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well the fenders were allready painted when i got the car, it was a 20yr old single stage paint job, i just prepped the body, did the body work and painted right over the old paint. if your getting new fiberglass, i'd definetly prep it by sanding with 400 grit sand paper dry, not wet, then just paint as usual. that paint really sticks to fiberglass, i've painted my sail boat with it years ago, it lives outside still looks great. also when you sand the fiberglass, be sure you don't have any shiny spots from the gelcoat, only sand enough to get it dull, on fiberglass espically don't use any primer, there's no need. just sand and clean using mineral spirits, tremclad works amazing on fiberglass.

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Thanks for the info... I had a feeling that the porous nature of the glass would "suck up" the paint pretty good.

On the other discussion, I am interested in this process so I won't be scared to drive my car. If I drop a couple grand on the spray job at the local body shop, I'll be a bundle of nerves and not drive this little beast the way it's meant to be driven. I plan on taking it on the beach, on trails, etc... I think it will be a economical to not only complete, but also to maintain when the scratches and chips come our way. Just my

I enjoy how it's opened up some barriers between enthusiasts of different kinds of cars with the same painting dilemma. Charger gets my Peace Prize vote.

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My white paint has had a month to cure and still scrapes off. There is no way this stuff will hold up to normal driving, so I'm going to have to sand it all off and try again.

Rustoleum says that there is no difference between California paints and other paints, they also say there is minimal difference in tremclad, but nothing that would make it less scratch resistant. Their tech claims that it scratches off of the surface because it hasn't cured fully (month is more than enough he says), or the surface wasn't prepped properly (they say no more than 120grit. He also said that even if the paint wasn't compatible with the primer or paint underneath it, as long as it was sanded with 120 or less, then it should bond and not scrape off.

I sanded mine with 80-100-150 before paint and gave it a month to dry. There is no difference in hardness in 1 week vs 1 month from what I can tell.

I'll try the professional paint and see how that goes, although he said the onyl difference is how fast it dries.

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That's too bad Jagd. I would think that sanding with nothing finer than 120 would leave a very poor looking surface on a car. The 1st pro. test area I did, I can put a scratch into it if I push hard, but can't scrape it off. That's been over a month drying.

There are still a couple more weeks of 70+ degree temps for it to cure, then I'll give it a final scratch test and go from there. As long as I'm doing a good job on the bodywork, I have to say it's crossed my mind to shell out the 500 and have Miracle or Maaco shoot it with a single stage and not have to worry about scratches or shine.

This morning while walking my dog, I met a neighbor of mine with a few mopars, and one was a 67 Satellite or Belvedere that he just had painted with a BC/CC job, around 5 grand with a fair amount of bodywork. It sure looked sweet, and the shine on that thing is making me reconsider rolling my car with Rustoleum- I know a 500 Maaco/Miracle job isn't going to look as good as BC/CC but it would be closer than rustoleum in my personal experience..

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Moper, I think your point is taken well. I agree with you somewhat on your reservations, but I think there are quite a few here that are taking up the roller in one manner or another here already, myself included. To be honest, I think many have undertaken this with thier own doubts, but for me personally, they were no greater doubts than had I picked up a spray gun and tried to paint a car with no experience. I can promise this, just as in spraying a car, there is definitely an "art" to using this method of painting, and for anyone to expect it to come out perfectly the first time around is foolish, same as if they spray a car for the first time. I'm actually glad to see so many "testing" this method out first, trying it on test panels, doors, and even as in my case, a refridgerator. I learned enough to believe it can be done, also enough to see that the results will look perfectly acceptable on a car. I, however, am not ready for that step yet 1. because the car is not ready, and 2. I need to practice more before I'M ready, at least to get the results I'd like to see on my car.
I would strongly suggest to anyone who's interested in this idea of roller painting to try it out, test if you will, before going gangbusters on a full car simply because I think if they don't, they will be dissapointed in the results. There is alot to learn, and seeing photos is just not enough. 69Charger is absolutely right when he says this is a great method for those who want a decent paint job on a budget. Period. Yes, you will get better results with a high quality spray job, but many of us just don't have that kind of budget to work with. JMHO

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LOL...hahahaha...man.

Woke up at 7:30 AM this morning. Took my fully sanded cleaned up (the given name by this board) "Budda Civic" to my friends garage a few miles down the road.

Note: I never painted a test piece cuz i dont have a spare fender, trunk, door, metal piece, or a beer fridge to test on, Sad but true. Probably the main reason i didnt test on an object is cuz i'm dirt poor and dont wanna waste any ahahaha, and that i couldnt find anything: P

As of right now i have the first coat done completely on the car. And yes, i have run into 1 Big problem: BUBBLES! FREAKIN EVERYWHERE. LOL very tiny ones though i puff and they are gone. Other than that the paint; I got a tint of Metropolital which is liek charcoal/gray black. Very nice color, is really nice and smooth.

Now, I have a question. I have 4 cans of this paint. Only used about half for the first coat. I Opened every can and each one has bubbles in them. I Mix and i Mix and mix but they dont seem to wanna go away. THinning it with mineral spirits is just making them smaller but more of them. I know i have the right paint, but mad bubbles. I forgot to take my digital camera to his house, but i will be going tonight again for the second coat and will snap some pics of the paint and the car.


I HOPE IT TURNS OUT GOOD :P Wish me Luck. Will post pics tonight.

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My white paint has had a month to cure and still scrapes off. There is no way this stuff will hold up to normal driving, so I'm going to have to sand it all off and try again.

Rustoleum says that there is no difference between California paints and other paints, they also say there is minimal difference in tremclad, but nothing that would make it less scratch resistant. Their tech claims that it scratches off of the surface because it hasn't cured fully (month is more than enough he says), or the surface wasn't prepped properly (they say no more than 120grit. He also said that even if the paint wasn't compatible with the primer or paint underneath it, as long as it was sanded with 120 or less, then it should bond and not scrape off.

I sanded mine with 80-100-150 before paint and gave it a month to dry. There is no difference in hardness in 1 week vs 1 month from what I can tell.

I'll try the professional paint and see how that goes, although he said the onyl difference is how fast it dries.

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That's too bad Jagd. I would think that sanding with nothing finer than 120 would leave a very poor looking surface on a car. The 1st pro. test area I did, I can put a scratch into it if I push hard, but can't scrape it off. That's been over a month drying.

There are still a couple more weeks of 70+ degree temps for it to cure, then I'll give it a final scratch test and go from there. As long as I'm doing a good job on the bodywork, I have to say it's crossed my mind to shell out the 500 and have Miracle or Maaco shoot it with a single stage and not have to worry about scratches or shine.

This morning while walking my dog, I met a neighbor of mine with a few mopars, and one was a 67 Satellite or Belvedere that he just had painted with a BC/CC job, around 5 grand with a fair amount of bodywork. It sure looked sweet, and the shine on that thing is making me reconsider rolling my car with Rustoleum- I know a 500 Maaco/Miracle job isn't going to look as good as BC/CC but it would be closer than rustoleum in my personal experience..

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LOL...hahahaha...man.

Woke up at 7:30 AM this morning. Took my fully sanded cleaned up (the given name by this board) "Budda Civic" to my friends garage a few miles down the road.

Note: I never painted a test piece cuz i dont have a spare fender, trunk, door, metal piece, or a beer fridge to test on, Sad but true. Probably the main reason i didnt test on an object is cuz i'm dirt poor and dont wanna waste any ahahaha, and that i couldnt find anything: P

As of right now i have the first coat done completely on the car. And yes, i have run into 1 Big problem: BUBBLES! FREAKIN EVERYWHERE. LOL very tiny ones though i puff and they are gone. Other than that the paint; I got a tint of Metropolital which is liek charcoal/gray black. Very nice color, is really nice and smooth.

Now, I have a question. I have 4 cans of this paint. Only used about half for the first coat. I Opened every can and each one has bubbles in them. I Mix and i Mix and mix but they dont seem to wanna go away. THinning it with mineral spirits is just making them smaller but more of them. I know i have the right paint, but mad bubbles. I forgot to take my digital camera to his house, but i will be going tonight again for the second coat and will snap some pics of the paint and the car.


I HOPE IT TURNS OUT GOOD :P Wish me Luck. Will post pics tonight.

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Hehe, I hope you realize it wasn't meant to burst your...bubble (sorry). Actually, I think you already HAVE the perfect test piece! Let's be honest here, even if it only comes out looking like a quickie, cheapo paint job, it'll STILL look better than before! No?

Okay, so you've jumped in with both feet. Time to learn how to swim... fast! If you really would like to have it come out nice, concentrate on just one piece, the hood for example, or a fender, it doesn't really matter which. Don't worry about the rest for now, that's the beauty of this method, you don't HAVE to paint the entire car at once. If you can't hold off doing the whole car, take a break after the second coat. A serious break, cuz now is the time to make a big decision. After your done, and the paint is fully dry - give it a full day. Step back and really look at what you've done. You'll probably have, as 69Charger so eliquently described, a "WTF am I doing!" moment. That will pass. Once it has, take a closer look. You say you were having lots of bubbles, but when you gave em a good puff, they would disappear, right? My experience with this is that's okay. Not ideal, but manageable. the important thing is to get all those bubbles to pop BEFORE the paint gets "tacky". If not, forget about trying to re-roller it, you'll just pull up paint and it'll look worse. that's where concentrating on one panel at a time comes to your advantage, if you go too fast, and come back to correct mistakes after the paint is already starting to dry, you'll have a mess on your hands.

So, back to the break. Here's the big decision - how does it look now, and how good do you want the final finish to look? If you see mistakes; bubbles, runs, sagging, etc., NOW is the time to sand them out smooth, BEFORE you go any further. If you don't do it now, and decide after two more coats that it isn't smooth enough, it just means your going to need to do twice as much sanding to get it right. Take the time after the first two coats, you'll be thankful you did. If you end up completely removing the paint to get rid of the errors, better two coats than four. And don't be surprised if you do, cuz if you're mixing it right, the first two coats are gonna be thin. That's the whole idea. the fridge was originally white, and I painted it Sunrise Red. I felt that it wasn't really until after the 5th coat that I could really tell that the base color was completely covered. It may not take as many with the dark paint, only you can tell.

As for the bubbles in the paint can, did you have them tinit it for you, or was that a "stock" color? If they tinted it for you, did they use a shaker to mix it up? If so, you may have to let the paint sit for a few days, maybe even a week. I took 69Charger's advice and mixed each "batch" well; slow, steady "stirring", for nearly 20 minutes. As he said, once you think you've stirred it enough, stir it some more.

My experience was that you're better off OVER diluting with mineral spirits, rather than UNDER diluting (I did both). If you over dilute, the paint will have a greater tendency to run on you (nearly all my surfaces were vertical), but if you just keep gently rolling it, it will eventually set nicely. Don't over roll it, just enough so that it no longer wants to run on you. I actually found that with my over diluted batch, if I rollered horizontally, across the grain if you will, it helped stop the running quickly. The alternative of under-diluting creates much more serious problems; the paint will get "tacky" before it gets a chance to spread and lay down properly. If you try to correct this by re-rollering it will lift the paint and look like a mess. If you let it go as is (too thick) you'll get orange peel. Not a total bust, but it will just mean more sanding for you.

I'll stop here cuz I've already talked too much. Anyone else want to chime in with some words of advice or encouragement?

Nothing ventured, nothing gained - that's my attitude. Forget all the nay-sayers out there, they're a dime a dozen. ADVENTURE, my boy! The joy is in the journey, not the destination.

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I've been observing this thread for some time now, and thought I might add a suggestion in regards to the problem w/ bubbles. It has been mentioned several times that the "thinner" the paint the better. Would this thinned-down paint be thin enough to pass through one of those cheapy paper 'strainers' that they hand out at the automotive paint stores? If the paint mixture was thin enough, could this not remove most if not all of the bubbles from having the paint mixed?

JEG

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