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It's cold here in NY and right now is the only time I'm gonna have to salvage my cars exterior till God knows when. So I wanted to know what process should I take when painting in cold weather like this? I have a garage but it's not heated.



Ok... just remember the whole theory behind the 'roll your own' paint job. We are thinning down the paint ( whether Rustoleum, Tremclad or Brightside ) to lay down very thin coatings. The mineral spirits that we add to thin the paint are what you can refer to as the 'carrier'. The thing about mineral spirits or other such solvents is that they EVAPORATE quicker in warm environments. And naturally... in colder environments the 'carrier' or mineral spirits evaporate slower in cold temperatures.

So what you need to do in a colder environment is follow the standard recipe for thinning your paint with mineral spirits BUT allow more time for the mineral spirits to evaporate before adding your next coat of paint...

Charger has previously shown pictures of his garage, in the midst of winter, with snow all around... and he was successfully painting even in a cold environment.

In some ways... as long as you have time and patience... it could work to your benefit. Because the other 'theory' involved in the 'roll your own' paint job is that when you apply the paint to the body panels... it attempts to 'self-level'. Obviously, the more the paint self-levels, the smoother and shinier the result. Or to look at it from the opposite way... in overly hot conditions... the 'carrier' or mineral spirit may evaporate faster then the paint can fully self-level itself. So as you can see... painting in the cooler temperatures is not necessarily a bad thing and if you take your time it could prove beneficial to the overall look of the project at the end.

Hopefully this gives you some insight in to the theory and helps answer your question about cold climate rolling.

And the nice thing about a car 'trapped' in a garage for the winter... is that it gives you an ideal situation to take your time between coats. You could probably afford to step in to the garage just once a week... do your painting etc.. and then walk away from the car and let the paint fully cure ( dry ) before returning the next weekend to do it again

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