'80 Malibu painted with marine enamel.

[loneagle]

I'm very impressed with using the marine paint on my Malibu. It is time consuming but I'm having fun doing it.

The mix I used is 60% Rustoleum topside enamel, 20% Flood penetrol, 20% mineral spirits.

Technique I used: (1) wetsand with 400 grit, (2) cleaned panel with mineral spirits in a spray bottle (3) roll a thin coat, (4) let dry (5) repeat steps 2-4 for coat #2 and #3, (6) wetsand with 600 grit, (7) repeat steps 2-4 for coats #4 #5 and #6 (8.) wetsand with 1000 or 1500 grit and polish with Meguire's ultimate compound.

I saturated the roller really well then rolled most of the paint back into the tray, then for good measure tipped the roller on end and pressed even more paint out of the roller. I applied firm pressure rolling the panel spreading the paint evenly across the panel. I got plenty of bubbles, but they immediately starting popping by themselves. I did use a second clean roller to skim (just weight of roller)over panel, but I was surprised to see there wasn't many bubbles to pop.

 

[Longroof79]

It looks good. One of first cars I painted using Interlux Marine paint on my Triumph Spitfire using a small tankless compressor and cheapo Craftsman spray gun.
A small pile foam roller works pretty well, too. I did the hardtop on my Porsche 914 using Polyurethane semi-flat enamel with a foam roller. You'd never be able to tell that it wasn't sprayed.

I recall about a year ago, there was an article in Hot Rod...I think. They painted a car with a roller. I'll have to dig up that article.

Keep us up to date on your project.

 

[Bonnewagon]

My '81 Malibu wagon I painted with Interlux Brightside and with a brush. It was OK but yours looks WAY better. I wanted a crummy finish because I parked it in a crummy neighborhood. Nice job!

 

[loneagle]

Thanks!.....It should look nice once it's cut and buffed. I still have a long way to go!

 

[Longroof79]

I'm really impressed with how well that trunk lid looks. You'd never be able to tell that it was done with a roller.
I've seen cars painted with a brush. When I was a kid pumping gas at a local station, my boss at the time sold used cars and had a '55 Chevy 2-dr sedan that he was selling. It was all black and brush painted. The car looked pretty good from a few feet away. The closer you got, the more you noticed the brush strokes. I'm sure it could've been wet sanded and buffed out.
I remember my dad painting part of the deck lid on his '62 Belair with a bristle brush. It actually came out pretty good. Painting was his profession at the time.