I just realized that I can paint my jeep myself. It came with a terrible homebrew paintjob with some overspray just on the handles, so I figure I can't make it much worse.

I'm going to remove all the trim and go over it with an orbital sander. Theres already no badges and I already removed all the fender flares revealing the awesome colorado red and silver original paint. I;m just going to tape the handles seeing as theres no point. My buddy does dent and hail damage removal so I'll be pulling some dents too.

I'm thinking the original red, olive drab green, or matte black would look good. I'm liking the idea of rolling it on.

any input?

 

Don't roll it on, it will look terrible. Do whatever color you like.

 

I've seen a few threads where it turned out pretty good. You'd suggest rattle can or borrowing a sprayer? I don't want to build a booth.

 

On my buddies 92 camaro we removed all trim, sanded it and then sanded it, then primed, then sanded it, then sanded it perfect. Took it to Macco and they shot the basic coat, we reassembled and wet snaded and it came out decent. Since we took a lot of time on prep and researched what we wanted and they just sprayed it was cheap, but better than average.

 

I painted my XJ in the garage with rattle can. The best thing i can tell you is take your time and prep work, by no means am i a painter but i think mine turned out great. It took me about 10 cans to do. Check out my build thread and you can see how she turn out, the old girl did good with some flat black paint! PM me if you have any questions.

 

The roll on method will work, I've seen decent results. Follow the directions in the online forums to the letter and you should be OK. I considered this mainly for the novelty and then realized this was a project for someone that didn't have spray equipment and since I had access to all that stuff I ditched the idea and sprayed it. Roll on takes time...lots of it.
I sprayed with Valspar tractor paint. Get it at Tractor Supply, my local AutoValue carries a house brand. The stuff is CHEAP compared to regular automotive paints ($35 per gal here) but is just right for a Jeep. Comes in every tractor color- IH red, Ford blue, Kabota Orange, Cat yellow, etc. I used the low gloss black on my 65 Ford and was very pleased.
So if you can rent or borrow a HVLP gun and a good compressor, build a cheapie booth out of tyvek and shoot it.

 

I have used the same valspar paint better than most automotive paint Ive shot. The also sell the hardner for it at tractor supply. Get a hvlp gun mix the paint with mineral sprits to the consistancy of milk ( i think 2/3 paint 1/3 thinner ) and use the hardner it makes it more glossy. I painted a full size dodge truck including under the bed and back of the cab with a gallon. Prep is the key to a great paint job.

 

I used rattle can flat black.

You can't see it in the woods hardly and in parking lots is is invisible at night.

Just my .01

 

Sorry I missed the part where you didn't want to build a booth. I know most of the roller guys use Reustoleum with tons of thinner and do many, many coats.
Don't know what the weather is like in CO right now but I bet you could spray the Valspar Tractor Paint outside on a dry, bug free day over 60 degrees and roll it in to dry. The Valspar stuff does take a while to dry compared to others, not sure if it sets up faster with the hardener. You can't use the hardener with lowgloss black (hardener will make it shiny)
I'd be willing to try the Valspar paint with a roller though it would have to go on thin. Again, dry time is gonna be long and will need a bunch of coats. I think a roller job would look better than a spray bomb.

 

I painted my jeep with rustoleum a few years back, with an HLVP gun. Turned out good and the paint looked good on it until I sold it 2 years later but I wish I had done a clear coat or something on it because after a while it started to look muddy even after it was washed, the final rustoluem finish wasn't that smooth. I did 2 coats of rustoleum primer as well.

https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f2/bud...int-job-20646/

 

This is what i'd do. good post

 

i am going to paint my xj in these coming days. 2013 ford raptor white ftw

 

Rolling works great if you use quality high density foam rollers and really do the prep right. I've seen a number of rolled on paint jobs that you'd never know weren't sprayed if someone didn't tell you.

Rattle can sucks. You might get a decent paint job for a couple years, but it's not going to last and unless you're a professional painter it's going to look like hell.

Spraying is still the best option and cheap. Harbor Freight sells gravity feed sprayers that work well for about $50, just need an inline regulator to maintain constant psi. Check with your local NAPA stores for paint. They've almost always got an extra gallon of automotive paint they're willing to let go for cheap that someone had mixed then bailed out. I got a full gallon of bright blue DuPont paint for like $25 when I did my Dakota.

I also wouldn't waste my time sanding the entire thing. Get a gallon of aircraft stripper and strip the paint right off down to bare metal. Much faster, though quite messy.

 

If you wanna get a roll on just bedliner it with like hurculiner...thats what I used and its great.

 

I didn't consider the time it takes to get roll on right. I have a compressor and access to a sprayer I think that's the plan now.