Black roller paint job?

[bsop]

So I'm back in the E-30 world with a 91 318is you'll probably recognize once i get it up here. After parting out my 325is last year, i still have the hood lying around, and I'm thinking about painting it black, Roller style.

Ive searched the forums, seen the threads, and everyone seems scared to roller dark colors, especially black.

I'd only be doing the hood (for now) so i'll be able to dedicate alot of time and effort into getting it right. With proper wetsanding, careful coats and the right paint- is a nice black paint job feasible with a roller? I'll probabaly be doing it regardless, because: why the hell not?

[td325ic]

Yes, you can definitely do black with a roller/brush and get very nice finish with it. I was just experimenting with Interlux Brightside black thinned with Penetrol and it self levels very nicely, and produced a mirror like gloss on my test panel.

One issue that you'll run into is for the paint to flow out and self level it's going to be wet and tacky for a few hours. That means you'll definitely have quite a few dust nibs which you'll have to wetsand out. So plan on using a good polisher like a random orbital Porter Cable 7424 to remove the wetsanding scratch marks.



Here's a guy who painted his car with Brightside black and showed his progress along the way: LINK

A few of his pictures:

[bsop]

Awesome, thats all the support I needed really... I plan on having a nice tarp tent set up in my garage to hopefully cut down on the dust, but i suppose it probably is unavoidable.

I was hoping on being able to wetsand and polish by hand, but maybe not..

Also, anyone have an opinion for paint?
For cost and east of use I'm deciding between brightside and Rustoleom

[bsop]

Link appears to be broken at the moment...

[td325ic]

Yeah, the site was down earlier but appears to be working again now

Here's some more pics from the moparts forum:

Check out the posts by "Aussie Driver", he was one of the first to paint his miata with Brightside black thinned with Penetrol. Below is a pic of his hood after he wetsanded out the dust nibs and polished it.



On the test panel I did with brightside black I got really nice crisp reflection like the photo above and I just slapped the paint on with a foam brush. So far the paint seems surprisingly durable for a one part paint with no hardener. Best part about the paint is it will be very easy to maintain and touch up if need be, so it should work perfectly for my beater work truck. I may even paint my car with it too depending on how my truck comes out.

Anyway, here's a few other pics to motivate you. This guy used brightside black and Pettit's Easypoxy Burgundy. I don't believe he did any wetsanding or polishing on the final coat since he didn't mind the orange peel.

[td325ic]

I was hoping on being able to wetsand and polish by hand, but maybe not..

Also, anyone have an opinion for paint?
For cost and east of use I'm deciding between brightside and Rustoleom

Yeah, polishing by hand to get out wetsanding scratch marks I can guarantee will be an exercise in futility. You may bring the paint back to a shine but especially on black paint you're going to need at least a Porter Cable, some foam pads, and a couple good polishes to completely remove the scratches and the haze. A cheap $30 random orbital won't remove the wetsanding scratches either in any kind of efficient manner so don't waste your money on one of those.

If you can't invest in a Porter Cable and detailing supplies then your best bet is to wetsand between each coating and then do a very thin last coat thinned with mineral spirits and hopefully it'll dry quick enough that you don't get much dust or orange peel. The guy with bug in the pics above that is his final coat without any polishing work afterwards so it's definitely possible to get a nice finish without having to wetsand.

For paint to use, the Brightside black is not too much more expensive. From all the results I've seen it seems to have much better gloss and self leveling properties out of the can than the Rustoleum. Read the moparts forum and other websites and judge for yourself, from all the pics I've seen the guys using Brightside are getting way better results.

[JRowe]

Just one thing to note on the paint, the brightsides will be much more durable and long lasting than the rustoleum. An even better option though if one is going to use the roller technique is to use a two part, catalyzed polyurethane. They also produce these for using the roller technique for the yacht crowd. You would use the exact same techniques etc and spend about 2-3 times as much for the paint, but have a paint job that would last 10+ years.

I just can't see doing such a labor intensive job only to use a cheap paint (rustoleum) that would only last a few years. Even with brightsides, you're probably looking at a 5-7 year paint job. With a 2 part polyurethane, you are now using an automotive paint quality product.