Thanks

Would like to say first off, for the easily threatened paint and or body guys out there who feel it necessary to send negative, accusing emails to me to the tune of, "what a waste of time and materials", " taking food out my kids mouths", "hope that paint job falls off in the parking lott, we're professionals for a reason" blah blah blah etc, etc... spare me, don't know if it has originated from here or the other thread I have posted to regarding this process... nor do I give a rat's behind. You won't hear me raggin on someone for fixing their own computer, it is YOURS after all.

Allrighty then, now that I got that off my chest.
I certainly don't mind contributing to what has been an awesome subject, and frankly one of the most useful topics I have found on what has become of the Internet.
But honestly, I applied what I learned from reading this thread and putting in the practice time on a few pieces of metal just to become familiar with how the paint and rollers react from loading to near the end of the final roll-over. I found several methods of minimizing the tiny bubbles, but found they were mostly unavoidable... but with a little work and attention to detail they can be conquered.

Except for the spots I had to repair in the prep stages, I did not primer coat the truck, once again I took my time feather sanding the deeper scratches and filling some with bond filler epoxy. Tig welded,& applied rust converter to the worst spots, filled, sanded and spot primed. Will stress again, I took my time.

Thinning: The first batch, about a pint, I thinned about 40%, not wanting to stand around and stir, I came up with something I feel worked better. I had 2 plastic mixing cups and would simply pour the mix from one into the other, slowly, several times. I did notice for my climate and conditions it seemed a little thin and tended to run easier, BUT...the good thing about this was it gives allot more time to work the paint. Which was in fact a huge factor in the final outcome, not being in a hurry to move on to the next panel until I was satisfied I had the bubbles gone, settled and I hadn’t missed any runs.

I used the small foam detail brushes where needed and those spots turned out just a good, some better...I actually wondered what it would look like to do a whole car with the solid foam stick brushes, the paint leveled just the same.

I did wetsand after each even coat, starting with 800 and ending with 2000(color sanding), I put on 10 coats total...very thin coats. Toward the end, I found it better to apply as if I were pressing and forcing the paint out of the roller, changing directions, using shorts strokes while the paint was still fresh off the roller, then as it began to "flash" I would pay attention to rolling over and out the edge marks left by the roller. Timed right, they disappear into the paint.

I had originaly planned to wait 3 weeks or so to let the paint "harden", but I had emailed the original author of this thread and he advised to buff it after an overnight drying, as it was much easier to buff while the paint was still "soft" I totaly agree there, I had actually waited 2 days.

I used 3M PerfectII compound and polish glaze #'s 5995,5973 and their buffing wheel # 5711 on a Makita car polisher similar to the 9227 @ about 1800-2500 rpm. Taking care not to burn the edges etc. Be sure to wash with a good mitt afterward to remove any leftover compound, was told it sticks like crazy if left to harden.

Finally, those pics are just after polishing, wash and dry. Just after those pictures I waxed with good ole Turtle wax hard shell. In comparison the shine looked pretty much the same, couldn't tell much difference from a cell phone picture or in person.

I have some other notes etc, for those interested here http://forums.luvtruck.com/viewtopic.php?t=12850

Thanks also to 'bighappy' from Luvtruck.com, for pointing me in this threads direction to start with.

I hope any of this helps someone to get the results and satisfaction I achieved. Best of luck...& Take your time