Re-coating the roof in its entirety - recommendations?

InterBlog

Member
2006 T1N 2500 high roof upfit into an Airstream Interstate Class B camper van, question about roof re-coating.

I have the rusty roof seams issue to deal with, and by reviewing historical Sprinter Forum threads by OPs Wessels69p, Diesel, Davisdave, Labudski, Paul ED and Type2Teach, I get the gist how to tackle the seam repair. Good info on those.

However there is less information on wholesale re-coating of the entire roof. I notice that some T1N posters have conventional nice-looking automotive paint on their roofs, but I do not. I’ve got some crappy flat gray that looks like a very thin primer and it is starting to break down generally. When Airstream did their upfit, they did a custom paint job on all portions of the van body except the roof, which they left bare.

Given that I have to be up there to do all the seams anyway, I’m wondering if it wouldn’t be a good time to re-coat the entire thing. There have been so many roof penetrations from the Class B upfit, plus my husband and I added vaulted solar panels, that it could never be sprayed. It would have to be a DIY job, either rolled or brushed, and I’m comfortable doing that if I can identify a procedure and products in which I have confidence.

Does anyone have anything to add at this point regarding potential products for this wider application?

I noticed that user Unik re-did his roof in a brilliant white elastomeric in 2007, but there was no follow-up reporting on how well that particular product stood up over time. Those types of applications can go either way – they can be great, or they can quickly deteriorate into a mess.

Thanks.
 

Midwestdrifter

Engineer In Residence
Take a look at interlux Brightside topside marine paints. These brush on easily and provide excellent UV and moisture resistance.

Prep consists of removing any loose or peeling paint , scuffing the entire surface, and doing a solvent wipe.
 

OldWest

2004 T1N Westfalia
Might look into "rv roof coating" as a search term. These coatings are thicker than paint, and seal from water. There are various types, but the latest lifetime versions seem to include polyurea (typical component in truck spray bedliner). White or lighter colors should keep van cooler.

http://rvroof.com/
http://rv-armor.com/index.html
http://www.prweb.com/releases/rv/roofrepair/prweb9564741.htm

For DIY, could look into polyurea roll-on products like Herculiner, Monstaliner, etc.

Look forward to finding out what you do.
 

autostaretx

Erratic Member
Long and ago, Jon Caples coated his NCV3's roof with a rubberized pick-up truck bed liner material. (Rhinocoat?)

As far as i know, he's still happy with it.

--dick
 

bstory

New member
We did our 2006 in 2011, before we put solar panels on it. We scraped and sanded pretty thoroughly with increasingly fine sandpaper, to 200 grit, then did 3 coats of Rustoleum white enamel, sanding between each coat. Combination of rolling and brushing. First coat thinned a bit.

It has held up well, though I can't be sure how the areas under the solar panels look, but I assume they have less degradation than the rest of the roof. We did have a white roof to start, but full of rust spots before we did the work.
 

InterBlog

Member
Thanks for the replies... somewhere on this forum, there was a thread mentioning roof color bleeding, from someone who had applied a new coating, perhaps to a pick-up or another truck, rather than a Sprinter. I made notes on many threads, but I forgot to write down which one that was.

It comes to mind because of the comment on marine paint. Some marine paints seem designed to ablate to a certain degree. Not in the sense of a sacrificial anode, but because of the fouling nature of marine submergence. If they shed a bit, then less sticks to them. And of course some are also impregnated with copper because it is highly toxic to marine life and barnacles are less likely to stick to it.

But it's a good area for further research... if I could confirm the characteristics of a marine paint, it might be a good choice for this application.
 

Goofy foot

sliding left...
I have the similar 06 Long and Tall white cargo. I plan on using LineX , color:white for reflectivity, masked off and ending at the sightline of the roof to sidepanel transition. I then plan on changin van color to a personal preference. In prep of the roof, seams specifically, was to use a heavy duty wire brush attachment on a drill. Removing as much existing paint and factory original caulking (sub-standard) from the seams down to the gutters. Then I applied Ospho in 2 coats to convert unremoved impossible to get to rust to iron phosphate. Primed,re-caulked with SikaFlex (3M marine would suffice). i would think its better to have all roof penetrations for solar, vents, etc. completed before LineX coating applied.
 

eagle2232

New member
On my '06 140 2500 I coated with paint roller the roof with Hy-Tech Bus Kote #2150 heat reflective paint. Hy-Tech Bus Kote #2150 is a NASA heat reflective industrial coating. I got the tip from someone here on the Sprinter Forum. Before the Bus Kote treatment, I spend 2-3 days of carefully treating the slightly rusting roof top seams with sandpaper, de-rust, and automotive exterior white paint. The Bus Kote was the next step, and my "longer term" seal-it-up-for-good approach. Its only 1 year since install, I've very satisfied with its performance so far in both 110+ F temps and the -0 F snowpocalypse we have now in ID. I ruled out the ~$750+ truck bedliner ideas (LineX, Rhino) because they added 400 lbs of weight on top, and had no heat reflectivity properties. One gallon each of Bus Kote and Flexi-Clear was much less expensive ($80 for both). I found it reduces heat transfer by ~40%, sound dampens, and is very light weight. It's an elastomeric paint embedded with micro-ceramic spheres. I put 4 coats on of Bus Kote, and one coat of Flexi Clear. I haven't seen any further rust indications in the roof seams. Good luck in your considerations. Here's some links to my Instagram images.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BGszuwopQlb

https://www.instagram.com/p/BGMwSYCJQpO
 

InterBlog

Member
I'm definitely going to look into the Bus Kote - thanks. I forgot to mention that weight is a very real concern for us. With the Class B upfit, we have to remain mindful of GVWR. So some of the thicker, heavier applications such as bed liners have to be nixed on general principle.
 

terra_firma

Member
Planning on doing the same thing if i can ever find an indoor space where i can prep and paint the thing! Too cold, wet, and salty outside right now.

I think i'm basically going to POR15 my whole van, doing it it sections, starting with the roof. My roof leaks a bit, and the Rust destroyer + auto paint job i did two years ago looks WORSE than before i spent a week repairing it! It seems like its super important to etch/seal/whatever your sanded metal surfaces as soon as you sand that area down. I think the reason my roof rusted back so bad was because it took several days to sand/prep/and paint the roof seams using two ladder, doing it in a parking lot, and basically by the time i was prepping one end of the roof, the other end of the roof had been exposed to air with moisture in it, moisture get's trapped under primer = huge waste of time.

I'm going to try constantly etching everything as i go along, do a few square feet etch it, move on and repeat. Then when it's all prepped, give it all a good 2nd round of the acid etch and then get that paint on. Another option i was considering too was just lightly wiping down all the sanded areas with an oil, and then when it's all prepped follow up with the por 15 degreaser (this works amazing by the way) and then the phosphoric acid.

For the acid i haven't decided between the por15 metal prep/ospho surface prep/or this 85% food grade phosphoric acid. The food grade acid actually recommends being diluted 1:2 water for rust conversion purposes...must be good stuff! I read the SDS on ospho and its something like %40 orthophosphoric acid by weight along with a couple other chemicals not found in the food grade stuff.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000C02B3...TF8&colid=38GK1JNIKQ4OU&coliid=I1X2IR8BJ0ZHLK

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KC74G2...lid=38GK1JNIKQ4OU&coliid=I3UYYM31MBM1T8&psc=1

If you go to the por 15 site it looks like there are about 10 different ways to paint your car including having to use like five different products, but then the original rust preventative paint just calls for the topcoat so for the roof i was thinking doing the rust preventative paint and then topcoating it with some of that white roofing paint instead. I'm probably gonna roll it all on, i could care less how my van looks as long as it withstands more physical abuse than the original paint. That, and finding a place to spray = even more complicated and i dont want to buy a gun, painting suit to ruin, face mask, and still be picking por15 out of my eyelashes 2 weeks later. My time, energy, and resources are too divided up to be able to do it "right" as much as i'd love to park my van in a warehouse for a few weeks and go over everything with a fine tooth comb
 

misterbond10

New member
I think aquaputtuna has had good luck with Eastwood's like of single stage paint which is very affordable - $40 a gallon I think. Just dont choose rustoleum or some hardware store paint, use real automotive mail order stuff.

whatever method you choose, you've still gotta treat the rust. reference the instructions for POR-15. you can substitute their acid for Homedepot/lowes concrete etching solution aka phosphoric acid, and dawn dish detergent as degreaser

if you're spraying it you can use eastwoods 2 part epoxy primer which is good for rust, ive used it before and its too thin for a brush - doesn't work well at all

if you're worried about the weight of the paint you're using you have serious issues
 
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TooMuchHair

Active member
terra firma POR15 is a very tough coating! I'll share a few things from experience. Try to do it on a fairly low humidity day so it drys slow enough to lay down and smooth out. It can be a sticky mess when it's too humid. You can not paint right out of the can and expect to ever use any out of that can even the next day, moisture in the air will cause it to go bad if you leave it open for more time than to pour it out! ONE DROP of sweat WILL RUIN the whole can! It drys so slick that other paint or primer won't stick to it without first thoroughly scuffing it up. I always use there "fog it with enamel primer while the POR15 is still tacky" method. this works great and allows the Por15 to properly cure before you go ahead and fully prime and topcoat. POR does have a primer they say sticks to already cured POR15 but I haven't tried it. You really need to do the fog/wait/finish prime and topcoat. Because POR15 is sensitive to uv (sun) and even though they say it only looks bad but still won't rust. In my opinion it goes bad pretty quick in the sun. Finally I agree that their cleaner is pretty awesome and I have only used POR brand metal prep, It works great too. The one time I skipped the Metal Prep because i had some pieces sand blasted, it peeled off within a couple months. So I always do all of the steps. Good luck
 

ManWithDog

New member
heck yeah. I'm totally doing this one of these days. Until then I've wire brushed the rust off my roof and painted it with a spray can.
 

terra_firma

Member
TooMuchHair good notes, most of that stuff i have read elsewhere so its always good to get another opinion from someone who has used it. I used it to paint my rear door threshold area so i got a rough idea of how to deal with it. I was going to buy it in a gallon and then split it into four quart paint cans from home depot (3$) so if i can just use a quart or two for the roof i can have some that's still good for later. When i painted the rear threshold i just sprayed primer over the glossy black stuff, it was possibly still tacky but it definitely had a day to dry, and then did some white auto paint from the store. Looks fine, looks like it grabbed fine but it doesn't experience rain or sunlight really it's just a spot for dirt to settle it.

It's really annoying how much POR15 and other paint companies seem to contradict themselves when saying things like

"POR-15® Top Coat may be applied directly to a clean prepped metal surface but, when used as a top coat over POR-15® Rust Preventive Coating it provides the toughest, most permanent protection against rust and corrosion ever developed."

OK, so why do they make and sell a primer if the aforementioned process is so great? The directions on the topcoat don't mention priming from what i've read online. They do make a semi gloss black POR15 which might be easier. I wanted to paint it the por 15 "primer gray" topcoat color even though its not a primer, just a flat gray color which i'm a fan of. Now that i'm thinking of it i'm a bit concerned this paint will get a lot less coverage per gallon than if i sprayed it. Hey if a spray booth drops out of the sky in my back yard i'll do it otherwise...
 

InterBlog

Member
Thanks again for all the replies on this thread... I did go ahead and do the first stage of my overall roof job, which is the seams, using a three-part approach of (1) angle-grinding the seams, (2) treating with the POR-15 solution and allowing it to react out, and (3) multiple coats of POR-15 coating on the seams (not the whole roof as I'm still planning on Bus Kote for that).

Someone mentioned above about the manufacturer contradicting itself, re: prep solution vs. coating. According to a couple of auto refinishing pros who were picking up their own supplies at the Tasco Auto Color where I got my stuff, the treatment solution is optional. They said that the paint was so good that I could skip the prep if I wanted to. But to be conservative, I followed the manufacturers instructions.

If anyone would like to see some pics of this process, here's a blog post:

REFINISHING AN AIRSTREAM INTERSTATE'S ROOF, PART 1: SEAMS
 

220629

Well-known member
Thanks for the replies... somewhere on this forum, there was a thread mentioning roof color bleeding, from someone who had applied a new coating, perhaps to a pick-up or another truck, rather than a Sprinter. I made notes on many threads, but I forgot to write down which one that was.

...
For future reference, that was likely my comment. I painted the roof of a B250 Dodge van with white enamel brush paint. I believe that it was Rustoleum. The white did wash down on to the sides of my black van. With little surface prep the paint worked fine as to holding rust at bay and adhesion. The white streaking down on the sides was ugly.

I have seen some school buses with similar white streaks down the sides coming down from the roof.

For clarification.

Some boat bottom paints are ablative for controlling marine growth. Boat topsides paint like Imron and Awlgrip are extremely good paints and will not streak or wash down on to the sides of a van from the roof or anywhere else. Imron or other polyurethane paints are often used to paint aircraft. Any decent automotive paint will not streak.

:2cents: vic
 
Bedliner. Once and done. This is available in a brush on, for those that don't have a sprayer. A couple of locals have done this on their full roofs that were turning their vans into convertibles. It is bullet proof, within reason. They patched the holes and removed the rust and now have an impenetrable roof coating that will last as long as they will. JD Caples years ago did an absolutely beautiful color matching job on his gorgeous green sprinter. Thanks to all here.
 

bstory

New member
POR15 is great for rust, but if you have had leaks along the roof seams, I wouldn't count on it for stopping leaks. It gets really hard and brittle. You should consider putting that Eternabond roofing tape on the seams. We used it around the flange of our Fantastic Fan and it has held up well so far - though only about 6 months or so.
 

RedFord77

Member
This is a good thread. My van has rust developing in the seams by the rear barn doors, where the roof comes together with the raingutter. I have not been up on top, but I have some clear coat oxidixing and peeling visible above the front windshield. There is visible rust color coming out under the corners of the windshield, and the windshield leaks. All the rust and leaking developed after buying a new windshield. I had talked to a body shop about a white line-x type coating for the entire top of the van.

Based on eagle2232's post and instagram pictures I ordered the bus kote, and clear cote. I even ordered some of the Hy-tech acoustimax home interior paint to try and reduce noise between the living room and the kids' room.

I plan on putting the Bus-kote on the roof with a roller, and going all the way down to the rain gutters, just above the windows. Why? My rain-gutters and other seams show light rust. I hoped to treat the rust and then use the elastomeric stuff to ensure a seal. In addition I live in San Diego, and the sun is constant so the heat savings from Bus Kote should help. My van is getting worn out and putting Bus Kote on myself for $100 plus time, is allot cheaper than the $1000- $2000 to either get the top section repainted or done with the white bedliner. In addition after reading about the insulative, sound deading properties of the microspheres I think it should reduce the temperatures and sound in the van. The downside of going all the way down the seams by the rear door, to the raingutter is that it may not look as good as a nice white van on the upper section.

http://www.hytechsales.com/download/Bus Kote Data Sheet.pdf
 

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