Roller paint job

[beavf16]

My cruiser is in the shop and my girlfriend won't let me go ride my Harley due to the high probability of getting crushed by a drunk driver today, so I decided to start practicing for the roller paint job I'm planning.

I went to a local body shop and got a free hood to practice on, then went by Ace and picked up a pint of Rustoleum Gloss Black and Satin Black. Also got the rollers, mineral spirits, and a cheap foam brush to test as well.

I sanded the hood with 120 grit and just wiped it down with wet paper towels.

I thinned the paint 50/50 with the mineral spirits. Then I rolled on a thin coat with the hood horizontal. After that dried a bit I rolled a separate are with the hood vertical. I also tried a small area with the brush.

My initial observations were:
A) I should have wiped it down with mineral spirits because there was a ton of dust in the paint
B) I had some sagging in the vertical section. 50/50 might be too thin

Today I'm going to sand and apply another coat. Stay tuned for pictures.

 

[Witzer]

After painting my cruiser... I would never attempt that again on my own. The only other most frustrating part was the body work... ugh the flashbacks and the cursing...

 

[beavf16]

I lucked out: body is straight and it's already primed!

 

[5280Hawk]

It was by far the most diffucult and labor intensive project i've done w. my 60.

Love the results though! If its running on you, on the veritcal surfaces, you have to dry the roller a bit more, and you are looking at 7,8,9 + coats, to get it on without runs. Flat is soo much easier.

I have a thread on here probably a few pages back, I finsished my paint job almost a year ago.

 

[beavf16]

Thanks for the tips.

 

[tomrayjr]

I'm foam brushing mine right now...

...going from blue to white, which is a b&$#. Using Rustoleum of course. I did not thin it 50-50 as they suggest, it runs down the side too much. I may around 70-30 at most. I'll post pics when I'm done. I'm just a few coats away from 'good enough'. I just want to get it to a point where I can drive it again and, as time allows, just throw coats on randomly throughout the year till I can see no traces of blue.

Time will tell if the paint simply falls off as I'm driving...

 

[malcb]

Flat is soo much easier.

That is true but if you don't have a low dust environment the vertical surfaces don't catch the dust.

Suppose inverted would be the optimum?