My mini-roller purchase belongs to the paint and touch-up supplies collected during the finishing stages.
The featured Amazon option is XDT Small Foam Paint Rollers.
Where it fits my build
I taped the boundaries and covered the areas that would not be painted with plastic sheeting. I then sanded the exposed areas with an orbital sander and 60-grit abrasive, blew away the dust with a compressor, and cleaned and degreased the surfaces.
I mixed clear bedliner with white tint and sprayed the van. After it dried, I removed the masking. The tape and sheeting stage alone took around eight hours, and the finished edges still needed some touch-up.
My van with masking around the exterior areas prepared for coating.The side of the van during the white-bedliner project.
My build notes
The most useful detail in my diary is the result, including the problems. Rust-Oleum pooled and dripped in places, and trying to repair one area with a paintbrush made it worse. I wrote that I would use a foam roller for touch-ups and preferred the more consistent finish I had obtained with RAPTOR.
Masking, preparation and application method each became a substantial part of the exterior-coating job.
Alternative products
Two alternatives to compare
The small XDT foam rollers suit a narrower applicator format. FoamPRO offers a wider nine-inch cover and a separate corner-roller shape.
FoamPRO 9-Inch Foam Roller Cover
This nine-inch roller cover uses a foam surface with a three-eighths-inch nap. It fits the broad-roller format for applying paint over larger sections.
