DIY Painting your car with rollers

[DAKSTER]

Spray painting isnt as easy as that mate, firstly, setup is expensive you will need: Air Compressor (good high capacity one needed) $200-600, Gun (for best results you want a good gravity fed gun) $200-400, Sand Paper $200, A good dust and debris free space that is not damp or moist and has very good ventilation, Paint $400. To buy all your own equipment for a one off job, is a little pointless as add a couple more hundred and you could have it done by a pro. This isn't counting the fact you will also need someone to cut it back first, as without a booth it will be covered in overspray and then polish it which is around $100-200.

Not being picky but I use a $150 compressor, a $100 gun and I mostly spray in an open carport. I can buy enough paint/thinners/undercoat/sandpaper to do a quality pearl paint job for less than $400 total. Overspray in any small amount that may happen will be cut back in the final finishing of the paint, but if you are mixing your paint correctly and setting up your gun right there will be very little of that anyway.

No 'pro' is going to give you a total respray for less than 2-3 grand, especially if you are changing the colour of the car. Thats assuming of course he is working for himself, if you go to a normal panel shop you can double that price and then add some. To say that getting a professional job is possible for just a couple hundred more is BS, unless you are getting mates rates from someone earning a bit of cash in hand on weekends.

Not everyone can pick up a gun and get great results first time, but anyone can spray if they are prepared to just keep rubbing it back and respraying it until its right. 'Pros' get it to an acceptable finish the first time, time is money.

If you have the time and the determination, any backyarder can get a finish better than a 'Pro' will unless you pay the 'Pro' a bunch extra to go the extra mile.

Half the kids on this forum have no cash, plenty of time, and the desire for the chance to do SOMETHING to their ride that makes a difference. If using a roller and a bunch of hard yakka is what they want to do, then good luck to em, and with perserverance they will succeed. I personally would buy a cheap compressor and gun and start practising...

 

[bt1turbo]

Not being picky but I use a $150 compressor, a $100 gun and I mostly spray in an open carport. I can buy enough paint/thinners/undercoat/sandpaper to do a quality pearl paint job for less than $400 total. Overspray in any small amount that may happen will be cut back in the final finishing of the paint, but if you are mixing your paint correctly and setting up your gun right there will be very little of that anyway.

No 'pro' is going to give you a total respray for less than 2-3 grand, especially if you are changing the colour of the car. Thats assuming of course he is working for himself, if you go to a normal panel shop you can double that price and then add some. To say that getting a professional job is possible for just a couple hundred more is BS, unless you are getting mates rates from someone earning a bit of cash in hand on weekends.

Not everyone can pick up a gun and get great results first time, but anyone can spray if they are prepared to just keep rubbing it back and respraying it until its right. 'Pros' get it to an acceptable finish the first time, time is money.

If you have the time and the determination, any backyarder can get a finish better than a 'Pro' will unless you pay the 'Pro' a bunch extra to go the extra mile.

Spraying in an open car port is illegal, its counted as pollution and if your neighbors complain it can be investigated (happened to us and we where painting in a garage -.-) not to mentions other factors, such as wind blowing **** into your fresh wet paint, bugs all that crap that could land on your wet paint I personally wouldn't do it in an open carport. Those prices where all based on getting the best results, how many cars have you done? Most $150 compressors will struggle to keep up with the airflow needed to do a whole car, and very little over spray? unless your running a VERY good ventilation system you will have quite of bit of over spray especially on the clear coat. You are also limited to painting only acrylic as a backyarder, as the hardener in 2pac is poisonousness..

In Victoria I know of a couple of places doing quality resprays for around the 1500 mark. and if your willing to put the effort in, some places will lay the top coat on if you've done all the prep.

Pros will generally get a better finish off the gun not only because time is money, but because practice makes perfect. An experienced painter will always have a better first hand finish, how ever its not that importaint, most cases a cut and polish can fix it.

 

[DAKSTER]

hmm lets see. dont spray on windy days, that helps. neighbours? never complained, i guess they like me Fresh wet paint? It aint wet for long sunshine.. and if a bug gets in, you remove it. Not hard.

$150 compressor will struggle yeah, if you want to do the car in one go. Heres a thought.. dont. Have a break for 2 minutes occasionally and the compressor catches up no problem.

2pak is certainly poisonous, I dont use it. How many cars have I painted? I have no idea, does that give you a clue?

I believe I did say a pro would give you a better finish off the gun. He just wont go the extra hours with finishing the job.

 

[CustomSprayMods]

Read the actual thread and you may have a better understanding! You have already asked about cost that has been mentioned a few times so you clearly have not read much. You would also know that no one is trying to roll metallic or pearl and that no one is after a show car result. Marine paint covers some of the minor imperfections that normal spray paint would not - less prep.

We get it, you spray cars and you get a better result :clapping: The people trailing this method have obviously got the desire to achieve something that doesn't cost a fortune. You will hardly see a VE HSV painted with rollers anytime soon though

Honestly I didnt read the thread before I posted this question and didnt need to within hours someone replied.

I dont paint cars, I have painted 1 car other then that have just painted smaller parts. I am not a tradesman spray painter.

I have been to some day lessons and I also know quite a few tradesman spray painter/panel beaters with over 20 years of experience each. So before I do anything I ask each of them for their opinion on the best way to do it. Then I decide on which way suits me. Everyone has a different way of doing things so in the end do what suits you and if you get a good result then you can recommend that to other people, just like the guy that started this thread.

If your thinking of using the roller method then go for it.
If your thinking of using a spray gun in your backyard or garage I can tell you where to get free lessons (in Sydney) or give some step by step instructions.

At the end of the day people looking at this thread are thinking of working on their car themselves and I admire that.

 

[Rusty]

No need to be so damn rude about it. He was in no way rude to you, a bit of respect wouldn't go astray. He is just simply stating the limitation of colours, and that he would not personally choose this method and maybe putting it out there that there is other options available. Ease up hero..

Actually, I was pointing out that he should actually read about this method before telling people his method is quicker and easier. That is like me coming into a supercharger thread and harping on about turbo's without even doing research on superchargers!

Ease up white knight!:beer chug:





Customcolours - I am just suggesting you have a browse through so people don't have to answer questions that have already been answered a number of times. Apologies if came across rude but I do have a pet hate for people dismissing idea's without even looking into them first. I have not personally tried this painting method but I have a lot of respect for the people that are willing to put in the effort and not pay tonnes for it

 

[CustomSprayMods]

Customcolours????.. Who is not reading The thread properly.

Sorry I am inexperienced when it comes to forum Etiquette.

Still learning. I won't post anything until I read an entire thread next time if it bugs people that much.
(not being sarcastic) (just here to help) (smiley face)(merry christmas)
CSM

 

[Rusty]

Customcolours????.. Who is not reading The thread properly.

Sorry I am inexperienced when it comes to forum Etiquette.

Still learning. I won't post anything until I read an entire thread next time if it bugs people that much.
(not being sarcastic) (just here to help) (smiley face)(merry christmas)
CSM

I was in a rush and mistook your name, sincerest apologies CustomSprayMods :beer chug: When reading a thread I pay more attention to the actual information and not names of people posting it. (smiley face) (merry christmas) (insert fluffy animal)

 

[wilso]

Wow I've missed a few posts in here the last few days....

All I can say is its almost 4 years since I painted the wagon and the paint is still holding up. After a wash/polish/wax you'd still think I painted it just last week. I'll be sure to get some pics up soon (if I ever remember).

 

[hi_ryder]

i remember seeing this on a yank forum, a dude roller paints his car for just over 50 bucks lol. came out pretty good too (solid white). but again its a **** ton of buffing.

ive literally painted thousands of jobs including over 100 full resprays, some starting from bare metal. all i can say is with DIY, problems that might come up is making mistakes under the paint or even mid coat. either not sanding properly or contamination at bare metal stage or in the primer, it can cause massive headaches if you skip or just mess up even one stage of the process. the most useful tools in tackling your own repaint is knowing what not to do... (which is a longer list than what to do)

that being said its good to see armatures getting their hands dirty, you cant learn anything if you dont make mistakes. im not a mechanic but i like to try to do all that i can even just to learn something. if i mess something up or break it i just count it as tuition... if you want a pro finish though, get a pro and pay the money....

i just quoted this iraqi dudes gen 4 supra, i told him paint strip the car (i counted 14 coats of paint in the rings) bring it to me in bare metal and ill do it for 2k (he supplies the materials) he thought that was too expensive.... im going to have him stop by the house and look at the calais...

 

[wilso]

All I can say is its almost 4 years since I painted the wagon and the paint is still holding up. After a wash/polish/wax you'd still think I painted it just last week. I'll be sure to get some pics up soon (if I ever remember).

As promised, new pics. Paint is almost 4 years old.



Just washed the car, and wiped down with a micro fibre cloth. Car was polished and waxed a few weeks before Christmas 2011.
There's a few stone chips and other blemishes, paint has also come off a tiny bit on my front bumper (1st pic, below left headlight) but overall it still looks good.