i have decided to get my van resprayed this winter , i have had a very good offer from a mate who owns a spray shop , some prep needed on my part or his apprentice will prep it at a reasonable charge and i am probably going down that route but --- The thing is i have a good work area , a garage that i can get my van in and a good sheltered drive , i only need to do the bottom half and i did work as a apprentice body repairer many moons ago ( i only made tea and t ,cut spray jobs tbh ) and i really am tempted to have ago at putting some paint on myself - i only ever did it once before and it was ok . i fancy using a very simple paint something like rustoleum but again its been so long since i did any spraying i have forgotten and lost track of what's what paint wise , i do have a small spray unit that gives out about 70 lb psi and i have plenty of time to repair mistakes and am not overly fussy about the finish -- i want it right but won't beat myself up about a bit of orange peel if you get my drift Anyone done one recently , got any advice or should i just let the pro do it , i do enjoy a challenge though i do not want to roller it so thanks for that before you post it but no thanks Thanks in advance - Malc
Depends what you want I guess. If you want a spanking spray job with no runs / orange peel then probably best let the pro's do it. As you say you're not bothered about these why not give it a go? We did a mates T4 last summer and it came out a lot better than expected, bearing in mind neither of us had ever sprayed before.
I first resprayed my van in 1999 after a few small filler jobs. Every couple of years, I do the same. It's hardly any more effort to spray the entire vehicle than just a few repaired sections. Certainly not up to pro standard, but passable and much cheaper! I've been using cellulose paint from a 5 litre can bought in about 2004 for £100, after several full resprays there's plenty left. I dilute it 50/50 with thinners and use a 50 ltr compressor and a very cheap spray gun. The best tip about spraying is to practice. Another tip is to pass over the area at a speed fast enough not to have the paint "run", but slow enough for the paint particles to "bind" together for a shiny finish. Get an old panel to practice on. This is just a DIY approach, I'm just after a workable camper which looks reasonably presentable, nothing special.
Do it inside if you have the choice and wet the floor to keep dust down. Airbourne dust is a bugger inside or outside.
I did mine with a mate and we'd never sprayed before. It came out Ok, not brilliant. What I'd call a 10/10 paint job - excellent from 10 feet away at 10 miles an hour. If anything I'd suggest getting the experts to do the prep, that's the difficult bit.
get yourself a big marquee sort of thing and have a go yourself i done mine myself its ok not perfect but the satisfaction is off the scale fella
Some really good looking DIY sprayed buses. Some crazy threads online with regards to using rollers too.
Did mine myself in celly. I bought a relatively cheap setup, I've never done it before either. I sprayed it in a Marquee I bought off eBay and the results were pretty good. Some bad patches here and there but good enough for me. That was 2 years ago and last weekend I rubbed it down with some 2000grit wet and dry and polished it up, now it's even better. I say give it a shot.
I used 2k with about 40psi on a gravity fed gun. Not a pro job but pretty damn good seeing as I've never sprayed anything before. Do it yourself, it's cheaper and you have more of a sense of achievement after.
Just done the lower half of mine, not great but had to do it outside. I would say get your mate to do it if hes doing it for mates rates, if you want a job to do, do the prep then have him do it again Go an ask if you can play when he's painting it. I used 2k, but that stuff is a killer, The other thing to ask yourself if your doing it in the garage is how close are your neigbours and how much you like them? paint stinks and the fine dust gets everywhere and compressors are noisey buggers!
