it the following day it rained and when i rubbed my hand along the rust patch, the vactan appeared to rub off. The rust has gone black and what came off appears to be surplus over painting by me, is this normal.
I have treated myself to a professional polishing kit with all the buffing and sanding heads, but at what stage do i start to either cut back or polish. I have never used this kit before and don't want to screw up the paint job. Cheers Karl.

karl40 wrote:I am hooked now as well, just ordered two 2.5ltr tins of ivory from rawstons and just waiting for a brake in the weather to start. I have read this tread a number of times and have tried to take on board all the good advice. I am treating the small rust areas with Vatcan as per the instructions, Just one question. Is Vactan water resistant ? As when i used it the following day it rained and when i rubbed my hand along the rust patch, the vactan appeared to rub off. The rust has gone black and what came off appears to be surplus over painting by me, is this normal.
I have treated myself to a professional polishing kit with all the buffing and sanding heads, but at what stage do i start to either cut back or polish. I have never used this kit before and don't want to screw up the paint job. Cheers Karl.

Vactan is water restant, but I have found if you have salt grit put on the roads, it comes off and it starts to rust again.

Vactan will go black and the surplus will rub off.

Polishing is the end game, you will probably need to paint it 2-3 times first (dont forget to rub down between coats)

Thanks for the leg-up, can i treat the underside of the van with Vactan or will it require a top coat of undersill??

You will need to put some sort of paint underneath

I use this stuff

http://www.therustshop.com/shop/index.p ... ductId=142" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

You can use vactan anywhere but as Eatcustard says, you need a protective paint underneath 'on top' (if that makes sense). Hammerite is no bad thing on the underside although old engine oil is still a favourite with some. Underseal (in my view) is fine if the vehicle is new but can simply trap rust on an older one.

geoff7 wrote:Hi Covkid
First I owe you a big thank you for putting me onto roller painting through your thread which I read 2 years ago. when I saw Paint your van for £50 my first thought was we have got a joker here,I read it right through and phoned a order through to Southampton for the paint and thinners.I followed your instructions word for word and painted my t25 hightop with it.The end result was PERFECT regularly I am asked how much was the respray mate.The total cost includeing polish 240volt buffer, 4inch roller kit,wet and dry was £90.The qoute I got for a respray was £1400, So if we ever meet Covkid I owe you a pint or two.

Hi, any chance of a pic? I have just recieved my paint today and when van back from garage (welding) and some final prep then I am going to start rollering!!!! I am so excited!!!

BUT pics are inspirational so I would love to see how it looks.

Beckie x

There are quite a few pics in this now long thread as well as a few I transferred to WIKI, You can also find many examples of rustoleum finishes on many U.S. sites. That said, please do post more photos so newbies can feel equally inspired.

Hi guys - just a quick question - where's the cheapest place to buy 2.5 litre tins of rustoleum now - my supplier (farnells) where i got my last lot have stopped doing it. Thanks in advance

paintshop.ie are helpful Glenn (family-run firm) and know 80/90 and my youtube video - talk to them as they'll give you a discount if you mention my name and the club. Theres also Lawsons at Southampton although so far I've no had much truck with them securing a better price.