My roller paint job so far....

[vectorsc]

Holy crap...don't do 80 grit. You need to knock that thing down to 320 or 400 grit or the scratches will show through like a pink tie on Wil Smith in MIB.

Hell, I have a little area of 100grit sanding scratch left over from shaping the body filler, and I will have to go back and re-sand that area down to 320 again, losing my first coat of paint. It wasn't as visible while prepping it.

[87' 325]

^^

yeah i just completed sanding my trunk lid.....Im really trying to make sure that the prep work is done right. My luxorbeige coupe's roof/trunk lid/ and hood were messed up so ive decided im going to do gloss black above the pin strip and luxorbeige below. I sanded with 80 grit on my orbital sander....and sprayed it down with the hose and then put acetone on the trunk lid to clean the dirt off. Once all that dries my first coat of gloss black will be going on.

what do you think of my paint scheme? luxorbeige contrasts with black excellent. I was then going to purchase some rota slips or konig remembers in black.

[vectorsc]

I'm on coat 1 of this paintjob on my trunk. I think everything will be come out fine.

[Garageaholic]

I've been having camera problems and on top of that, i dont wanna take pics with my shitty phone camera. I'll get them up by the beginning of next week. Sorry guys. I guarantee, it will be worth the wait. I'm very impressed. What a shine, and for a WHITE paintjob at that.

[mikeedler]

its thursday, where are the pics??????

[Garageaholic]

I'll post more pics up tomorrow (wed) of polished/waxed trunk.

[mikeedler]

I would never do what your doing, but i give you mad props for doing it. Cant wait to see finished pics of it.

[StereoInstaller1]

Frank, you are a hero!

Decent paint, cheap.

Rock on, man!

Luke

[Garageaholic]

To prep the car itself after all bodywork, I used 220 then 400. Used mineral spirits to clean it all up. then first coat of paint.

For the rear window trim that has the chrome trim attached to it, i separated it and any clips that I broke, i replaced. I did very little masking on this car as I took virtually everything off of the car to begin with. (except the locks on the doors)

The paint on the car wasn't bad at all. I had one small rust spot on the top of a wheelwell, which I sanded, but rust-stop on it and bondo'd it. Good as new.

I got lucky in that i had a NE car that really didn't have that much rust on it.

[87' 325]

hmmmm.......well i just didnt wanna have to mix the rustoleum with any thinners.....to prep it what grit did u sand it for the first time with.....600? that sounds kinda high. let me know.

I also figured id have to take the car apart to get it to have a decent job. I was wondering about that rear window trim thats half trim and half body color metal. did you just mask that off and paint or what?

did you have any body problems before hand like was your paint completely like shot on the car at all or what? How bad was it?

[Garageaholic]

I never thought about brightside paint. The rustoleum professional shines up really nice (especially with the darker colors)

As for e30's being good candidates, i don't know about that. they are old cars and roller paint jobs do look good, i agree. The only problem i've came across is that if you want it to look halfway decent, there are ALOT of parts you need to paint separately, then re-assemble. Let me explain what I painted separately.

REMOVED FROM CAR AND PAINTED STANDALONE:

left and right fender
front and rear bumper
- all associated bumper trim removed and painted also
front valence
rear spoiler
rear window trim pieces
gas tank door
mirrors L and R
Fog light ducts
Front is lip
my eyebrows L and R
hood
Trunk

All rollered separately. The problem i found out was that the gloss white rustoleum professional gallon can is a slightly different shade than the gloss white rustoleum professional spray can! So I couldnt' even spray anything, except the door jambs, I sprayed them bc it's not that big of a deal.

[87' 325]

cv

m3fan4eva,

Dude, dont even worry about what others think. I mean we are talking about painting an e30. Dont get me wrong i love mine just as much as everyone else here but financially it is not smart to put a paint job on the car thats worth more than the car. This process seems to be a perfect candidate for e30's. Almost all e30 guys ive met have been DIYers, cheap, but at the same time knowledgable. I think what your doing is great. If everyone else wants to hate on this paint method they can go elsewhere. If you cant admit that paint looks good as is then your blind..........will it hold up to elements?...We'll see. We know its cheap and we knows its not the recommended route for painting so negative comments arent neccesary.

But enough for my ranting.....have you thought about using the brighside paint that guy on the mopar site used on his pony(it was red)
Lastly, Get some pics up!!!!

[Garageaholic]

Update on my paint job

Hey guys, Now i have some time to answer questions and address some issues:

I used Rustoleum Professional (gallon can) and I paint all the separate pieces in my basement. The extra pieces that I took off of the car and painted in my basement are as follows:

WHITE:
Fenders, bumpers, bumper trim, front valence, rear spoiler, window trim gas tank door, license plate surround, mirrors, fog ducts, front "is" lip, eyebrows, hood, trunk
BLACK:
Chrome kidney grill, wiper trim
///M STRIPES:
spoiler, fender, Q-panel, eyebrows, trunk, hood


Secondly, I want to address another concern. I know this isn't going to be the same as a $4000 paint job, but it's going to be damn close. Yes, upon very close, scrutinizing inspection, you will notice many differences. I'm doing this for the following few reasons that many of you will understand (especially if you're on a budget). I do not speak for everyone, only me.

1. My car is going to be used 4 months a year and will be garaged every night of it's life.

2. Any panel that gets damaged, I CAN FIX IT MYSELF, for very cheap also.

3. I'm almost done on my car right now and it looks damn good. I can see my reflection perfectly in WHITE paint, For the price of $4000 to withstand "the elements" compared to my situation, i'll be satisfied.

4. when I get compliments on the paintjob, i want to tell people that I painted it myself..... with a fuckin roller. They won't believe it and that will make the car that much more special.

5. I can add my own graphics as you have seen already in my pictures.

6. I can paint a little now, a little later and finish it when i get a chance. I'm not constricted to "windows" where the paint has to dry.

7. I'm not going to be taking it to shows or expect to win anything. i know that there are thousands of e30's better than mine , so no, i'm not going for a show-car finish.



It takes a little getting used to, getting the right ratio (i used oderless mineral spirits bc oder smells hoorible!). I thinned the mixture to about the viscosity of water, but a little thicker. I have come across problems that were not outlined in other peoples writeups and will outline it now for anyone who wants to do it too. Something to watch out for.

A. If you get little hairs or lint in the paint as it dries, it's okay! Just wetsand them out with 400 or 600 grit after it dries. For your sake, i wouldn't wear anything that creates or harvests dust such as sweatshirts or sweatpants. Wear jeans and t'shirts. Don't kick up too much dust as you walk around the shop.

B. You need to work the paint in with a roller bigtime and the whole surface needs to be wetsanded with the above grits mentioned. If you paint over the smooth previous coat, it won't adhere. When i was in middle school, they called it "scoring"

C. Corners and curves: you need to be careful not to oversand and expose the metal. If you do 5 coats and you're on your last wetsanding and you unfortunately go thru the paint on a corner or edge, then don't worry about it. just paint that little area, let it dry and sand again, but BE CAREFUL!

D. I let my paint dry overnight, not just a couple hours in order to ensure that the previous coat is completely dry. I hear that if you paint over it and the paint isn't completely dry yet, then you have problems when you first bring the car out on a hot day where that underneath coat finally dries, it will "ripple" the paint, so just be aware of that.

E. I sanded down with 600 grit and then on my final sanding of the piece, i hit it up with 1000, then 1500 grit. Then finally with 2000 grit. I polished it with turtlewax polish (by hand), then what's called maguires swirl remover which got it really fine. Then waxed it and the part's done. It still needs time to completely cure though. To be honest, i think it simply needs a little UV curing from the sun to completely harden it.




If you don't agree with this method, then that's okay, but if you are saying that it's worthless and a waste of time, stay out of the thread, Everybody in their right mind knows that a $4000 paint job is better than a roller job. This thread is about how to do it if you want to. There are alot of DIY guys on this forum and we're all for saving a buck or two. It's about taking pride in your work and being able to say that you did this whole thing by yourself from beginning to end. If you want to spray yourself that's fine too, but don't get on this thread and say how much better it is to professionally spray. Fuckin' duh! There are many issues to rolling a paintjob and am happy to talk about each and every one of them in as much detail as I possibly can.


I'll include pictures of much better quality within the month's end.

[turbo_negro69]

Hmmm. I am a home user/painter, and happen to have two Sata guns. Digital 2000, and a MiniJet IV. Both are fantastic and not cheap. It pays to have a nice gun.

SATA JET2000 FTW!!!
and i'll use my old boss' saying for painting
"painting is easy!, it's the prep work thats hard and tedious"

Satajet3000 is $500 retail, $400 by most vendors. Sata is one of the companies I was referring to, but they only have two guns over $300, and both are very high tech, very high end guns...something no home painter would ever use. Part of the price you pay as well is a german gun versus a chinese built gun. I have never used any Sata's, but my pinstriper does and told me not to waste my money for what I do.

Hmmm. I am a home user/painter, and happen to have two Sata guns. Digital 2000, and a MiniJet IV. Both are fantastic and not cheap. It pays to have a nice gun.