I plan to paint my truck in the next month or so, and will be doing it by rolling on rustoleum Regal Red. I know there are better ways of doing it, but for me this us the cheapest and is good enough. I know the process of stripping and priming, but the actual rolling is something ive never done before.
My questions are,
How much paint thinner should I add to the paint?
What grit should I wetsand to get rid of the orange peel?
How many coats should I do?
And any tips about the whole process?

 

I haven't ever used this method, but have painted plenty of vehicles... especially with single stages. I would reduce your paint based on temp you will be painting in. Get a piece of practice metal (old fender, square sheet from Ace or something) and roll a test pattern to see how it lays. As for coats... depends. At least 2 or until it hides well, maybe three for some longevity (probably 4 or 5 years til it fades and starts to wain).

Primer or old paint should be scuffed with 400 grit to give the new paint some bite. As for wet sanding orange peel I would start with 1500 to 2000 grit and wet sand LIGHTLY with a small block, then 2500 and end with 3000 and buff out. You may run into issues with the rustoleum though. Is it enamel based? If it is you are better off.... The original paint on the 70's fords are baked on enamel, they don't interact well with laquer based paints. So may need to prime the entire thing with a compatible primer.

That's all I got. Curious how it turns out. I think there was a post somewhere here that a guy did this and he had ok results. A red truck... try a search and see what he said also.

 

Heres the other thread.... Good read, and his final results were kinda impressive.

my Rustoleum paint job - Ford Truck Enthusiasts Forums (ford-trucks.com)

 

I suggest hitting up YouTube cuz there are TONS of videos on rolling Rustoleum.

 

I would not thin out the paint unless you are going to spray it as it will be to thin to roll on.

The only thing I can see is it will take a long time for the paint to set up between coats.
The only one I have seen posted the person let the paint set up between coats so he could sand it before doing the next coat.
Think he did 4 coats as this gave him enough paint layers to "cut & buff" the last coat.


If the old factory paint has been on the truck a long time or any paint patch work then going over it with laquer should not be an issue.
Now if you have some what fresh enamel / Rustoleum and you try and put laquer over it you will have issues.
I dont remember issues with a laquer base, primer or paint and laying enamel over it when I had my shop.

BTW we used a laquer primer with any type paint back in the day with out issues.
Now a days you will have a vary hard time finding anything laquer, primer is what I was looking for.
Same goes for single stage paint like our trucks were done in, not the 2 or 3 stage paints used today.
Laquer primer / enamel single stagewith hardner



Built as a driver not a trailer queen!
Sorry I cant help more on the Rustoleum roller paint job.
Dave ----

 

I have also painted plenty...



Couple of my more recent toyotas... I am saying Laquer, even many years later will affect whatever you may put on top of it. Never seen a bubble up job from this? Typically the older vehicles pre-65/67 or so will be covered in old laquer that has to be taken all the way down to metal prior to prime and paint. Pretty common actually. It's always a risk to lay any laquer under enamel and especially urethane base/ clear. They don't play well together. Just my .02

 

I shot Rustoleum thru $10 Harbor Freight gun for a lawn tractor restoration.

Thinned 40 percent using mineral spirits. Six light coats for me ... looong flash times so let each coat become tacky so it holds the next coat. But shoot enough coats so ya don't get striping.

It took forever to dry. Therefore, a dust-free environment will be a plus.

Wet-sand with 600, 800, 1200, and then cut, buffed and polished using Mothers compounds. Turned out pretty good.

 

Sorry for the late response, school just started and its crazy.
The truck was repainted once over the original. But the paint itself is chipping quite a bit and in rough shape, so Im stripping it down to bare metal. I think I watched a video or read something where a guy waited about 6 hours in between coats so that it would dry some, but so that he didnt have to sand it. If that sounds good, thats what I'll try to do. Currently im still working on stripping. Im using a stripping disc on my harbor freight angle grinder (damn those things are great for just $10). Its taking a while because of school, and most days its about 95 degrees here. I tried using some of that Jasco paint remover stuff, it would be great for probably 2 coats, but not the 4 coats that are on mine. I watched a video where they compared the Jasco and the non methyl Aircraft stripper. Jasco won. Anybody have an Idea where to find the now banned Aircraft Stripper that does contain methyl chloride?

 

I tried the Jasco again and it still didnt do great. Some spots it got it down to the original primer and some spots it barely got passed the surface paint. However, I used the angle grinder to strip it down in the same spot and it is so much easier and faster than where I didnt apply the Jasco. So far I have both of the sections above the dent on the bed stripped. I applied the Jasco to the roof and will finish it tonight.
While doing the bed, I came accross some bondo and removed it. One of the spots definitely needs it, but the other one not as much. Does the shiny bare metal conceal any of the dents? Or do I need to precisely feel by hand?

 

Go to youtube and search Kevin Tetz paintucation videos or Eastwood videos with him in it... I know, it sounds corny, but the guy is a pretty decent starter "go to" for body work tips and some prep/ paint schooling. I don't paint but a car every few years or so lately and I always brush up prior to a new build if it's going to need paint/ body work. It's a good resource.

 

The issue with any paint stripper is if ANY AT ALL is left behind it will left any new paint that is put on.
So you have to wash the truck many times to kill the stripper before primer can be put on.

Eastwood makes paint & rust stripping disc that work pretty good thing is they need a larger grinder than your little angle one.
If you go that route get the red disc's, the gray I felt were to fine to do the job and dose not leave "tooth" for primer to bite in to the metal.
Dave ----

 

The stripping disc Im using is a cheap black one from amazon. 5 for like $16. Works very well for my paint.
One question I have is about rust.
Once I finish stripping the car, I will sand with 400 and use the spray can Rustoleum self etching primer. There are two kinds of rust on the paint. 1, very light surface rust from the morning dew on the bare metal, comes off pretty easily with 400. and 2, surface rust spots that go from the surface down to the metal. When I use the stripping disc I go over those #2 spots until they are no longer rust colored anymore, however they are still darker than the metal around them, just not the orangish rust color. Am I fine to spray the “stops rust” self etching primer on?

 

That should be fine for what you are doing.
There is a acid you could use that gets down into it to kill it but what you have should work.

Dew in a garage j/k
As for the dew, when you got an area stripped, 1 panel at a time is what I would do when working out side.
Clean the panel and prime it before moving on to the next panel this way you will not have to deal with the "dew rust" and the primer should protect it before painting.
Dave ----

 

If you don't have a well controlled environment and you strip that truck fully you WILL have rust issues down the road. Best bet is always to leave any factory paint that still has good adhesion and only take it down to metal where the paint is compromised, and then treat any bare metal areas with epoxy primer the same day.

I had a near mint, low mileage, '93 chevy pickup i sent into be repainted due to the typical peeling paint Chevys had. The shop stripped it to bare metal over the course of a week before i knew what they did, and it flash rusted before they primed it . Now, years later I have major rust/rot bubbles coming through all over the truck because of it. When i went to fix one of the really bad spots i couldn't find the end of the rust under the primer they laid down, the whole truck is covered. The truck is pretty much junk in my eyes now and has been relegated to a winter beater, i figure in a few years it won't pass inspection anymore due to the rust. I had the paint work done cause i wanted to keep it for the foreseeable future, cost me $2500 at the time. I've recentlygot quotes of $5000+ to fix it..which would be strip to bare metal, one panel at a time, chemical rust converter, etch prime, seal then paint. The trucks worth maybe $3000 so that's never happening. Don't skimp on body work, do it right the first time even if it costs more money now, if not it's gonna cost ALOT more to fix in the future.

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/22201521572...caeeaf694e4ee6

Don't worry about flash rust and the darker stuff you can't seem to get out. You DO need to remove it but use this stuff to do it.Paint right over it,keeps it from rusting for a long time.Sanding on the flash rust doesn't get it all off and you will end up like speedfreak