Could I paint my roof with aerosols and get a good finish?

[Bumpa]

In spite of a cheap paint job, my Dolly looks fine except for the roof which has blistered due to poor preparation. If I rub it back to a good surface, should I be to achieve a reasonable finish with rattle cans? Any tips and techniques?

[new to this]

Mike

Yes you can get good results with rattle cans, make sure you prep the roof well, take your time when masking up, use epoxy primer, then use your top coat,
don't let the car get to hot before you spray the paint, other wise the paint dries to quick

Dave

[soe8m]

And use 2k paint for quality. It's not that porous as the 1k paints so it will last and you don't wash it off... I believe you call it 2pack paint? Not sure it's 2.0 or 2,0 then.

Jeroen

[cleverusername]

I am going to sound a note of caution, you can of course get a decent finish with any paint method, if you put the time into correcting it afterwards. Even a roller or a brush. The question is how much time you want to put in?

It will be far easier with a spray gun and a compressor. You can control the paint mixture, the spray pattern and lay down allot more paint. The later will make colour sanding and polishing much easier. Which unless you are experience at spraying, you will have to do both to get a decent finish.

You will struggle with rattle cans, especially for a large panel like the roof.

[cleverusername]

And use 2k paint for quality. It's not that porous as the 1k paints so it will last and you don't wash it off... I believe you call it 2pack paint? Not sure it's 2.0 or 2,0 then.

Jeroen

The trouble with that stuff is you really should be using it with an air fed mask, it is nasty stuff. Plus there is the issue of neighbours to consider.

Celly isn't as good but it is safer for home spray jobs.

[dollyman]

Rattle cans are very good if you get them from a paint supplier. If you have paint they will put it in cans for you.
Also mike buy one of these they are brilliant....https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/264597588481 ... BMrqqq0cZg
Just put some tape on the can where the item grips, it stops the can turning slightly.

Tony.

[Bumpa]

Thanks Tony for the tip about an aerosol gun. I'll definitely get one.

[Carledo]

As someone who HAS painted professionally in all realms from small touch ups to full resprays, I am here to tell you that, even to a pro, large flat areas are the hardest to do well and large flat HORIZONTAL areas are the worst of all. A bonnet you can remove and stand upright or suspend from the roof to make life easier, you can't do that with a roof unless you are prepared to strip the car and use a rotisserie!

You are facing a place where you can't paint it in one unbroken series as you are, of necessity, starting at the middle and working out, then changing sides and doing it again. Working at a bad angle unless you are 9 ft tall with overspray going everywhere and dust falling constantly.

Further hampering yourself with spitting, dripping aerosol cans (even the very best do this) that don't cover well and require several coats to get sufficient depth of paint, just adds to the impossibility of the task!

If you wan't my advice, get a vinyl roof fitted (or fit one yourself) it's completely in character with the car, a lot easier to get a good finish and, once you tot up ALL the expense of paint and prep, probably almost as cheap as painting it!

Steve

[cleverusername]

As someone who HAS painted professionally in all realms from small touch ups to full resprays, I am here to tell you that, even to a pro, large flat areas are the hardest to do well and large flat HORIZONTAL areas are the worst of all. A bonnet you can remove and stand upright or suspend from the roof to make life easier, you can't do that with a roof unless you are prepared to strip the car and use a rotisserie!

You are facing a place where you can't paint it in one unbroken series as you are, of necessity, starting at the middle and working out, then changing sides and doing it again. Working at a bad angle unless you are 9 ft tall with overspray going everywhere and dust falling constantly.

Further hampering yourself with spitting, dripping aerosol cans (even the very best do this) that don't cover well and require several coats to get sufficient depth of paint, just adds to the impossibility of the task!

If you wan't my advice, get a vinyl roof fitted (or fit one yourself) it's completely in character with the car, a lot easier to get a good finish and, once you tot up ALL the expense of paint and prep, probably almost as cheap as painting it!

Steve

It isn't the issue with a vinyl roof the potential for creating a rot trap and hiding the problem till it is really serious?

My solution to getting an OKish finish is plenty of coats so I can sand away any defects. The problem I found with rattle cans is they just don't lay down that much paint and the cheaper cans seem to have really thin paint in them.

[Carledo]

As someone who HAS painted professionally in all realms from small touch ups to full resprays, I am here to tell you that, even to a pro, large flat areas are the hardest to do well and large flat HORIZONTAL areas are the worst of all. A bonnet you can remove and stand upright or suspend from the roof to make life easier, you can't do that with a roof unless you are prepared to strip the car and use a rotisserie!

You are facing a place where you can't paint it in one unbroken series as you are, of necessity, starting at the middle and working out, then changing sides and doing it again. Working at a bad angle unless you are 9 ft tall with overspray going everywhere and dust falling constantly.

Further hampering yourself with spitting, dripping aerosol cans (even the very best do this) that don't cover well and require several coats to get sufficient depth of paint, just adds to the impossibility of the task!

If you wan't my advice, get a vinyl roof fitted (or fit one yourself) it's completely in character with the car, a lot easier to get a good finish and, once you tot up ALL the expense of paint and prep, probably almost as cheap as painting it!

Steve

It isn't the issue with a vinyl roof the potential for creating a rot trap and hiding the problem till it is really serious?

My solution to getting an OKish finish is plenty of coats so I can sand away any defects. The problem I found with rattle cans is they just don't lay down that much paint and the cheaper cans seem to have really thin paint in them.

The vinyl roof does have potential to hide rust that wouldn't be there on a painted roof, it's true. But i've removed vinyl roofs from Dolomites and found zero significant rot under them just as often as i've found a bit here and there. Truly rotten roofs with vinyls over usually have extenuating circumstances like sunroofs to blame. In any case, they've ALL had 40-50 YEARS to build up this corrosion, I doubt Mike would have any cause for concern over fitting one now! A vinyl will also hide any minor dents, flaws, filler rings and WHY in the roof that a fresh shiny coat of paint will exaggerate!

I used colour matched acrylic paint in large rattlecans from Jawel (circa £12 each) just to paint out the doorshuts, b posts, inner and outer door window frames and boot shut on my Sprint. That alone used 8 large cans and 4 smaller ones from the factors when I ran out before I was done enough!

Just out of interest, I totted up what I spent on paint and materials to do the whole job, 2k colour, hardener, thinners, 3 sorts of primer, stonechip, satin black rattlecans for sills and tail panel and Vermillion rattlecans for shuts, filler, stopper. 6 quires of assorted grade wet and dry and production paper and a box of 40 grit stickit strips (of which about 60% was actually used) 4 large rolls of 2" masking tape, a roll of brown paper and 1/2 a roll of plastic sheet, 5 litres of panel wipe and 2 boxes of tacky rags. The whole lot came to just shy of £600! People wonder why paintwork is expensive!

I did ALL the prep work, filling, stopping, priming, flatting, guide coat, more flatting, more priming, more guide coats, masking, endless cleaning and de-dusting, I reckon 400+ hours! Letting the bulge into the bonnet and filling and priming to guide coat stage alone took me an estimated 100 hours. So when the pro painter who laid the colour on (he owed me a favour) turned up, he laid 3 coats of 2 pack on, washed his guns out and was on his way home inside an hour!

Even then and with all the hard work and my perfectionist nature, once the colour was on, there were a couple of spots where I could/should have done better! But, at the end of the day, it's a driving car, not a trailer queen/cup hunter, i'll probably live with it!

Steve

[cleverusername]

As someone who HAS painted professionally in all realms from small touch ups to full resprays, I am here to tell you that, even to a pro, large flat areas are the hardest to do well and large flat HORIZONTAL areas are the worst of all. A bonnet you can remove and stand upright or suspend from the roof to make life easier, you can't do that with a roof unless you are prepared to strip the car and use a rotisserie!

You are facing a place where you can't paint it in one unbroken series as you are, of necessity, starting at the middle and working out, then changing sides and doing it again. Working at a bad angle unless you are 9 ft tall with overspray going everywhere and dust falling constantly.

Further hampering yourself with spitting, dripping aerosol cans (even the very best do this) that don't cover well and require several coats to get sufficient depth of paint, just adds to the impossibility of the task!

If you wan't my advice, get a vinyl roof fitted (or fit one yourself) it's completely in character with the car, a lot easier to get a good finish and, once you tot up ALL the expense of paint and prep, probably almost as cheap as painting it!

Steve

It isn't the issue with a vinyl roof the potential for creating a rot trap and hiding the problem till it is really serious?

My solution to getting an OKish finish is plenty of coats so I can sand away any defects. The problem I found with rattle cans is they just don't lay down that much paint and the cheaper cans seem to have really thin paint in them.

The vinyl roof does have potential to hide rust that wouldn't be there on a painted roof, it's true. But i've removed vinyl roofs from Dolomites and found zero significant rot under them just as often as i've found a bit here and there. Truly rotten roofs with vinyls over usually have extenuating circumstances like sunroofs to blame. In any case, they've ALL had 40-50 YEARS to build up this corrosion, I doubt Mike would have any cause for concern over fitting one now! A vinyl will also hide any minor dents, flaws, filler rings and WHY in the roof that a fresh shiny coat of paint will exaggerate!

I used colour matched acrylic paint in large rattlecans from Jawel (circa £12 each) just to paint out the doorshuts, b posts, inner and outer door window frames and boot shut on my Sprint. That alone used 8 large cans and 4 smaller ones from the factors when I ran out before I was done enough!

Just out of interest, I totted up what I spent on paint and materials to do the whole job, 2k colour, hardener, thinners, 3 sorts of primer, stonechip, satin black rattlecans for sills and tail panel and Vermillion rattlecans for shuts, filler, stopper. 6 quires of assorted grade wet and dry and production paper and a box of 40 grit stickit strips (of which about 60% was actually used) 4 large rolls of 2" masking tape, a roll of brown paper and 1/2 a roll of plastic sheet, 5 litres of panel wipe and 2 boxes of tacky rags. The whole lot came to just shy of £600! People wonder why paintwork is expensive!

I did ALL the prep work, filling, stopping, priming, flatting, guide coat, more flatting, more priming, more guide coats, masking, endless cleaning and de-dusting, I reckon 400+ hours! Letting the bulge into the bonnet and filling and priming to guide coat stage alone took me an estimated 100 hours. So when the pro painter who laid the colour on (he owed me a favour) turned up, he laid 3 coats of 2 pack on, washed his guns out and was on his way home inside an hour!

Even then and with all the hard work and my perfectionist nature, once the colour was on, there were a couple of spots where I could/should have done better! But, at the end of the day, it's a driving car, not a trailer queen/cup hunter, i'll probably live with it!

Steve

You're right, there is reason why resprays are so expensive but I just can't justify the cost. Like you I am going for a reasonable finish, not showroom, it wouldn't last anyway.

I have found that the only way to get rid of things like mapping is to add lots of coats and sand down the colour layer. However careful I am with filling/priming and however much effort I put into flatting those layers, something always shows through in the colour coat.

Fine for single colour celly but we have a car that has a metallic finish, which can't be sanded. I can't see how it is possible to spray that at home.

[Bumpa]

Where in the south west of Scotland (30 miles from Glasgow) could I find someone to fit a vinyl roof?

[Carledo]

Fine for single colour celly but we have a car that has a metallic finish, which can't be sanded. I can't see how it is possible to spray that at home.

Modern metallic finishes are what is known as "clear-over-base", first a matte basecoat is applied, then a clear lacquer to make it shiny.

There is a technique for repairing it which is pretty simple, flat the laquer over the whole panel back to base coat (ie till the finish is matte) repair and paint whatever area is needed then lacquer the ENTIRE panel(s) this is the secret, you can blow in the colour on a panel so some is original and some is new and get away with it. Or you can colour a whole panel if needed but colour matching is more problematic. But you MUST lacquer the whole panel or the edges of the lacquer stand out like a sore thumb. This is one of the rare cases when it IS possible to get a decent finish out of aerosols. Lacquer needs practice to apply, it's very thin and runny out of the tin and the temptation to add "just another quick coat" can be overwhelming and lead to huge runs or "snotters" as we call them. Guess how I know!

Steve

[new to this]

If your prepared to put in the elbow grease, you could use coach paint, its a lot thicker paint, paint it with paint brush or paint roller, and then wet and dry paper rub it down to get rid of the brush marks, you can get good results this way

Dave

Another option is to have the roof vinyl wrapped

[Carledo]

If your prepared to put in the elbow grease, you could use coach paint, its a lot thicker paint, paint it with paint brush or paint roller, and then wet and dry paper rub it down to get rid of the brush marks, you can get good results this way

Dave

Another option is to have the roof vinyl wrapped

I know (knew) a guy who brush painted his entire 66 Vitesse with "green line bus" coach paint and actually won many trophies with it. It only took him around 18 months to achieve the astounding finish. He never told me how much he spent on sandpaper for all the many flatting sessions between each coat, I know he got the paint free!

Vinyl wrap, no matter how professionally applied, only lasts about 3 years max.

Steve