i painted my corvette in a garage with filters in the doors and moving air with an explosion proof fan. still had 30 hours of wet sanding after.

i can only imagine w/ a roller.

I agree with you chris, I don't roll my jobs. I just finished spraying a few parts of the stang in epoxy, no roller. There are a few roller jobs on the web that have turned out well. They use Rustoleum with a high density foam roller. They say they do it because its cheap, under $200, but when you can buy a whole urethane paint kit for $200, why do it? The roller jobs have no UV protection and soft paint. I have seen roll on primers being used in pro body shops though. Not often but it does happen, not sure why.
Grant

just in time alone the cost savings is not worth it. roll, cure, sand, repeat.

and sanding the entire car inbetween each coat.

vette is not 100% perfect but for HVLP, garage, etc i think it is almost perfect.

that vet is looking sweet for a roller job...........

Not a roller job. Note how he said "hvlp" in his post

Roller jobs do have cons, but most of it is in how much time is involved. The paint itself is $25-70 a gallon, depending on what you get, plus the cost of rollers and tape and sandpaper. From there its all about how much time you put into prep work, wetsanding between coats, and final buffing.

The biggest plus to the roller method, other than cheapness, is that the paint will self-level when thinned correctly. ALso, there are no nasty toxic fumes, no overspray, no expensive tools to buy, etc.

I'm rolling my T Type this summer. I know of a guy that rolled his 87 Grand National and can provide pics if anyone is interested. I think he used around 12 coats of rustoleum pro, and then 2 coats of Interlux Brightside (marine paint that gives better gloss than rustoleum) and it looks much better than any Maaco job.

Can you show me a pic of the Grand National, I'm not doubting you I just want to see how the car looks lol

I would also like to see a pic. The only difference is that I am doubting you. I will post a pic of Maaco'* paintjob using their cheapest paint. It will be a competition. Also, a GN deserves a better paintjob than that. Also 12 coats of anything is way too much. You never want that much film thickness.
Grant

MAACO + $199.00 paint special + prep time = $1100.00 completed

GIve me a bit to find the GN pics... the thread is like 200 pages long with it and other cars in it :P

Edit: Pictures!

GN after prep work but before any paint:



GN after 1 coat of paint. Yes, you can see the roller marks but the paint is thinned so much so that it lays flat and takes a lot of layers, typically 7-10:




GN after 3 coats of paint. Its starting to cover up nicely:



And after 12 coats. This is after wetsanding, but before polishing.




I haven't found any pics of the GN after it was polished, but heres on of a Charger after polishing:

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The gloss isn't quite as high as new cars, but for older or beater cars I don't think it really matters. Also, if one were to use the Interlux Brightside paint instead (marine paint) one would only thin it slightly and use around 4 layers. It typically gives better shine, but its m ore expensive and doesn't have anti-rust elements.