question for those who've roller painted their cars

Looking into doing this to my challenge car, since I don't have the room or equipment for a spray job. Seems like most of the cars I've seen online are done in a pretty light color. I'm assuming this is so its harder to see defects? Anyone painted their car a dark color and had it turn out well? Been thinking of using Rustoleum Professional in Royal Blue. It wouldn't be a perfect match for the car, but it'd probably be close enough not to be too jarring if I don't paint the door jams. If noones had good luck with darker colors, I'll probably just do the popular white paint option.

I did the XR4 in white, but I searched around on the internet and there were ample examples of light and dark color roll-on jobs, I think there was a really nice honda civic hatch with a black or dark blue job, just search around...

Raze, how does that white boat paint look on your car in person? Is it bright white or off-white? I'm thinking of using the same techniques you did to repaint my turbo FC and I want it brighter than an infomercial host's teeth!

I did the Locost in British Racing Green, AKA "Rustoleum Professional Hunter Green," but I sprayed it instead of rolling it. I also sprayed my car hauler with "Regal Red." Sorry, no rolling experience, but I'd say go for it.

I'm seriously considering a Rustoleum color for the S2 Europa, but I think Dr.Linda wants some kind of new fancy Chevy Green.

My MX-3 was done in boat paint by its former owner. It was well done, several coats, wet-sanded in between. Still, I have to be careful when power washing it that it doesn't flake off. It looks fantastic when freshly waxed, but starts to look nasty about a month afterwards.

Here's his step-by-step of the process.

http://rolledon.forummotion.com/projects-f2/92-mazda-mx-3-gs-project-t305.htm

I did my CRX in Rustoleum Sail Blue. I thought it came out great.

Started like this:

<img src="" /> I rollered my Spitfire with Tremclad a couple of years ago and it still looks good. It's not a perfect job but you can't beat it for the money.

Dr. Hess wrote: I did the Locost in British Racing Green, AKA "Rustoleum Professional Hunter Green," but I sprayed it instead of rolling it. I also sprayed my car hauler with "Regal Red." Sorry, no rolling experience, but I'd say go for it. I'm seriously considering a Rustoleum color for the S2 Europa, but I think Dr.Linda wants some kind of new fancy Chevy Green.

Dr. Hess...how much did you thin it before spraying? What tip did you use in your spray gun?

I've wondered about spraying Rustoleum as well. Would love to know more.

satin black roller painted our BABE rally oldsmobile. Turned out ok.

I used the Brightside boat paint on my race car. The white is fantastic. It's very bright and with the excellent gloss hides innumerable sins. A dark color will show a lot more flaws but it's not impossible to make it look good. Your body work will have to be good and you'll probably have to sand and power buff the final coat for it to get really nice. It's definitely a case of the effort you put in will give you better results. I can't stress enough, buy a gallon of professional surface degreaser. It's not expensive and will really help with the paint-pulling-off or peeling issue.

I rolled oil base marine deck paint on my Goldwing. I used a furry roller to give texture to the finish, but a foam roller and thin paint lookk great! 10-10 finish.

Dan

In reply to RexSeven:

It's bright white, not offwhite, we're talking bleached teeth white

I used Rustoleum white spray cans and lots of prep and wet sanding afterwards. Most people think it's factory paint.

I used a $10 (now $15 on sale) HVLP gun from Harbor Freight with whatever tip it comes with. On the Locost, I thinned the paint 10-15% with "made with mineral spirits" paint thinner. It looked really great until the bugs attacked it. I sanded the bugs out, moved it inside, covered everything in the shop up and shot it again. The secret to doing aluminum is to sand the aluminum with 360-ish grit sand paper first, then wipe down with paint thinner, let that dry and shoot it. Do it like that and you can't get that paint off. Even aircraft stripper has problems.

On my car hauler, I put a new deck on it and there was some surface rust, especially on the fenders. It is a 1990 model and was showing its age. I mean, when a Europa just about takes out the deck, you know it's shot. Being a trailer, I didn't go nuts with prep work. I masked off the license plate and lights with masking tape, bought one of those big paddle things that house painters use and held that up against the deck to stop the overspray, wiped it all down with paint thinner and just dumped the paint into my gun and shot it thick and un-thinned. There's a few runs, a few bugs and a few places where I put it on too thick have some crinkle texture, but it's a trailer and now it color matches my Truck. I could wet sand and polish it, but I don't think it matters for the trailer. It looks new.

Here's the Locost:

Thanks! Great info and the Locost looks fantastic! I'm planning this method for my Celica project.

Just to be clear, because they make a lot of products, you used "Rust-oleum Professional High Performance Protective Enamel" 7738402?

I don't know what the difference is, I'm sure a lot of it is just marketing. Just figure I'd rather go with something tried. I've looked at that HF gun and thought it would do what I want. Nice to hear first hand experience.

HF has a couple of guns that look the same. One is HVLP and one is not. I used the HVLP one. As I said, it was on super-sale for $10 a few Christmas' ago when I bought it, and I saw it on an endcap at the store and in the flyer for $15 a couple months ago. I almost bought an extra. I also have like 3 other HF conventional guns, but I really like using that HVLP one and I'm considering buying another HVLP with the hoses to replace my conventional one with the hoses and separate cup. Yeah, the Rustoleum Professional is what I have used, bought from Wally World or Lowes off the shelf.

It takes longer to dry than a typical automotive paint, and if you thin it, it takes considerably longer, but will lay down flatter (and run easier). The stuff is so cheap, though, that you can buy a quart for eight bucks and experiment away on scrap until you get your gun and thin ratio set just how you want it. I didn't thin the trailer paint because I mostly didn't want to mess with thinning it and I mostly just wanted some paint on the thing over the surface rust. It actually turned out pretty smooth, except where I put it on too thick.

Thanks everyone for the info. I'm still undecided. I think it'll come down to a budget vs. time issue. With the dark paint, I can skip door jams, but will probably need to put more time and effort into bodywork and final sanding and polishing. With the white, I'll probably want a few rattlecans for the door jams and area around the hatch.

A big advantage of using Rustoleum is you can get a can of "touchup paint" at any Wally World in the country for a couple bucks. Get a scratch? Get the rattlecan out and touch it up. The Hunter Green and Regal Red match perfectly from the quart cans to the rattle cans. Safety Yellow had some tinting issues for me between the two.

foam rollers and yacht paint from west marine.

Dr. Hess wrote: It takes longer to dry than a typical automotive paint, and if you thin it, it takes considerably longer, but will lay down flatter (and run easier).

Has anyone tried mixing in a bit of hardener into it?

oldtin wrote: foam rollers and yacht paint from west marine.

Way cool. Rothmans scheme. You rock!

oldtin wrote: foam rollers and yacht paint from west marine.

Yup, the XR4 in white is yacht paint from west marine, I have found the temps of the car to the touch in Atlanta in 90+ deg days is still cool to the touch, interior temps have dropped considerably, and overall it's a much more pleasant track rat to drive...

oh, here's my thread:

http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/my-57-paint-job/16401/page1/

Caviat for that Rustoleum hunter green paint. That's what I used on my houses roof. And now a few years later, it's faded and rather chalky. It might have held up fine with waxing, but I don't wax my houses roof.

foxtrapper wrote: Caviat for that Rustoleum hunter green paint. That's what I used on my houses roof. And now a few years later, it's faded and rather chalky. It might have held up fine with waxing, but I don't wax my houses roof.

You're LAZY! Wax that roof!