My coupe is just about ready to have the paint freshened up after chopping it. I'm thinking i might want to brush paint it. Does anyone have any experience with doing this that they'd like to share? Type of paint/brush,etc. ? Or just opinions/advice? Pics are always great too. Thanks!
There was a really good thread on this a year or so ago. I can't remember who's it was though. Try this: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=518921&highlight=painting+with+brush
You should look up one of the million or so sites on roller painting. Don't laugh or barf. About 5 years ago a guy posted on a Mopar web site about how he painted his Charger for $50 with hardware store paint and a roller. Building up coat after coat and wet sanding in between. He got a real nice job. Since then a lot of guys have taken up the idea. Some recommend yacht paint, it is meant to be applied with a roller or brush. It has been debated pro and con, and a lot of paint jobs have been done with more or less success. The technique works if you give it a chance. Hot Rod magazine got involved and did an article a couple of years ago. Try a search for $50 paint job, etc and you will find plenty of info.
Interesting idea for sure. I am still kind of in shock over the idea of stripping paint off a car with a razor blade. The guys that do it tell me it's faster and cleaning then using a DA. Sounds crazy but they swear it works. Jimbo
I know someone who's done this, the results were quite decent and he was very pleased. I think he used the Rustoleum-industrial-enamel route. At least of the time he did it, the technique involved a sizeable number of thin coats and a fair amount of hand sanding in between. As with most things bodywork, the quality of the finish is directly related to the quality of the prep work. And, of course, your selection of colors is going to be limited.
The original job used Tremclad orange rust paint as a substitute for Hemi Orange. 2 thin wet coats, wet sand, 2 more coats, wet sand, 2 final coats, wet sand and buff to a shine then wax. That is the basic formula.
I was skeptical also. I went to Walmart & spent $3.00 on a Stanley window scraper (3" or 89mm) and spent an hour on the rear section. Came out well Sent from my iPhone using TJJ
I worked in a body shop 10 years ago. We stripped tons of cars with razor blades. Especially easy for the GM cars that used to have delamination problems. Stripped my 72 Nova that way. It is actually fun for the first 10 minutes!
I have done quite a few old trucks with a brush. Oil base enamel, with an additive called "Penetrol", spend $20-$30 on a top quality China Bristle brush, take your time and try to do a neat job. Won't win any shows, but most will never believe it was brush painted either.
The yacht paint I have used is Z SPAR I did the rollbar in my racecar it really looks sprayed. I also did all my workbenches. some doors were 20"x36". I painted them in the sun and they came out awsome. No thinning its self leveling. Painted the bottom half of My old pickup white it turned out great. FEDER
It can be done. Thin paint just enough for paint to flow. Overlap brush strokes, but do not go back and try to brush over your first strokes. A good brush with fine bristles will work. After paint has dried, you can color sand just enough to flatten the brush strokes and buff to a gloss. Take your time, no one has to know.
I stripped most of the paint off my 36 Chevy truck with a razor blade and a paint scrapper. It was lacquer so it came off pretty easy. I plan on brushing the primer and top coat using Rustoleum satin paint. Im not doing it for PATINA or anything else like that, I just dont feel like spraying the finish and the truck will be used for just beating around. It has been shiney red lacquer since 1981 and I dont need two shiney vehicles. I dont plan on sanding between coats to hide brush strokes or doing anything else to make it purdy. Hopefully it all works out and it ends up looking like a paint job ! Mitch.
Here's the thread Rusty mentioned (I think) it's about the 9th response: http://board.moparts.org/ Here's a pic of the car:
This is looking good to me. It's getting harder for an amateur painter to function. In the past I've sprayed several cars with acrylic but now that has been phased out here. Now it's urethane which requires a different reducer and activator and is even more dangerous to your health even with HVLP. My paint jobs require wet sanding anyway so I'm definetly going to look into this.
I remember my dad painting a Mini with a brush in the 80s. He had the pot of enamel paint in a saucepan of hot water over a camping stove and was working in direct sun. The paint wasn't hardly thinned but it sat down and didn't show any brush marks. Apparently that was how they all used to paint their cars back in the day.
My grandfather painted his jeep with a brush and his buddy came over and said "Floyd you paint that thing by hand he said yes, well next time you should use a brush" it was funny but it looked pretty good after a wet sand. I looked at your chop looks good painting by brush or roller would look great on your car. Brent on the Utah hambers has done a T this way looks nice.
Over here I'd use tractor paint (Tractol, sorry but I bet you've never heard of it but you'll no doubt have similar) it flows well and dries hard. Warming the paint will make it flow better as said, or add a few drops of linseed oil (if enamel paint) to the paint to act as an extender. Use a good quality brush. You'll have to work fast, one panel at a time obviously and get plenty of paint on initially as you'll be working the paint around. Work the brush lines out with lighter and lighter pressure, ie up and down strokes, then left and right, then finishing with very light pressured 'up strokes' that start from the panel edge. Another way I've found is to brush the paint on then use a baby sponge to dab the brush lines out. This will put bubbles in the paint but if you sponge very very lightly again the bubbles will disappear. You may have to do this twice or so with very light sponge pressure, I mean hardly any. The smaller the holes are in the sponge to start off with the easier it will be to remove the bubbles leaving you with a glass-like finish. Well works for me anyway. My Dimes worth...Don't put paint on with a roller, it never puts enough on and will easily give dry spots and dry lines.
i know i remember seeing a video of guys removing bad paint jobs just by peeling it by hand. it came off like a band aid!
It's just like painting a a house door, just do the best you can. Try to make long strokes, don't worry if you mess up ,It's very forgiven.
Gator thanks for the link and photo. Looks pretty good for $9 a quart Tremclad rust paint doesn't it.
Just my two cents. John Deere has several paints made for them. One of the colors is Blitz Black. We have sold tons of it to HOT RODERS, not farmers. Many of the guys are buying gallons of it. I'm sure they're spraying it. But I bet it could be brushed on just as easily. Great thread and idea. Whats the update? Did you end up brushing it??
hells nah dude, sprayed it. you saw it at breakfast sunday didn't you? the green one with the white top?
A neighbor used a "paint kit" the do his car,..what I remember most is the mitt that he used, so apply the paint. This was in the early 50's. 4TTRUK
In the 70s I was in England. I visited the ERF truck factory in Sandbach and was shocked to see two old guys brush painting a cab. I was told that if you wanted you could have your new truck brush painted. Oil based enamel and a lot of skill. I was even more shocked to see how it turned out. Unbelievable!!!!. Smooth as silk and glossy as a mirror. Plus one of the old guys could run pinstripes. I think to brush paint a car I would be very nervous. Enamel, penetrol and a great brush I can get. But skill can't be bought.
I watched my father.....a mechanic since 1923...paint cars with a brush in the 50's. He used lacquer paint. It workd the best, if you can find it. He would give the car a coat of paint. Let it dry, sand it with fine sandpaper, wash, brush on another coat, repeat until he got the desired coverage. Then after final sanding, he would use rubbing compound to polish it to a fine shiney finish. After he was done, you could not tell it was painted with a brush. He told me, that was the way the did it "back in the day" "Wasn't anybody there except me and Little Skeet"
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