I read an article in Hot Rod Mag about how inexpensive it is to roll Rustoleum enamel paint on a car and that the results were decent enough for a daily driver. There's also a web site dedicated to it: rollyourcar.com
I doubt that anyone serious about a quality paint job that will last a long time is not going to consider this, but has anyone here ever tried it? How long does the paint last in the elements? Does it chip or peel easily?

 

couple freinds of mine went by that"Paint job for 98.00" article,what'd it look like?..like it was rolled on......

better off buyin a gallon of cheep tractor paint for about 20.00-30.00 a gallon and buying a 30.00 harbor freight gun and spraying it on outside

 

Did they follow the directions closely? I'm just curious cause I don't want to tie up a lot of money in a paint job and I'd like to get it painted before I replace the windshield and start driving it.

 

I bought a lot of rustoleum spray paint and painted mine. I also cleared it to prevent fading. It still looks good after almost 3 years, and I am just now finally getting to wetsanding it. It looks even better. People who put down cheap enamel paints probably haven't used them. However, that being said, it won't ever look like an expensive paint job, but will look great at 10 feet and driving around.

 

I rolled 2 trucks with Rustoleum after reading about it. It takes about 6 coats and if you don't thin the paint enough it will orange peel bad.

Here is my 1980 F100 being painted, notice how little masking is used:
https://www.ford-trucks.com/user_gal...id=155788&.jpg

This is "Smoke Grey" Rustoleum about 6 months old
https://www.ford-trucks.com/user_gal...id=155789&.jpg

I also painted my 1984 Bronco it was dark blue originally
https://www.ford-trucks.com/user_gal...id=155791&.jpg

$40 for the F100's paint, $30 for the Broncos.
I can't figure out how to directly post the images.

 

Helped a close freind do his truck as cheap as possible...
i had bought this basecoat color,Omni basecoat,120.00 a gallon which mixes a ratio of 1 to 1,the price included the reducer to mix it,making it 2 gallons after mixed,only takes an average of at most 2 quarts to fully cover which is just a quarter of the price of 120.00..30.00 right?
All paints including clearcoats can be bought by the quart at body shop suppliers.
basecaots are about the easiest paint to put down,it dries VERY quick and lays so easy you'd have to REALLY screw up to make it run
The clearcoat he had bought off eBay for 70.00 shipped with the hardener required for it,used only 1/2 the gallon to clear it..another 30.00 right?..ok..60.00 in material,he used my old devilbiss finishline II gun which can now be picked up on ebay for an average of 40.00 or less because they now have a new finishline III,also there is several pretty fairable knock off guns of good brand name guns for cheaper than that,that actualy sprays pretty descent,harbor freight purple gun HVLP is one of them at 39.99 and can be had for 29.99 when on sale.
And this guy never painted a thing in his life before.

My point in all this is that a GOOD paint job can be had and done VERY cheap,here is another factor most overlook thinkin"just buy me a gallon of the rustoleom and roll it on!"..so far from the truth it couldnt be further.
Fact is no matter what kind of paint or method is that whats UNDER the paint is most of the work and what makes the paint job,putting the paint on is just a fraction of the results.
Here's another fact about the roll on paints ideas that have come up so much latley but these people forget to tell you,once that paint is on the vehicle..its there,you cant paint over it without removing it all totaly before doing a 1/2 descent REAL paint job and when you start sanding it all of to put a correct paint job on the vehicle if ever decided?...it will have to be stripped to bare metal because sanding just carries the contaminates in the oil paint right on into the aint and primers under it,contaminating it all,so figure on either you having to strip the vehicle totaly to bare metal or worse yet,the body shop your paying to do so charging all that outragious time doing so...
Bottom line is why spend all that hard work prepping the vehicle to paint and then put something like that on it looking like that?..fact..rolled paint will never look real nice with a roller,the auto paint is designed to flow out because it is mixed in the air(atomising) with the solvents and immediatly activated when sprayed..rolled on?..what you roll on it exactly is the results in the end
Ive sprayed SEVERAL enamal paints for several people..tractors..4x4 mud machines etc.
Fact is the acrylic enamals are poor quality paints also with this rustoleom stuff..very low if at all UV rating,meaning they dont last in serious weather.
Another thing to consider,sanding and buffing out that rustoleum?..its FAR from an easy job and even when done where's the shine?..you only leveled an enamel out and made it look a little better

Sorry for the long post and i know i'll get a bunch of "flaming" for this now but ive seen so many people already believing there gonna get a quality job with this new so called roll on paint job and geuss what?..a few of em has already came to me about painting the same vehicle because it looked so much a mess..and YES..they went by the article written on the 98.00 paint job rolled on ecxactly as they did,,few things they didnt metnion in that article,that paint is a SOB to try and sand and buff out and about how that paint will affect the next pant job you may want on it and how it really doesnt stand up weather,6 months..maybe a year,,then all of a sudden its pealing,fading or just plain falling off.

hell ive seen even a guy in our 4x4 club go buy a 25.00 gallon of tractor paint at a local Agri-Supply store and buy a 30.00 porter wagner electric spray gun and sprayed it outside and actualy turned out 1/2 way ok,had a shine and minimal orange peal.

Rolled on paint?..again..bottom line..in the end will still look like its rolled on..period
I dont need to see pictures of it all..i see it first hand and pictures and standing there seeing it is 2 totaly different animals...

 

"Rolled on paint?..again..bottom line..in the end will still look like its rolled on..period"

Well actually no. Alot of the people doing it are color sanding with 1500 and 2000 grit wet&dry and buff them to a mirror finish, since mine is a work truck I didn't bother. Also people are using boat paint and getting great results and UV protection. Painting my trucks with no dusk mask very little fumes no overspray for me is the way to go, Ive painted about 5 vehicles with a gun.

Now, I would never put a roller job on a late model truck or a collector car.
I do notice some fadng on the grey but could get it back to just painted look with some polishing compound and a buffer.

The biggest thrill I get from doing this is telling them "I painted it with a roller" This includes a former pro car painter.

http://rollyourcar.com/gallery.aspx
(check out Marq's McLaren Mustang!)

 

I've only rolled paint on walls. Some lines of automotive urethanes today aren't all that expensive, I don't think I'd want to bother putting on so many coats and sanding and buffing my butt off hoping to get a decent finish and hoping rustoleum will last more then a few months. There is enough prep and sanding involved as it is for good results, wouldn't you want to put something on that will last and hold up to the elements after all the work. How much is your time worth for results acheived? Just my opinion. But cheap **** paint seems to be the trend lately, judging from all the rustoleum, lacquer and blitz black threads I've seen. What they say is true, you get what you pay for when it comes to paint, and best results are acheived using proper equiptment and putting in the time needed.

 

I haven't dealt with "real" auto paint, but I can tell you that wetsanding is a pain, and I don't know if auto paint is easier or not. For making a truck one color, ANY paint is great. I am really liking how my truck is turning out with the wetsanding. I would recommend using clear over rustoleum since it fades bad without it.

 

Let's agree that we disagree on this one. My truck really looked bad and now I'm proud to drive it. This post started out about the $98 dollar paint job in "Hotrod mag". This is from the HotRod.com web site forums:

Quote from the non-roller:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"good paint job for $98" is an oxymoron."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And the reply:

"Think so? If you're ever in the L.A. area, stop by the shop and take a look.
You'd be surprised how many don't believe it was roller painted, and believe me this was an overly rushed job. It could be done much better.

Naysayers, please re-read the feature. Never once do we assert that this is a show-winning paint job, or one that looks like basecoat/clear. At best, it looks like 60's-70's era basic enamel. (But, I once paid $1500.00 buck for a professional acrylic enamel paint job.) Is it perfect? Not even close. Have I seen worse paint jobs that cost 40 times as much? Absolutely.

Why did we use a $200.00 Falcon? Because there were no plans to ever make the car worthy of a 2-$3000+ paint job (Sound like any of your projects?). Its tentative future was simply as a fun, economical little driver with minimal investment. It had rust, it was faded, heavily oxidized, cracked and peeling, and it didn’t match all over. Now, it’s a very respectable looking car that actually gets compliments and inspires people to share stories. Not bad for $25.00.

What’s the worst case scenario? If you don’t like it, just sand it off.

Anyone that wants to give it a shot and has questions is welcome to send me a PM. I’ll answer to the best of my abilities."

--------------------
Christopher Campbell
Associate Editor
HOT ROD Magazine

 

Well I decided to give it a try. My truck is not a show truck nor is it a daily driver and there are other things I planned to do that are held up by it not being painted. And if it doesn't work out all I've lost is a little money and some time. And I will have learned some lessons about how to (or not to) paint a car.

I'll let you know how it turns out.

 

Go for it, and post some pics when you are done.

 

A note about posting pix's of paint jobs.

You can NOT get the detail in the pix's. It will look shiny, but that's about it.

The pix's will do i disservice to a really good job and make a just OK job look fine.

Just a few as a example that I've done. When people see them in person, they say the pix's don't do the jobs justice.



The "Hairy Hand" pix. HeHe











Here's a good closeup and it still doesn't do it justice.








This is just a little education on pix's and posting them on a forum.

 

Yeah, I know. I just like seeing others projects. My spraypaint job looks great in pictures and good driving by, but there is a night and day difference between the parts I wetsanded and the regular.

 

I'm 5 coats into it now so there's no turning back. Actually I'm pretty pleased with the results so far, except where I tried to go back and fix some dents I did not know were there.

It is a labor intensive method and it's taking a lot of time, but right now I have more time than money to devote to the project (priorities, priorities). And I'll probably wind up "refinishing" the truck again in 10 years when my son gets old enough to drive. "Restoring" is too strong a term for what I'm doing.

That brings me to a follow-up question. FordCwazy mentioned that you'd have to remove all the paint to put on a half-decent paint job in the future. Is that assuming that it will eventually start peeling and will all have to come off? Or is there another reason?

I'll post some pictures when I'm done, but I realize that no matter how good they look there will still be some skeptics. That's OK. If I had the means to do it right and it was worth it to me, then I'd do it right. Right now this looks like it is going to work and I will have some rust protection and a somewhat shiny paint job and I can move on to some other projects I need to do. And if it all starts peeling off or fading in 6 months I'll be back to tell you and get my share of "I told you so's". I can take it. And if that happens I'll have learned another lesson the hard way (which means I'll actually remember it in the future )