Should you soak the roller enough that it gives smooth coverage with little pressure, or go ahead and push down to get the paint everywhere, then roll over it again with light pressure?
Thanks for your help... I know this can be done and I am not going to give up, but I'm in need of some help and advice.
Well, revelation!
I learned some things today that I want to share in case it helps somebody else out.
* Check out other cars in the parking lot at work or at the store, using the same critical eye and angles you're checking your own work out with. Guess what? I did and something like HALF of the cars I checked had WORSE orange peel than what I considered 'horrible' on mine. Kind of puts things in perspective when several of the automakers crank out worse work than I'm doing in my garage with a foam roller and sandpaper.
* Thin the paint out. It seems like I am at 40% mineral spirits at this point, but I can tell that things are going the right way. I won't bother to measure and rather add until it's milk-like consistency from now on.
* Thin your coats out! I re-read the thread a couple of times and started pushing the paint out of the roller so that it wasn't really soaked when I put it on the car. Then I pushed down on it while rolling to squish the paint out. Got very thin, smooth coats, and even tried it on a vertical surface. Zero runs and very even!
The last coat hasn't dried yet and I can already tell it'll be tons better than any of my previous ones.
