Painting Roof on LR Defender TD5

Ali3ta1r · Jul 17, 2019

Hey guys,

So I am looking at re-painting the roof on my TD5 2002 Defender and I just want to ask for some general 'step-by-step' guidance. The reason for the work is because the roof has some pockmarks towards the front and areas where the paint (Alaskan White) has flaked away.

Now my plan was to simply get a roller and brush and repaint over the top of the old paint with a tin of synthetic coach enamel (same colour, Alaskan White) that I can get online.

Can someone please confirm that this would work and the paint would hold? Ideally, I want to avoid having to remove the roof as the space/tools I have at my disposal are quite limited. Also, is there any prep work or other steps which I am overlooking on this re-paint job? Finally, can I use the synthetic coach enamel straight from the tub or do I need to thin it down/mix it?

Thanks in advance for any time spent reading this and any advice offered is much appreciated.

Regards,
Ali

dag019 · Jul 17, 2019

The prep work is the most important. Remove any old sealant from the gutter, scape and then sand the whole roof down, degrease it, and then wipe it down with thinners before starting to paint.

For painting with synthetic enamel you can use it straight from the tin, use a foam gloss roller. You need just right amount of paint on the roller and rust the right amount of working/rolling of the paint to remove the air bubbles and get a good finish. This sounds more complicated than it is, after a couple of minutes painting you will have worked this out via trial and error and not have a problem.
I have painted both of mine with this method, other than being on a step ladder the roof is the easiest panel to paint as it is large and flat so you do not get as many points where you can get runs in the paint.

Ali3ta1r · Jul 17, 2019

dag019 said:
The prep work is the most important. Remove any old sealant from the gutter, scape and then sand the whole roof down, degrease it, and then wipe it down with thinners before starting to paint.

For painting with synthetic enamel you can use it straight from the tin, use a foam gloss roller. You need just right amount of paint on the roller and rust the right amount of working/rolling of the paint to remove the air bubbles and get a good finish. This sounds more complicated than it is, after a couple of minutes painting you will have worked this out via trial and error and not have a problem.
I have painted both of mine with this method, other than being on a step ladder the roof is the easiest panel to paint as it is large and flat so you do not get as many points where you can get runs in the paint.

Thanks Dag.

When I sand it down to remove the paint, how thorough do I need to be? Should I be looking to get rid of it all right down to metal? Or would a good 50% be good enough?

Also, would I see any benefit in putting some etch primer prior to painting?

Thanks,
Ali

dag019 · Jul 17, 2019

Ali3ta1r said:
Thanks Dag.

When I sand it down to remove the paint, how thorough do I need to be? Should I be looking to get rid of it all right down to metal? Or would a good 50% be good enough?

Also, would I see any benefit in putting some etch primer prior to painting?

Thanks,
Ali

Sanding depends on how good a finish you want to achieve. 50% will be fine, that is all I did with mine I want to basically remove any loose paint and hard edges that would show through on the next coat.
You will need to etch prime any where that has gone back to bare metal.

Scooby22 · Jul 17, 2019

I wish my roof was flat, if it were on the ground I would get frogs spawning in the puddle that gathers on the top every spring.

Ali3ta1r · Jul 17, 2019

dag019 said:
Sanding depends on how good a finish you want to achieve. 50% will be fine, that is all I did with mine I want to basically remove any loose paint and hard edges that would show through on the next coat.
You will need to etch prime any where that has gone back to bare metal.

Is the method exactly the same for the interior? Should I decided to do the inside also.

Should it makes any difference, the paint would be a single part Synthetic Coach Enamel.

Pappasmurf · Jul 17, 2019

Ali3ta1r said:
Is the method exactly the same for the interior? Should I decided to do the inside also.

Should it makes any difference, the paint would be a single part Synthetic Coach Enamel.

Can you see the interior roof? If not, don't bother.

Ali3ta1r · Jul 17, 2019

Pappasmurf said:
Can you see the interior roof? If not, don't bother.

Haha, I meant the front cabin and rear boot space.

Pappasmurf · Jul 17, 2019

Ali3ta1r said:
Haha, I meant the front cabin and rear boot space.

Again, can you see them? If you have headlining, not much point.

dag019 · Jul 18, 2019

Ali3ta1r said:
Is the method exactly the same for the interior? Should I decided to do the inside also.

Should it makes any difference, the paint would be a single part Synthetic Coach Enamel.

The method would be the same but I am unsure if it is worth doing the inside it depends how much of it is visible. I have a roof lining and trim covering parts of it, I never bothered painting my new floor panels leaving them plain aluminium and have a large piece of stable matting in the boot area whcih covers most of it. The only parts of the interior I have ever painted have been the gearbox tunnels on the series when I replaced it because it was blue. Method was the same but as it was steel so I used red oxide primer rather than acid etch.

Painting Roof on LR Defender TD5

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