Painting a trailer?

sychnant

sychnant

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I am hoping to buy a trailer after selling my lorry, but with my budget I'm pretty sure I won't get anything pretty. Obviously my horse's safety is the important thing, but assuming I do all the important bits first, I will then want to pretty it up a bit :)

Does anyone know what is the best paint to use? I'm sure a friend of mine used garage door paint and sponge rollers to do hers, does this sound right?

Thankyou for any ideas :)
 
I used main gloss paint for my old one, Dark navy (it was bright royal blue before, the colour of 'parlour paint' or so I am told...) looked really smart...until my dad did the roof in silver Hammerite to make it look like an Ifor... Unfortunately it showed up his inconsistent brush technique! Mine had wooden sides and a metal roof.
 
A few years ago I bought an old Bahill trailer, the floor was sound however the ramp was rotten & the paint was a horrible dull oxidised brown. I dismantled the ramp, replaced the wood, re-fitted the rubber & fitted new hardwood laths cut from an old wardrobe.

I attacked the paintwork with a drill with a 'flapwheel' & that removed any loose paint. I bought some car paint & primer. I undercoated the trailer using a gloss paint roller. The paint went on well & I used a brush to get into places the roller wouldn't fit. I then masked off part of the trailer & did a two tone paint job using the car paint & gloss roller & the finish I got was really quite good.

I had the trailer for 3 years, I bought it for £300 & sold it after the 3 years for £800. I suppose I spent around £100 doing it up (plus a few hours work on my driveway).

If you are painting on to aluminium then you will need etch primer to provide something for the top coat to key to.
 
Sorry I can't help but paint it black! A friend of mine got a black Iwilliams trailer and it looks so different/smart compared to the normal blue/green or red. Plus doesn't show all the dirt :D
 
I paint mine every season lol!! I do it with exterior gloss from b&q & use a roller but then brush it over as the roller leaves it all bobbly looking!

Mines been baby pink & black, orange & yellow, navy blue with a red stripe down & is now burgandy & gold!

I did do the metal roof (ifor 505) with hammerite this year & it looks a dogs arse so I wouldn't recommend doing that :D
 
Does anyone have any before and after photos? I bought my trailer a few years ago, a Bahill. Really like to do something with it as its completely blue from top to bottom! Managed to paint the chassis and wheel bearings with silver paint and it looks a lot better. Would ideally like to get the roof done white.

The inside was completely yellow too so I painted the lower have a creamy colour but thinking of changing to a nice brown this year as the white gets rather dirty!
 
We bought a trailer last year and started doing it up. My husband rubbed it down using a wire brush on the metal and fine sandpaper on the aluminium panels and he used a roller to apply a red oxide undercoat which gave it a really nice even finish. I painted the inside with white Hammerite and a brush which looked a bit pants because of the brush strokes but I didn't mind as it was much brighter than it had been and only the horses see it anyway! :D He also rubbed down all the axle with a wire brush and coated it in Waxoyl....

We sold it before it had a top-coat as a "continuing project" (needed the money :o - so I never got to use it :( )
 
I have done up loads of trailers in my time. Use a gloss paint and roller or you will see the brush strokes, as someone else said the roller will leave bubble marks so make sure the roller is not loaded with paint, get as much off as possible and then just go over it all when its just a bit tacky. My lorry and trailers have always come up looking fab.
Oh and don't paint to late in the day as it starts to go cold as the paint goes all dull (big mistake we made the once, never again)
 
A few years ago I bought an old IforWilliams 505.
It was brown one side but had sun damage the other side and looked really rough.
I sanded down all the panels with an electric sander then painted it Home Base black exterior gloss with a foam roller, I think it had 3 coats of paint, I was really chuffed with the results.
 
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