Roof repaint - normal (professionally done) auto paint, el-cheapo 'hardware store' paint, POR (or similar) or U-Pol Raptor (or similar) (1 Viewer)

[sunrk]

Copped a bit of damage to one end of the gutter area of my 80 recently when one of my Loadrail roof bars got caught in a tree and pushed it back. Luckily I was able to re-form the roof gutter but it got me up to look at the roof panel and I found it's paint has degraded quite a lot to the point where it's coming off and there's a fair bit of surface rusting.

I'm considering recoating the roof with U-Pol raptor (the 80 is white, so it's a stock colour for Raptor) as I could never afford a full body shop repair and repaint (especially since a whole vehicle repaint doing it properly will cost me about A$10k!) and there are other areas of rust (those side cargo windows - still not addressed - rust getting worse) to consider.

The two other ways I could treat the roof is a full re-coat using POR-15 type products (they do a nice white top-coat aerosol), or el-cheapo enamel white hardware store paint (Killrust and Rustguard being the two brands most readily available here).

The Raptor stuff has me interested since it can be roller-applied and the roof is basically a nice flat panel with slight formed folds for pretty patethic 'rigidity'. I reckon I could do the prep and application myself. At the same time I want to have a really good go at treating the roof gutters as they have decaying factory sealant goop all along them that needs attention before serious rust starts.

Now one issue I see with using Raptor is cleanability. Currently, even though the 80 is white and 28 yrs old I can still give it a normal wash down including the roof area. With Raptor applied that makes cleaning/washing the roof challenging so I'm keen to know people's views about using Raptor for an external coating product on 80's given that it's normally intended as a ute bed liner not a normal external coating material for the rest of a vehicle.

Craig.

 

[sxp]

I painted my roof with Monstaliner. Just rolled it on after proper prepping. It came out fine with no issues, and it is easy to clean. I also filled in my roof rack holes with threaded rod and JB Weld before hand. It's not 100% pretty, but this rig isn't going to win any car shows anyways.

 

[sunrk]

Looks like a good outcome. Mine is no showrunner either. It's a proper 4wd and had taken lots of beating over the time I've owned it. Biggest problem now is body rust. The roof is something I hope is easy (relatively) to deal with. it's also the biggest contributor of NVH being a large mostly flat 'drum'.

 

[Pascoscout]

The liners can be put on fairly smooth with the right application tools and technique. Read the instructions for each and see what will give you the smoothest finish as that will be easiest to clean. As I recall, when I monsta linered my front bumper I used a smooth foam roller vs the textured one they provided and the bumps on the finish are pretty small. The Raptor liner is a great product and I bet they have a sprayer or roller that gives a smoother finish.

I'd avoid the POR-15 even in white unless they've added a UV inhibitor since last I looked at it (they may have in the top coat). Even in white with out the inhibitor the finish will become chalky and degrade quickly from sun exposure and even then it still may without a clear coat.

The standard enamel paint faces the same issue as the POR-15. It won't hold up well to sun light exposure so unless you plan to recoat frequently you'll need to add a clear coat. That presents a potential issue as many automotive clear coats are "hotter" than normal enamel and can cause it to wrinkle when you apply it. Best bet here is to get an automotive grade paint in a rattle can and also plan to clear it as part of the process.

 

[rons1957]

I just went through the same thing. There was no rust other than where the factory roof racks were installed but the clear coat was almost completely off and looked like hell. I cleaned the rust off with a wire brush and a grinder. Had to tap the metal around the 8 holes down with a punch and a hammer so it didn't create a hump then applied bondo. I then sanded the whole top down to primer in some areas. Took the color code down to a local auto body supply store and had them mix the paint and put it in a rattle can. Got some quality auto clear coat in a rattle can at the same place. Tapped everything off and shot the roof with the paint. A couple of coats. Color sanded then shot a couple of coats of the clear coat. It's not perfect but to the untrained eye it looks perfect.

The rear hatch around the window was my real problem area. It was rusted all the way around. I was worried that it may be too weak to be repaired. As it turned out it was rusted through only in a couple places at the bottom, not a lot and not in a structural area. The pinch weld that the window gasket rides in was in good shape relatively speaking. Cut the window out, hit all the rust with a wire brush mounted on a small grinder, shot the whole area with a rust converter from the same auto body supply place (in a rattle can of course), then tapped the metal down and hit the areas that needed it with bondo. After sanding and shaping, applied automotive primer, paint, color sanded, clear coated and had a auto window place reinstall the window (I had ordered the gasket for the window and provided that to the window place). Again, not perfect if you look close but just walking by it looks new.

Lot of manual labor involved in this but the quote I got from an auto body shop to do the roof and the rear hatch was over 3500 bucks. A couple hundred in supplies and a bunch of manual labor and it's done. I also repaired a couple of other spots where the clear coat was coming off at the same time. That is relatively easy. Just sand the clear coast edges down with a fine grain sand paper like 400 to start with. Then move to 600 and then 800. Use the 800 or 1000 to lightly sand the surrounding area to blend, shoot with clear coat and polish.

 

[sunrk]

My 80 being white has no clear-coat. The roof has the white factory paint flaking/peeling away from the underlying metal surface I think due to the primer just giving up after 28 yrs of sun exposure. I have used POR-15 gloss white on the lower body sills but the problem there is the rust coming through from the inside which is something else I haven't been able to deal with yet.

I've used hardware store white enamel aerosol on the sides of the body in a few spots and with the right prep it holds up, but roof and bonnet for that paint would be a fail due to the UV bombardment that would break down the paint chemistry.

 

[davegonz]

If it's a white truck, just go get a cheap paint job from Maaco or spray it yourself. Kind of hard to mess up a white truck's roof.

 

[bicycleagent003]

Stop showing off with your white truck. I wish mine were white.

 

[leonard_nemoy]

I miss my white 80. We always called it the white buffalo aka white Tatonka....

My vote would be use a liner product.