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Painting with a roller? Anyone

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by Colinm, Apr 16, 2012.

  1. Colinm
    Joined: Jul 18, 2010
    Posts: 70

    Colinm
    Member

    Sounds crazy but I'm thinking of going real old school and using a basic wall paint roller to roll the blood red and cream color onto my Chevy. Anyone out there ever tried this method ? Any pictures before I attempt it on a test panel?

    Let me know your thoughts

    Colin m
    SoCal
     
  2. I've done it, but only with primer and it worked like a charm, but you should use a lacker roller, they're a little finer in the hairs on the roll.

    Klaus
     
  3. dtelker
    Joined: Jun 22, 2011
    Posts: 18

    dtelker
    Member
    from Indy

    I've heard of folks doing this "back in the day", with either a roller or a brush. As it was explained to me, the key ingredient to getting a good looking paint job is heat. Specifically, the car should sit out in the sun for several hours before being painted. The hot body panels will cause the rolled or brushed paint to swell, eliminating brush or roller strokes. I was warned that if I ever tried this (and I haven't), never attempt it with anything but old school lacquer paints, and never a metallic.
    All that being said, I'm a professional body man who has made a career of high quality paint work on high-end cars. The only brush I ever use is made by Iwata, and that is for true-fire flame jobs, highlighting and texture, or touch-ups. Everything else gets sprayed with an HVLP gravity-feed Devilbis. LOL I wouldn't recommend doing a paint job with a roller, but I want pics of how it turns out. :)
    Good luck! :D
     
  4. Lucky 7 Thirteen
    Joined: Mar 25, 2012
    Posts: 7

    Lucky 7 Thirteen
    Member
    from barstow ca

    I've rolled rustoliumum thinned with minneral spirits. 1 part thinner to 2 parts paint if its cool out side, or half and half if hot. Do a lot of coats, and set sand, or leave.. I used the super fine mini rollers from home depot.. I've had real nice results, and durable.
     

  5. Cowtown Speed Shop
    Joined: Sep 26, 2010
    Posts: 1,192

    Cowtown Speed Shop
    Member
    from KC

    what is old school about painting a car with a roller? just sounds like a dumb idea too me, Unless you want your car to look like your living room wall. But hell I am curoius myself as to just how bad it will look, So go ahead and post pics after....You can always sand it back off.....LOL
     
  6. zep058
    Joined: Jan 9, 2007
    Posts: 599

    zep058
    Member

    Hate to be the one to say "do a search" but search for $50 paintjob and get all the information and techniques. But depends if you want a cheap paintjob that with lots of wet sanding yields reasonable results.
     
  7. I worked with a guy from England years ago that did restoration work on antique cars and they did all the paint with bushes. He said they would do about ten to twelve coats of lacquer and wet sand between every coat.
     
  8. lolife
    Joined: May 23, 2006
    Posts: 1,125

    lolife
    Member

    They call it a Liver because you can't live without it.

    Wear gloves and a respirator. It's the solvents !

    Actually, in the 50's, I don't think they color sanded, they just rubbed it out. That's the story I heard, not being there :)
     
  9. TexA
    Joined: Sep 7, 2010
    Posts: 13

    TexA
    Member

    Back in the late"50s" I painted my 50 Olds 4dr with a roller. Painted it gray and all the kids wrote their names all over it.... It was BLAST :)
     
  10. hogridenfool
    Joined: Jan 31, 2009
    Posts: 68

    hogridenfool
    Member
    from chicago

    Had one old guy telling me he painted his car with a pump type bug sprayer??
     
  11. Ruidoso
    Joined: Sep 6, 2011
    Posts: 26

    Ruidoso
    Member

    good info here

    there´s even a link to a Magazine article
     
  12. dragster dude
    Joined: May 21, 2010
    Posts: 194

    dragster dude
    Member

    Myself and some mates painted our friends car(holden gemini)with a 4inch wide brush what we did was put the paint can into a bucket of warm water the results must have been prety good he left it painted that way untill he sold the car 5 yrs later .By the way we painted it hot pink so it wasnt because we painted it a cool colour(even his wife wouldent be seen in it but he drove it every day).
     
  13. I used to paint my stock cars with Rustoleum paint and those throwaway mini rollers you get in hardware stores. The ones that use the package as the roller pan.

    Of course in the full sun, which is a double edged sword if it was too hot out, it would start drying right as it was laid on. It looked great from the stands, up close, so-so. I'm sure it could be improved upon with some color sanding and multiple coats.

    Bob
     
  14. Just for fun I wanted to try the "$50.00 paint job" method. I only painted a locker door and it came out really nice. Lots of wet sanding.
     
  15. kustoms36
    Joined: Dec 19, 2007
    Posts: 200

    kustoms36
    Member

  16. outlaw256
    Joined: Jun 26, 2008
    Posts: 2,022

    outlaw256
    Member

    painting with a brush or roller isnt old school. it was done but by people would didnt have the funds to do it right.i have heard some did it in the day but it wasnt a regular cool thing to do. i just started hearing about this method again a few yrs ago. we do high dollar paint in our shop. i couldnt wrap my mind around why anyone would want to do it. i dont want to make anyone mad but imo its kinda a ratrod attitude thing.i know there are more than one way to skin a cat but sometimes its just better to leave the cat alone.
     
  17. scott 351 wins
    Joined: Dec 22, 2009
    Posts: 434

    scott 351 wins
    Member

    Henry Ford painted his early cars using brushes so why not then.
     
  18. outlaw256
    Joined: Jun 26, 2008
    Posts: 2,022

    outlaw256
    Member

    and when did old henry quit doing it with a brush?i quess if you were going to paint a t fine but not on anything much later.but its his car so have at it. but i think a man should take alittle pride in his ride. and try to make it ,ah hell never mind.lol
     
  19. okiedokie
    Joined: Jul 5, 2005
    Posts: 4,785

    okiedokie
    Member
    from Ok

    I painted my bed cover on my F100 with satin Rustoleum and with a fine knap roller. I will try to post a picture. It worked out fine and you can't tell it was rolled. Took a while to cure out, but looks great.
     
  20. krooser
    Joined: Jul 25, 2004
    Posts: 4,584

    krooser
    Member

    The paint really doesn't care how it got on the car... brush, roller, spray or hand grenade. If you prep the surface well you can wet sand the car and get a pretty darn good finish...

    In the 60's we used to paint our rides in the alley using the ass end of an Electrolux vacuum cleaner... the nearest air compressor was at the local gas station. If we had waited for one of the guys to come up with a compressor, our first paint jobs would have been on Ford Pintos and Chevy Novas instead of Deuces and Shoeboxes....

    Many of those great old cars you see in old photos were painted with a brush or got a lacquer spray job in someone's driveway.

    Here's a Rustoleum roller job on a Mustang hood... I can see YOUR reflection in it!

    http://meguiarsonline.com/forums/photopost/data/1096/medium/Hood_final_polish_006.JPG
     
    Last edited: Apr 16, 2012
  21. I can remember seeing a few car's, back in the day, that were painted with a roller and house paint, they looked like shit. To each his own, I guess. Are you planning on painting it to match your house?
     
  22. goose-em
    Joined: Aug 23, 2008
    Posts: 349

    goose-em
    Member
    from Louisiana

    PRior to 1924 it was common to brush or roll paint on an automobile. Heres a photo
     

    Attached Files:

  23. Yeah and they used to nail the skin on. Still don't make it a good idea...
     
  24. Want old try a broom...lol
     
  25. I'm not sure anyone here is thinking of using house paint.
    Any solid color SS enamel can be applied how ever, like krooser said " The paint really doesn't care how it got on the car... brush, roller, spray or hand grenade." :cool:

    Rustoleum, trem-clad, valspar tractor & implement paint, can be put on too & with the hardner works and looks pretty good. Show winners, probably not but decent, reasonable, backyard approved, shining paint.

    There's plenty of idle dry time involved, lots of labor wet sanding, I can't see any sane person that would actually pay to have it done this way. But if you have nothing but time, don't have a compressor or gun, have neighbor issues, enjoy shoulder cramps, short on cash but long on enthusiasm, there's no reason why you couldn't have a decent paint job.
     
  26. silversink
    Joined: May 3, 2008
    Posts: 916

    silversink
    Member

    In the 50's that was the way to paint the farm rigs along with the old cars that lower waged hotrodders owned along with every other highschool kids old car.
    I have done them before with varying results, My high school ride( 45.00 car) 34 -3win. Ford coup had one we did in Auto shop at school in Enamel and you couldn't tell it wasn't sprayed after wet sanding. All our farm trucks were painted the same color and sanded to a bright finish in the 60's.
    I wouldn't do it again because spraying is easyer, but it can be done with good results if the paint is thick enough.
     
  27. Worked ok for me, but labor intensive

    [​IMG]

    five years later still holding up and reflecting the tank in it

    [​IMG]
     
  28. Did it with a lot of coats of thinned down satin black rustoleum and a lot of wet sanding over a sanded black car. Two years and it still looks good. I have not tried a drastic color change and i think that it would take a lot more coats and a better prepared surface to start. Hot Rod did an article where they did a white gloss color on an old corvair. I stayed away from anything glossy because the it takes more perfection.
    I used both foam rollers and brushes with a lot of smoothing out. Do not paint it in direct sunlight on hot metal because the paint will dry on application on you will be sanding forever. I would get up in the morning early sand apply a coat
    let it dry a little then drive it to work and repeat the next day.
    Rustoleum is graet but I have been told that it will not let other types of paint adhere to it, so it needs to be painted with Rustoleum or completely stripped for any further paint jobs, so you might want to look into auto enamel instead
    I did not care.
    Hey I'm not diminishing the perfect paint jobs of a good body person, it's a real skill, but sometimes its about doing it yourself as best you can and having fun. Its cheap and something dad would of done and bragged about for the rest of his life.
     
  29. allstarderrick
    Joined: Jul 23, 2007
    Posts: 603

    allstarderrick
    Member

    Painting with a roller might be "old school" but it doesn't mean it's any good. Why would you want to do that?
     
  30. Roger Walling
    Joined: Sep 26, 2010
    Posts: 1,149

    Roger Walling
    Member

    As a professional painter I was using a roller to paint the raised guard rail stripes on a school bus once. A friend spotted me and I have never lived it down. And that was 30 years ago.
    <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:eek:ffice:eek:ffice" /><o:p></o:p>
    Ps, it works great with a smooth roller and enamel, no masking!<o:p></o:p>
     

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