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Maine Samba Member
Joined: September 21, 2010 Posts: 150 Location: Maine
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Posted: Fri Mar 06, 2020 4:36 pm Post subject: Painting the top of My Vanagon |
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I have a 1985 Westfalia that the top is the same color of the body. The previous owner did this when he had the van painted nearly 20 years ago. I would like the top to be white. A local body shop gave me a price of $800 to do the job, seems like a lot.
After doing a search I found that many do the job themselves with a roller, so I am thinking I can do thi. I am a bit challenged in this area so I have some questions.
How difficult of a job is this?
Does the top have to be removed?
There are some minor scratches so what specific product do I use to fill these in?
What is the sequence: wash, sand (with what)), primer, paint (I'm thinking of using Interlux)?
Number of coats of primer, how much sanding?
Any other suggestions?
Thanks
Maine |
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tbone5 Samba Member
Joined: October 09, 2017 Posts: 51 Location: LA
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Posted: Fri Mar 06, 2020 6:29 pm Post subject: Re: Painting the top of My Vanagon |
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If you were local to me I'd offer to do the job for 1/2 that price....really this project is a piece of cake. I painted mine last summer and found the project quite easy to do (assuming we aren't talking any fiberglass repairs). As you suggested, do a good wash, lightly sand (don't over do it as you might go through the gel coat)and have at it with a roller. Looking in my garage, I found what I think was the "left over" paint... a quart of the very Interlux you are considering. I think I only used a single quart, but am not sure. If I recall correctly, I laid down two coats...certainly not more than three. (Keep in mind my van's roof was white from the start, so no color change). While there was some wear and tear, I didn't bother to fill in the minor surface imperfections. I removed the luggage rack to facilitate the replacement of the cleats. The roof on the other hand I painted in place (but made sure to remove all the hardware and tape off a boundary between the fiberglass and the metal roof.) A suggestion while you're at it: now would be a good time to replace all the seals and change out the hardware with stainless. |
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puchfinnland Samba Member
Joined: December 26, 2005 Posts: 279 Location: Deale Maryland
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Posted: Fri Mar 06, 2020 7:00 pm Post subject: Re: Painting the top of My Vanagon |
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I just finished my write up on my roof renovation not long ago! Painted it with Awlgrip and a roller
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=731545 _________________ ABYC marine master technician , EX European auto technician, new business- EASTCOASTWEST , custom work on campers, only systems, no mechanical |
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Andross Samba Member
Joined: December 07, 2011 Posts: 133 Location: Robson, BC
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Posted: Fri Mar 06, 2020 7:01 pm Post subject: Re: Painting the top of My Vanagon |
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$800 sounds pretty reasonable to me, how many hours of labour are you willing to do for the price? That's the question, I painted my van myself a few years ago and now fully appreciate the cost of a professional job! Took me a month and spent probably $1500 on materials.
Link
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fxr Samba Member
Joined: December 07, 2014 Posts: 2300 Location: Bay area CA
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Posted: Fri Mar 06, 2020 9:22 pm Post subject: Re: Painting the top of My Vanagon |
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Painted our whole van (Westy roof and all) for less than USD 250 using Interlux Brightside.
BUT...
New seals. New windshield glass, tinting and other cosmetics cost another USD 1200. _________________ Jim Crowther
1984 1.9l EJ22 Westy Wolfsburg Edition
Vespa GTS 300 |
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MarkWard Samba Member
Joined: February 09, 2005 Posts: 17009 Location: Retired South Florida
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Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2020 5:15 am Post subject: Re: Painting the top of My Vanagon |
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fxr wrote: |
Painted our whole van (Westy roof and all) for less than USD 250 using Interlux Brightside.
BUT...
New seals. New windshield glass, tinting and other cosmetics cost another USD 1200. |
How about a picture of that? $800 seems reasonable to me if all you do is drop
it off and pick it up. If you’ve got time, covered space, and patience and can live with the result, by all means do it yourself. It’s a lot of sanding. Sanding is my least favorite thing. _________________ ☮️ |
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4Gears4Tires Samba Member
Joined: October 08, 2018 Posts: 2982 Location: MD
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Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2020 5:22 am Post subject: Re: Painting the top of My Vanagon |
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^ Yep.
I really enjoy shooting painting, but I hate sanding too. I also like my lungs and really wouldn't enjoy breathing issues from breathing sanded fiberglass. _________________ '87 Syncro
Ferric Oxyhydroxide Superleggera Edition |
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djkeev Samba Moderator
Joined: September 30, 2007 Posts: 32432 Location: Reading Pennsylvania
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warmblood58 Samba Member
Joined: March 22, 2005 Posts: 331
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Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2020 10:30 am Post subject: Re: Painting the top of My Vanagon |
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Interesting thread, glad I found it. My syncro will be painted its factory color of flash silver metallic-the previous owner painted the top black which of course absorbs heat vs reflecting heat so back to white I will go. I will most likely do this myself with a foam roller and brightside vs. having the shop shoot it - |
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Steve M. Samba Member
Joined: July 30, 2013 Posts: 6798 Location: Fort Lauderdale, Fl.
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Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2020 11:10 am Post subject: Re: Painting the top of My Vanagon |
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djkeev wrote: |
I would vote to take it off. T
Dave |
Taking it off and giving it to the painters will make their job a lot easier as they will not have to stretch! If it is easy to work on you should get a better job as the center of the top is not out of sight and out of mind especially when you go to pick it up and can review their work. _________________ This free advice is worth exactly what you paid for it.
There are seven days in a week. Someday is not one of them. |
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Ride-Fly Samba Member
Joined: May 25, 2015 Posts: 621 Location: PDX
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Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2020 1:24 am Post subject: Re: Painting the top of My Vanagon |
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I painted my poptop and it was pretty easy. I even repaired some fiberglass but didn’t use a fiberglass repair kit. Instead I used epoxy to fix and cover the break in the fiberglass, and then sanded/blended it in. You can still feel the difference in height of the epoxy but you can’t tell on a galloping horse.
Use Brightside with Penetrol.
I couldn’t be happier with the end result of my poptop repaint, so much so that I might repaint my tintop roof with a roller and Brightside/Penetrol. I’d still leave the body to Maaco. _________________ 1987 Westy, Dove Blue
1987 Wolfsburg Tintop, Vesuvius Grey no more
1977 Toyota FJ40, Freeborn Red
2018 Ford F-350 Platinum, Ruby Red Metallic
2017 Mercedes GLE350, Polar White |
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Jake de Villiers Samba Member
Joined: October 24, 2007 Posts: 5911 Location: Tsawwassen, BC
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dobryan Samba Member
Joined: March 24, 2006 Posts: 16474 Location: Brookeville, MD
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Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2020 8:03 pm Post subject: Re: Painting the top of My Vanagon |
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OMG you can do it for $100 in one day easily. Do some reading on here about rolling on the paint. It is on the top, no one is going to criticize any imperfections.
The prep work is just grunt work. No fancy tools or labor involved. If anyone here who said they would pay $800 to have it done are driving by Maryland anytime soon I'd be glad to do it for that price all day long...
It is worth doing to keep the temps down up top.
_________________ Dave O
'87 Westy w/ 2002 Subaru EJ25 and Peloquin TBD
"To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive." Robert Louis Stevenson
MD>Canada>AK>WA>OR>CA>AZ>UT>WY>SD
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=620646
Building a bus for travel in Europe (euroBus)
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=695371
The Western Syncro build
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=746794 |
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Ride-Fly Samba Member
Joined: May 25, 2015 Posts: 621 Location: PDX
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Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2020 8:51 pm Post subject: Re: Painting the top of My Vanagon |
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dobryan wrote: |
OMG you can do it for $100 in one day easily. Do some reading on here about rolling on the paint. It is on the top, no one is going to criticize any imperfections.
The prep work is just grunt work. No fancy tools or labor involved. If anyone here who said they would pay $800 to have it done are driving by Maryland anytime soon I'd be glad to do it for that price all day long...
It is worth doing to keep the temps down up top.
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How much of a difference in prep work and the end result would there be in painting a tintop vs the fiberglass poptop? I would think it would show a lot more of the imperfections when painting the tintop. Any fiber hairs from the roller would stick out like a sore thumb. Regardless, I’m seriously considering rolling on some Brightside on the roof. Maybe I’ll do it for fun and a learning experience, eventually taking the Wolfie to Maaco for a full exterior repaint. _________________ 1987 Westy, Dove Blue
1987 Wolfsburg Tintop, Vesuvius Grey no more
1977 Toyota FJ40, Freeborn Red
2018 Ford F-350 Platinum, Ruby Red Metallic
2017 Mercedes GLE350, Polar White |
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jlrftype7 Samba Member
Joined: July 24, 2018 Posts: 3549 Location: Chicago
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Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2020 9:56 pm Post subject: Re: Painting the top of My Vanagon |
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Ride-Fly wrote: |
dobryan wrote: |
OMG you can do it for $100 in one day easily. Do some reading on here about rolling on the paint. It is on the top, no one is going to criticize any imperfections.
The prep work is just grunt work. No fancy tools or labor involved. If anyone here who said they would pay $800 to have it done are driving by Maryland anytime soon I'd be glad to do it for that price all day long...
It is worth doing to keep the temps down up top.
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How much of a difference in prep work and the end result would there be in painting a tintop vs the fiberglass poptop? I would think it would show a lot more of the imperfections when painting the tintop. Any fiber hairs from the roller would stick out like a sore thumb. Regardless, I’m seriously considering rolling on some Brightside on the roof. Maybe I’ll do it for fun and a learning experience, eventually taking the Wolfie to Maaco for a full exterior repaint. |
To avoid fiberhairs from a roller cover, you could thin foam versions instead of the regular covers. _________________ '68 Westy- my first VW and vehicle/Bus- long gone.- sold it to a traveling Swiss couple....
'67 Type 3 Fastback, my 2nd car- gone
'69 Semi-Auto Stick Shift Beetle-gone
2017 MINI Coopers, our current DDs
‘84 Tin Top - Hilga....Auto |
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dobryan Samba Member
Joined: March 24, 2006 Posts: 16474 Location: Brookeville, MD
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targis58 Samba Member
Joined: July 11, 2006 Posts: 539 Location: sunnyvale,ca
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Posted: Fri May 20, 2022 11:21 pm Post subject: Re: Painting the top of My Vanagon |
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dobryan wrote: |
OMG you can do it for $100 in one day easily. Do some reading on here about rolling on the paint. It is on the top, no one is going to criticize any imperfections.
The prep work is just grunt work. No fancy tools or labor involved. If anyone here who said they would pay $800 to have it done are driving by Maryland anytime soon I'd be glad to do it for that price all day long...
It is worth doing to keep the temps down up top.
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Nice! Exactly what I was hoping to do. White on top. Do you have some pics showing with the pop top up? _________________ 90 westy 2wd w/ TBD |
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DuncanS Samba Member
Joined: October 17, 2013 Posts: 4580 Location: New Hampshire
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Posted: Sat May 21, 2022 6:00 am Post subject: Re: Painting the top of My Vanagon |
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djkeev and I are Q & D top painters. He used a Tractor Supply paint, and I went with Interlux as that's what I had. I brushed. The whole thing took half a day. Sanded with a pad RO sander, wiped it down with gas and had at it. It's what I'd call a 4 foot job. Looks good from 4 feet out. Since the whole car needs painting, the eye won't go under the 4' range to find flaws.
On a pro window out repaint, that's a different story.
Toss on the Interlux you have and see if you like it, What's the worse that can happen? Repaint. Hint. Because of VOC standards, the Interlux rep at a boat show told me it is no longer possible to paint directly out of the can as they can't put enough solvent in to meet the standard. So thin the quart with about an 3/4 of an ounce of 333 brushing liquid. If spraying use 216 for spraying. If you want a really pro looking long lasting job which will pass the <1' test, use sausage rollers and apply four coats of two part Interlux Perfection.
Duncan |
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Crankey Samba Member
Joined: July 11, 2004 Posts: 2652
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Posted: Sat May 21, 2022 12:45 pm Post subject: Re: Painting the top of My Vanagon |
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I'm considering doing a non permanent white vinyl wrap on my roof if the summer heat is bugging me enough. Just mention the idea just in case someone might like to try it before they go all out. 3M might also have some fancy vinyl that has heat rejection technology in a wrap film too. |
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DuncanS Samba Member
Joined: October 17, 2013 Posts: 4580 Location: New Hampshire
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Posted: Sat May 21, 2022 1:30 pm Post subject: Re: Painting the top of My Vanagon |
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Crankey wrote: |
I'm considering doing a non permanent white vinyl wrap on my roof if the summer heat is bugging me enough. Just mention the idea just in case someone might like to try it before they go all out. 3M might also have some fancy vinyl that has heat rejection technology in a wrap film too. |
Anything which gets stuck on a car with a gummy backing, becomes permanent after a month--or pretty close to it. The UV turns Velveta into steel. Anyyone who has tried to remove some PO vinyl stripping from the side of their T3. On the top it would happen even faster. I'd look for a different solution.
Duncan |
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