OK, I spent about a week using the roller method to paint my truck, and here's how it went.
DAY 1
I decided to go with the Gloss White, since I would not have to worry about it fading too much. I spent an entire day taping around the headlights, tail lights, and grill and rubber around the windows. Then I got some 120 grit sandpaper and went over the entire truck, then 220, then 400. Then i wiped the truck down with a damp cloth (probably should have used mineral spirits though). That was a lot of work, and I assumed the worse was over.
DAY 2
The next day, I mixed up some primer with the gloss white, about 50-50. Then I thinned the mix out with mineral spirits, to about the consistency of milk. It was around 105 degrees that day, so the paint did not need a whole lot of thinning. I think I used between 1/2 and 1/3 mineral spirits. So I put on the first coat.
I had previously done a test section on the inside of my tailgate which yielded some impressive results once wet sanded. However, I found that the paint ran like crazy when applying it to the sides of the truck. Also, many drips would occur several minutes after the paint had been applied, while I was working on a different panel. So needless to say, I got a ton of drips, probably due mostly to putting the paint on too thick. I figured (wrongly) I could just sand out the drips the next day. After this coat dried, I applied a second coat and let it dry overnight.
I saw a lot of orange peel finish before going to be, but assumed it would level out. It didn't.
DAY 3
I could see the paint was obviously not dry, so I gave it an extra day to dry.
DAY 4
I got out some 600 grit paper and tried wet sanding, but soon discovered that the paint was only partially dry. And the drips (which I most wanted to sand down) were quite rubbery. When I tried to sand them, I ended up sanding off all the paint around the drip and clogging up the sandpaper. Also, the paint went on quite rough and failed to "level out" like i expected. Also, in addition to drips, I had roller marks everywhere, plus terrible orange peel texture. The roller marks were a nightmare to try to sand down, probably more difficult than the drips.
So I smoothed out the paint the best I could and went through about 10 sheets of wet/dry sandpaper of various grits. Some places I had sanded right through to the undercoat, and there were so many drips and roller marks that it would have taken days (and most of the paint I had just applied) to smooth out every single one.
So I mixed up some paint and mineral spirits for coat # 3, assuming that the new paint would smooth over some of the orange peel and mistakes I made on coats #1 and #2, but nothing doing. You could see every little imperfection, and the original factory paint was still showing through in lots of places (probably my fault for going from factory blue to white). I can't emphasize enough how important it is to lay down your first two coats smoothly, without roller marks or drips. Applied coat # 4 that night.
DAY 5
Another wet sand, still using 400 grit paper. I took off a ton of paint I had applied the day before, and tried as hard as I could to smooth everything out and spent a good 6 hours wet sanding. Both hands had blisters and I kept getting blood on the paint from my hands, so i had to wear plastic gloves to prevent this from happening.
I was determined to have a smooth finish for coats #5 and #6, and I think I accomplished this. However, I still got nasty orange peel and roller marks, no matter how careful I was. I did develop a game I would play in my head, to keep from applying too much paint. I would tell myself that the paint coat $1000 an ounce, and my goal was to use as little of it as possible. This worked well to keep me from putting the paint on too thick.
So applied coats #5 and #6, which were supposed to be the last ones, but there were still spots showing through. So I decided I was going to need 8 coats total instead of 6.
DAY 6
More wet sanding, applied coats #7 and #8.
This was a week ago, and I'm still waiting for the paint to FULLY dry before I do the final wet sand. Meanwhile, I bought a can of spray on Gloss White and have been touching up the door jambs and I took the bed off and sprayed in between. It looks fine now.
So all in all, this was a hell of a lot more work than I anticipated, and the drying time of the paint has been a major headache, along with the roller marks and orange peel finish. So I don't know if I would recommend this method unless you have a very big chunk of time on your hands.
I never did see this "self leveling" phenomenon occur. The paint went on about as smooth as interior paint in your house does with a roller (maybe a little smoother). I was not impressed at all, and the wet sanding is an absolute nightmare. If I had it to do over again, I think I would take extraordinary care to lay the paint on smoothly, and just put on 6-8 coats. Then let it dry for a week to 10 days and then worry about wet sanding. Because I kept losing all the smoothness I had gained each time I put on a new coat. Totally wasted effort, IMHO.
