Roller Painting (super cheap) you guys heard of this?

[Matt]

A buddy of mine spotted this somewhere on the internet...

here's how i painted my car for about $50, it's actually very easy and the results are amazing. First off, get a can of tremclad real orange (or what ever color u want) in the can, not spray, yes tremclad, it is a acrylic/enamel paint which is very durable. next prep your car as if was any other paint job, fix all the rust, ect....no need to prime the car since the tremclad allready contains elements which allow it to be painted over bare metal. next, after prepping the car get a small 4" professional FOAM rollers, it's tiny and has one end rounded off, and the other cut straight, and is a very high density foam. u also need a jug of mineral spirits to thin the paint. The thing i really like about this is that there's no mess, no tapeing the whole car, just key areas, and u can do it in your garage, since your not spraying there is virtually no dust in the air, just clean your garage first, also it does'nt really smell at all, dries overnight and it super tough paint. also it you decide to paint the car professionally later, just prep and paint, there's no need to strip the tremclad. i have done this to a few cars, and i can say it works amazing, u just have to be paitient. next u thin the paint with mineral spirits so it just about as thin as water, a little thicker. get out the roller and paint away, don't get the paint shaked when u buy it, enamel is stirred, otherwise you'll have bubbles in the paint for a week!!! after u do 2 coats, wet sand the whole car, then repeat, 2 coats, wetsand, 2 coats wetsand. i painted the charger using a can since your not spraying the car u use all the paint and not spray 50% in the air, use progressivly finer sand paper each time. it's not really that much work, cause u can stop and start any time, u can do just a door, or the hood, ect. do one panel at a time, and don't stop once you start. once your done the final coat, wetsand with about 1000 grit to a totally smooth finish, and then using a high speed polisher i use a buffing bonnet and turtle wax polishing compound. do the whole car with this, and i'm telling u, depending on the amount of time and paitence you have, the results are amazing. laugh if you want, but for $50 ($30 for paint, about $20 for rollers, sand paper, ect...) it really looks good. also you can do these steps overnight, paint one evening and by morning u can wet sand. i have personally done alot of painting, mostly single stage acrylic enamel, and i've sprayed several cars in my garage with really good professional results, just it stinks, it's a real pain to do, easy to make a mistake, messy, and expensive. The tremclad is awesome paint, the "real orange" is an amazing hemi orange, and almost looks like it has some perl in the sun, awesome color right out of the can. I used this technique on my 1974 beetle also, here are the results:
here is a car i sprayed (71 beetle, midnight blue metalic):

here's a few pics of the charger done:


well that's my 2 cents worth, sorry for the long post. i was borred lol
i painted the orange beetle in 1999, and it still looks like the day i painted it, the 71 blue beetle i painted in 2000, and built the car for my dad, i used the same paint on my charger, maybe one day i'll spring for a good paint job, prepping is 90% of the work, stripping the car, sanding, ect.....painting is overrated!!!
So if you have TIME, then i'd say go for it, the worst that could happen is that it does'nt turn out and your out $50, but if your paitient, and expriement with lets say just the trunk pannel and if you like it do the whole car, if not just get it done by someone else for $4000. i don't know about you guys, but i would rather spend the $4000 on other parts like getting the mechanics sorted out and new chrome, cause when u have really nice paint and crappy bumpers, door handles it just sticks out more.

he also said

Yes i painted it with a "profesional" high density foam roller. The trick is in how you thin the paint, get it as thin as possible without running, and the paint "self levels" it comes out like glass, wet sanding just makes it better, it all depends on how much time u have. i have sprayed a few cars in my garage with a single stage acrylic enamel and it's a pain, messy, stinks, ect... the tremclad is almost odorless and is really easy to work with. u can paint one day, wetsand the next and immedieatly recoat. once you got all the coats on, just wetsand and buff with a compound, then wax and your good to go. i've done 3 cars this way and the 74 beetle i did 6yrs ago, still looks awesome. the paint is cheap like $30 a gallon, you can get it tinted to any color u like. on the charger i used about 3/4 of a can, when u spray even with a HVLP gun, u still waste about 30% of the paint that just goes in the air. Tremclad is basically rust paint, but it is the new type which is a enamal. i still strip the car of chrome, bumpers, handles, keylocks, basically everything, and then just tape only using tape where i might get paint on something i don't want painted. the paint is tough, like stove paint when it's done, i've spilt gas on it in like really hot weather, and it resists stone chips really well. i had to repaint a fender on the beetle like 2 yrs ago, so i just got a small can of paint 3 yrs later and the color match is exact.

i'm up in Canada, here it's called Tremclad, in the US it would be the rustoleum or something like that, it's a rust paint, buffs really nice, but make sure it's the new stuff like a enamal, or acrylic enamal. goes right over anything and does'nt react with any old paint, right over bondo, don't use any primer, just the paint. on a car i used to have i had it professionally painted 4 yrs after i painted it and they put a base/clear on it with no isues. it's really easy to do just be paitient, take your time, test on something first and perfect the tequnique, as a hint if you try it first you paint the surface, and then really lightly "skim" the surface with the weight of the roller only to remove any lines bubbles ect, then just leave it for a minute or two and you'll see it just "self levels" totally flat to glass. then wetsand it really fine, use a spray bottle and keep the paper really wet, finish with a 1000 grit or so and then buff with a random orbit polisher using turtle wax POLISHING compound, NOT the rubbing compound, its' to harsh. it is critical to use the proper roller, it's about 4" wide and about 1 1/2" thick, and really high density white foam. it really works and is much tougher paint than todays single stage or base clear, very hard to scratch, but easy to buff. i get compliments on my paint jobs, and they never believe how i do it.

My roommate is paiting his girlfriend's jeep right now, and this morning I saw the first (of 6) coats on the hood, and so far I'm pretty impressed.

The biggest question is how it'll age, since we've all seen oxidized patio furniture.

So now that I've shared how to paint your car for under $100 bucks who has the specs on the JBweld $200 LS1 or the weedwacker converted into a t-56