Transtar roll-it primer

[jaredts]

Blazin mentioned he had used this stuff and liked it, but I'm wondering how big a spot would be too big and why.  It appears to be for spot repairs.  Would the only drawback to doing the whole vehicle be the extra work of sanding out the texture from the roller?  The only place I have to do any serious spraying is 30 miles from my house and I want to get as much done in my driveway as I can before taking it there to finish up and paint.  This roll on method would be very attractive, even if it does cause some extra work.

[Blazin]

The biggest area I have done with it was both quarter panels on a short bed S10 bed. The orange peel isn't all that much different than spray on urethane primes. This bed was in good shape rust wise except a few surface spots. Had allot of little dings and small dents. I rolled on about 8 coats of primer and sanded the crap out of it with 320 DA. It came out pretty decent. Sprayed it with OMNI single stage black with about a quart of flattener in it. He wanted a satin finish on the truck.

[jaredts]

Thanks Blazin!  I contacted Transtar about this yesterday.  They e-mailed back in ten minutes and said that there are no reasons not to use it on big areas other than the extra work of application and a little extra sanding compared to most sprayed on products.  I'm seriously considering this as it would help me out a lot.  I wouldn't have even known about it had it not been for this forum.  Another plus is that its available from O'reilly's Auto Parts so its easy to get.

[Blazin]

No problem. Glad to pass on info.

[autorepr]

I'm fixing a fender bender for a friend of mine on his ford ranger....... Tried to shoot some Shopline 2k surfacer last night......... It just kept clogging in the gun. (It's like freakin 90+ degrees here) I got it on and it's gonna take some sanding but looks ok so a roll on product would have been great if you could get it on quick enough.

[Blazin]

They make foam rollers specifically for the urethane primer. I did notice how ever they start to come apart after a long time in the urethane. The best part about a roll on is the clean up. Rinse the roller handle, roll pan, with lacquer thinner and toss the foam roller.

[autorepr]

Got the primer wet sanded and the base and clear on it last night. Used the slow reducer and slow hardner. Turned out pretty good. All were Shopline brand products. (Shopline replace the Omni line at my paint supply store) The 2k surfacer sanded out right away and got smooth as silk.

[jaredts]

That repair looks pretty good.  By the looks of it you didn't blend color or clear onto adjacent panels.  I'm not saying you have to, but more curious if thats something you sometimes do but decided not to or just never bother with.  I think the rule of thumb my dad used at his shop was if it had a few years on it he would blend color halfway or so onto adjacent panels to help blend the color or sometimes blend clear halfway onto adjacent panels to help hide differences in texture of the clear.  Seeing your repair just reminded me that I don't totally understand when any of that is necessary.

[autorepr]

It took a pretty good hit to the left front corner. I had to straighten the inner structure and replace the left fender, hood, header panel and bumper. The guy bought the truck for $150 to use as an appt. complex maintenance truck and just wanted it driveable. He was actually not going to have me paint it to match but after he saw it all bolted together decided to have me finish it off. I did blend and clear the right upper fender but didn't have enough clear do the left door so he said don't buy more material. The original paint looked pretty good so he's happy with it. Here's pics of it right before he came to get it. Still waiting on a rt marker light and trim piece.

[jaredts]

Thanks for the reply, that explains a lot.  Pretty good for a quick, cheap repair.  I think I'll be trying the roll-it primer by this fall.  I'm being cautious as I don't want my truck to sit in its final primer until close to the paint date and I still have some welding to do.  Thanks again to everyone as the roll on method will make this all a lot more feasible for me to do in my driveway and then drive off to a farm for a weekend of painting!

[jaredts]

Arghh.  Just talked to Transtar and they discontinued this product.

[jaredts]

Like I said, this product is discontinued.  The Transtar rep. said I could just choose some other primer and roll it on, and suggested one.  Anyone think I should just give up on the roll idea?  My problem is that my compressor is a cheap 110V and I also don't know how much spraying I can get away with due to neighbors (I think I could do a little).  I also like the idea of an all in one primer, but I'm not sure if its great corrosion protection.  Believe it or not, part of me wants to try rolling on the Clausen All U Need primer.  Thoughts?  I need to cover large areas of bare steel and some body filler.

[Grim 82]

It sounds like you are anxious to get some work done under less than ideal conditions, (equipment, place to do it, etc.) and I know the feeling. Instead of waiting to do things right I applied a lot of Herculiner in the cab, on my firewall, and one of the inner wheel wells that I had to weld a patch in, and I completely regret it now. It all has to come back out of there. I don't know anything about the roll on product that you are looking at, but I would caution you against having to do the work twice because you changed the method and product that you are used to working with.

[jaredts]

Thanks, but the products I am used to working with are epoxy primer and 2k urethane (sprayed on).  Rolling on primer is not an everyday practice in auto body work, but is done and a few products have been sold just for that purpose.  Transtar's rep. said any primer can be applied with a brush or roller, its just getting everything right (flash times, reducer ratios).  I spoke to Clausen today about their All U Need primer and surprisingly he didn't even hesitate when I told him I wanted to roll it on.  He says no problem and they squirt this stuff into hail damage without spraying it all the time.  He also claims that it is completely waterproof and without any sealer over it will last for years without developing rust underneath.  If I can bring myself to believe all of the claims it would be much cheaper than buying two primers and the roll on application is convenient for me.  I do not want to sacrifice quality in any way.  Extra work sanding I can live with.  Surface rust popping my primer and paint off in a year would upset me!

[Grim 82]

Hopefully you can get a small quantity and try it out without too much initial investment in case it doesn't work for you. If you are worried about corrosion resistance it might not hurt to rattlecan some good etch primer over the bare metal before applying the roll on stuff.