paint with roller

Has anybody here attempted painting a panel or even a whole landy with a gloss roller. I seen it done at a local bus depot and watched plenty youtube videos on the subject but for some reason when I try it on a large panel I run into problems mainly lighter and darker patches, any ideas as to what I'm doing wrong?

What sort of paint are you using?

Could it be unevenly mixed?

RubyRR said:

Could it be unevenly mixed?

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Hammerite smooth silver and yes its well mixed and thinned as per bus companies instructions and several youtube videos.

John03 said:

Hammerite

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I think that's your problem right there.

The biggest problem is your using a roller. Throw it in the bin.

I am getting some great results with a £30 HVLP spray. Then again I am using a semi gloss paint.

There's a good thread on this from last year somewhere on this forum. It was interesting cos to get a good finish it needs lots of coats carefully applied over small areas.

Bobsticle said:

I am getting some great results with a £30 HVLP spray

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Two points here. one I dont have enough money to buy equipment for spraying and the second point is I really dont have the space to do it either. Since I used to work for a local bus company and seen the way they painted the vehicles with a roller I thought this would be the way to go ( they dont do that anymore as most vehicles have metallic paint) , So Bobsticle despite your bad experience with rollers I have no intentions of throwing them in the bin until I've used them and what the hell is HVLP spray anyway ? your gonna make me google it arint ya aaahhhhhh another hour online looking up rubbish

I've never painted car panels with a roller, and would choose to use a spray gun. But. I have seen very good finishes on cars achieved with rollers, and have impressed myself with a gloss finish on furniture with them. Use decent gloss rollers and experiment with the thinning until you get the right proportion. (You'll know when it's right because suddenly it's looks good).

Hammerite is a 'difficult' paint, and if you can't solve your problem by constant aggressive stirring I'd use something else. It's not the tough stuff that it once was anyway.

John03 said:

Two points here. one I dont have enough money to buy equipment for spraying and the second point is I really dont have the space to do it either. Since I used to work for a local bus company and seen the way they painted the vehicles with a roller I thought this would be the way to go ( they dont do that anymore as most vehicles have metallic paint) , So Bobsticle despite your bad experience with rollers I have no intentions of throwing them in the bin until I've used them and what the hell is HVLP spray anyway ? your gonna make me google it arint ya aaahhhhhh another hour online looking up rubbish

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If painting with a foam roller (used to me mohair, foam not as good) you have to use twenty quids worth of materials perfecting the mix Otherwise you get the orange peel effect and is hard to get an even pattern on curved body panels. Easier on a fire door in a council run infirmary. Secondly you have to be using the correct paint. Anything fast drying gives the paint less time to relax and even itself out before skinning. Same with acrylic paints, they dont relax because of the lack of oils. Any road up, so far you have the wrong paint and the wrong application method.
High volume low pressure spray guns are an all in one unit that runs off a hoover motor. Mostly used in the spray tan industry. Yes they are a little rough. Yes the spray mist is not exactly fine and no your not going to win a concourse prize at the local vicars feit. But. they give a better finish than brush or roller and you can get a decent one for thirty batts all in. Paint again is a big factor so your much better off getting a polyurethane vehicle enamel than anything cellulose based as this is slow drying and gives you half a chance of success. Even better are the matt and semi gloss vehicle enamels as they are much more forgiving on blemishes.

I've painted two land rovers with gloss rollers. Its really the type of paint that affects the final outcome. The first was done with a "Land rover Paint" from ebay. It was thinned down and went out super thin. It went on smooth, with minimal sanding between coats. Did 3-4 coats then sanded, and repeated this until i ran out of paint.

Second land rover (current one) I've used a non-iIsocyante 2k paint. This one is a b*tch to get smooth, even thinned down its sticky. I've ended up doing alot of sanding between coats, even going down to 240 grit paper on some areas.

However, it is looking good. My advise is use good quality roller and do many many thin coats. At least with a thin coat, if you balls it up you, its less to sand back.

Bobsticle said:

If painting with a foam roller (used to me mohair, foam not as good) you have to use twenty quids worth of materials perfecting the mix Otherwise you get the orange peel effect and is hard to get an even pattern on curved body panels. Easier on a fire door in a council run infirmary. Secondly you have to be using the correct paint. Anything fast drying gives the paint less time to relax and even itself out before skinning. Same with acrylic paints, they dont relax because of the lack of oils. Any road up, so far you have the wrong paint and the wrong application method.
High volume low pressure spray guns are an all in one unit that runs off a hoover motor. Mostly used in the spray tan industry. Yes they are a little rough. Yes the spray mist is not exactly fine and no your not going to win a concourse prize at the local vicars feit. But. they give a better finish than brush or roller and you can get a decent one for thirty batts all in. Paint again is a big factor so your much better off getting a polyurethane vehicle enamel than anything cellulose based as this is slow drying and gives you half a chance of success. Even better are the matt and semi gloss vehicle enamels as they are much more forgiving on blemishes.

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not used it on the car but , i've got one of these hv sprayers and used it around the house. found it brilliant

was great doing emulsion for the ceilings , best thing i ever bought when i sprayed my shed and fence panels

had to dilute the different paints

learnt really fast to make sure there was a good sound base , the first ceiling had the old distemper paint and after two coats of emulsion the entire ceiling paint peeled off in layers

had to strip it all back down and put some paint primer and the sprayer then gave a really good finish

would never use quick drying gloss paint ever again, gives a terrible finish ,

sorry going off subject but found the hv sprayers really good for small jobs

Painted my lightweight with black gloss tractor paint i get through work ,paint is proper thick synthetic stuff i didnt thin it and i used a mohair mini roller (draper number 26256)

Only two coats and i was pleased with the finish but i was painting over gloss black !! i think alot will depend on the paint you use (hammerites not that good anymore) but it will never be as good as a spray job ,id say somewhere between a brush and spray job ,if youve not spayed before its easy to make a mess of it and masking off is alot of work ,if you take your time and dont put too much on its almost impossible to get runs with those mini rollers

Also worth saying i did mine in the summer when the air is alot dryer and the paint dries alot quicker

chrisstdt said:

Painted my lightweight with black gloss tractor paint i get through work ,paint is proper thick synthetic stuff i didnt thin it and i used a mohair mini roller (draper number 26256)

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Thanks chrisstdt I will give the mohair a go.
As for everyone else please read the original post before replying, I didint say I was getting orange peel effects I said I was getting lighter and darker strips from the roller, other than that I'm getting a pretty good finish. I'm only using hammerite because its very similar colour to the landy's original paint job and its available off the shelf. I dont have the space required to do spray painting or the equipment if I did I would have ordered the paint off the internet and done it that way. So really fascinating as it is to hear your stories of how you spray painted yer landy using yer grannies ill fitting false teeth and a tin molasses thinned with yer uncle bobs favourite rum it has no bearing on the question or cry for help that I originally posted so thanks for yer input but no thanks.

Painted all my military Rovers with a roller never had an issue, but I was using Matt paint not gloss.

I'm using there

https://www.smlmarinepaints.co.uk/brushes-rollers/finishingrollers/foam_roller

They have a concave edge to eliminate tram lines. Should help eliminate dark/ light sports as you can roll all over without worrying about putting in tram lines.

Also don't dissolve in strong solvent thinners

philsefo said:

I'm using there

https://www.smlmarinepaints.co.uk/brushes-rollers/finishingrollers/foam_roller

They have a concave edge to eliminate tram lines. Should help eliminate dark/ light sports as you can roll all over without worrying about putting in tram lines.

Also don't dissolve in strong solvent thinners

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Thank you I've just placed an order for a pack of 10 so I really hope they work

I used a gloss 4" roller with one pack enamel paint. Lots of preparation and rubbing down between coats. Four coats in total and I'm really happy with the following finish. There are plenty of picks in the owner's vehicles section.

Be aware that modern day hammerite dulls in the sun.

bluehaze said:

Be aware that modern day hammerite dulls in the sun.

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not too bothered about this idea is take landy off road scratch it, repaint with cheap off the shelf paint, wots the point of spending loads of money on glossy metallic paint just to watch a grown man fall to his knees crying like a school girl coz a twig just scratched it.

philsefo said:

I've painted two land rovers with gloss rollers. Its really the type of paint that affects the final outcome. The first was done with a "Land rover Paint" from ebay. It was thinned down and went out super thin. It went on smooth, with minimal sanding between coats. Did 3-4 coats then sanded, and repeated this until i ran out of paint.

Second land rover (current one) I've used a non-iIsocyante 2k paint. This one is a b*tch to get smooth, even thinned down its sticky. I've ended up doing alot of sanding between coats, even going down to 240 grit paper on some areas.

However, it is looking good. My advise is use good quality roller and do many many thin coats. At least with a thin coat, if you balls it up you, its less to sand back.

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What was the finish like the first one? What colour?