Re: Paint: roll or spray?
Well, here's what I did. I've actually worked with it in two different instances. I did my topper, and then I painted my truck fender with the paint reduced with paint thinner a bit through a wagner power painter.
Okay, the power painter didn't work all that hot. Major runs, but I sure got a lot of paint on that fender! The fender was off the truck btw. I let it dry a couple of days and then wet sanded it. I don't have all the runs out yet, but what I did in my basement was to paint it on with a brush, and then level it out with a clean, white closed cell foam roller ( considered a "fine finish" roller ). That took care of the brush marks and turned out pretty good. I did it that way because of the compound curves on the fender. Trying to tip a compound curve with a brush left me a bit wanting, so I figured the opposite way may work. If it didn't, I can always wet sand and put on another coat of paint, right? Seemed to turn out fine that way.
The thing is, you can get additives that will help the paint for workability, like Flotrol ( flow control ) for oil based paints that help the paint self level. My oil based polyurethanes for hardwood floors have a lot of additives that help it flow out and self level as well as adhere to questionable surfaces. There is a lot you can learn about paint, but the best way is to see how it works on a small portion and decide if it is giving you enough workability to get the results you are looking for. If not, find out what product you can add to it that will. Certain thinners will give you less time to dry, others more. You may want more dry time to work the paint smooth, less dry time to avoid sags on verticle surfaces. It's situation dependant as to what you need.
However, don't let all my rambling discourage you from painting with the roll/tip or brush/roll or roll/roll method. You'll need to do more than one coat to get adequate coverage anyway, so you will have time to adjust your style to get that mirror like finish you are going for...or not.
