Repainting a trailer- advice pls

[ellis9905]

So am looking at buying a scruffy trailer ( floor, brakes and tyres all good )

My question is how difficult is it to repaint?

With time and effort can someone reasonable with a brush make a reasonable job??

What needs to be done?? Rub it down and then repaint?? What kinda paint do you need to use??

I know I wouldn't get such a good job as getting it sprayed but is a reasonable job achievable??

Thanks

 

[Bobbly]

I did one many years ago, an old rice eventer trailer, rub it down paint with red oxide where necessary, don't use Hammerite paint as I'm told you then can't paint over it with anything else? I used a spongy radiator roller, very effective and doesn't leave brush marks.

 

[zoelouisem]

I did my lorry with a roller I got the paint from a car shop I will see if can remember where from as it delivers. The pain is quite expensive it cost £120 but I only used half for my lorry and have sealed it and saved the rest for this summer. Here's some pics of before and after on my lorry and will try find the shop for you.
Before

After the while on the windows is masking tape

 

[Toby_Zaphod]

Yes a reasonable job is posible & achievable.

A few years ago I bought an old tatty but sound trailer to do up. When I reversed it onto our drive my daughter was almost in tears. It was really scruffy, it was drab brown in colour with no shine at all. Paint was peeling, it was an eyesore, but I could see the potential.

I used a power drill with a wire brush attachment on it to strip off the old peeling paint. I wanted a good paint finish so I decided to buy good paint, not household gloss that some use. I bought some car paint & some undercoat. I painted the trailer using small gloss rollers & by doing this I didn't get tell tale brush marks. There were some parts that I needed a brush to get into but that went fine. I actially used 2 paint colours, mid blue for the side panels & a light grey for the roof & about 2 feet up the side walls. Once painted it looked really nice. I bought some black 'coachline' tape to put a couple of coachlines down the sides on the grey near to the blue sides & bought a couple of black vinyl graphic jumping horses & stuck those on the sides of the roof. This gave the trailer a fairly professional look. I tidied up a couple of dents in the double mudguards & painted them in black smoothrite that I had in the garage.

The running gear was greased & adjusted & it was ready to go. Daughter was really pleased with it & we used that trailer for about 3 years. We later bought a Bateson to replace it & advertised our 'done up' trailer on Horsemart & sold it for £300 more than we paid for it. I had so many people phoning for that trailer is was crazy!

All it took was some time, some imagination & a bit of money for some decent paint, anyone can do it, it isn't rocket science!

 

[zoelouisem]

HI, cant find the shop i bought the paint from but the paint is Polyurethane paint, i got it from a car parts/paint shop.

 

[Horseymumma]

I painted an old Ifor Williams 505 in black and if came out well. Although make sure you do it when it's warm as I found the cold overnight made the paint run a little so I had to touch it up a few times. I just painted over the existing brown paint after giving it a slight rub down.

 

[Toby_Zaphod]

If you can't find a local supplier of car paint you can search for it on ebay. If you do an advanced search you can search for suppliers within a 10 mile or greater distance from home that way you can collect & not have to pay the £10 p+p because paint is heavy.

Another poster mentioned weather & temperature when painting. Don't try & paint in either cold or damp weather as you will end up with a bloom on the paint, basically you will not get shine, it will be drab & dull.

Good Luck

 

[ellis9905]

Thank you all for your replies

 

[trojanpony]

Did a lovely job on my ancient van with normal tins of paint (for metal surfaces) from B and q. No where near the prices here! Used rollers on the large areas, brushes for small, masking tape round the windows etc, looks fab and no problems two years on. Have fun!