when painting the roof do you normally just paint the first three feet then seal the middle or do you paint the whole roof also what about leaving the roof white to reduce heat draw is this a common practice?
Any bus I own will always have a white roof. I'll go with color just far enough to make the curve and the rest will be white.
My bus had a brown roof. I painted the center with white Kool-seal. It dropped the inside ceiling temperature by about 25 degrees.
My whole bus is white!!! When painting roof you can add sand to paint. Dont put it in spray gun, spread it as you paint ::). A path down the middle 2 to 3 ft wide for traction. In hindsight I wish Iwould have done it. I have to be very careful when cleaning roof. HTH
Quote from: jjrbus on August 12, 2007, 05:22:16 AM
My whole bus is white!!! When painting roof you can add sand to paint. Dont put it in spray gun, spread it as you paint ::). A path down the middle 2 to 3 ft wide for traction. In hindsight I wish Iwould have done it. I have to be very careful when cleaning roof. HTH
??? now Why would Buffalo Wings taste like chicken ?? and Why are they so small ::)
Makes me Hungry, i thimk I'll go the Chilis for lunch ;D
OH, the bus Roof.. I dont know ???
I painted mine with snow coat 9 years ago, still great, I also store it indoors.>>>Dan
This is now I painted my colors. The whole roof is a very light tan
Ron
Snow coat is rough and collects dirt and MILDEW here in Or. I have it on an old Winniebago and it is an annual scrub and a repaint every two or three years. MAINTENANCE!
Paint the roof with Pure White Emron or other high quality extremely shinney/smooth paint. Do it yourself in the early morning before the breeze picks up. Do you care if it collects a little dust? You can do the sides outside and not worry cause they are vert. and dust falls down....worked beautifully for me. If you do the "sand for traction" trick you put the VERY LIGHT sprinkel of sand in the fresh "first coat". After that sets you repaint with a thinned coat to seal stuff like they do the decks on Navy ships routinely.
I think those really dark colored busses look really sharp. I just can't imagine how they are kept cool in Ariz. sun. Would 4 roof airs be enufff?
Having fun,
John
Quote from: JohnEd on August 13, 2007, 12:06:13 AM
I think those really dark colored busses look really sharp. I just can't imagine how they are kept cool in Ariz. sun. Would 4 roof airs be enufff?
Probably like this... I know this is what I plan to do on the dark part of my bus.
(https://busconversionmagazine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.87thscale.info%2Fimages%2FSpecials%2Fpackagetruck%2Ftruck-2-8.jpg&hash=6980fc696a5cf3145eb16dd8931bf0d66f00096c)
Songman,
From the UPS Delivery vans I've seen, (Mostly built by Oshkosh), that roof is made of translucent fibreglass so that there will be light inside the box during the day. It really does nothing to stop heat, in fact it lets an awful lot of heat in.
Really? I didn't know it was fiberglass. But on a steel coach, the principle that light colors reflect heat would still apply, right? Most of the dark colored coaches that I know of in the music business have white roofs.
I bought some ceramic beads to mix with my Kool Seal. It is supposed to considerably lower roof temps in the sun.
A couple of years ago someone painted a piece of sheet metal and tried one half with, and one half without the ceramic beads. His non contact laser thermometer showed quite a difference.
This was also done with Kool Seal with similar results. I don't like the maintenance required to keep Kool Seal looking good but I use it. Tree leaves in the rain will stain it.
I'm sure it's still in the archives on the BNO.
My drip rails are tall enough to hide the roof.
Ed.
Ed,
I read that report about white paint and those beads. It was impressive as it cut the heatloading way, way down. The mildew up here is "black" and that eliminates any benifit of the cool coat. I think if you are not in a rainey and cool invironment it would make perfect sense. Also, if you are willing to do the repaint and cleaning the stuff is great. Used it for ten years with great satisfaction.
Thanks for your input.
John
I painted the inside with those ceramic beads mixed with primer, Then spray foamed the inside the full 2", you can't feel any roof heat by hand with the outside painted.
I painted blue to the curve, then white in the middle. If I had to do it all over again, I would paint the whole roof white. Just because of the heat.
Bill
Ed,
Looks good! What are you doing for AC?
Bill,
I am insympathy with you. My bus, when I get it, will be white with maybe some light accents. Did you foam the roof and sides in your bus?
Thanks,
John
Nice pictures everyone. My ex-schoolie Crown also has a white roof. Has anyone done any scientific testing to see what happens when radiant sunlight hits the roof of a vehicle? I know white or light colors are supposed to "reflect" the sunlight, but does it really work defeating the "infrared" part of sunlight that is supposed to be responsible for the "heat"? I dunno which is why I am asking. Sweating during the summer and Crowns Forever and all that stuff. :) :)
I don't have any tests...but there is a good reason why most dark colored buses leave the factory with white roofs....becuase it reduces the load on the A/C
Cautions:
Adding sand or using rubber like paints on the roof will casue dirt to accumulate up there....then when it rains that dirt will run down the sides of your bus.
Also using cheap paint........it will chalk and do the same....you will have attractive white vertical accents on your bus after rains
We did a test several years ago. South Florida, mid July, about 3 PM. 2 buses sitting in the sun. Our bus is mostly ultra white with a few fire engine red stripes. The west side of our bus was white 113 degrees, Red 126 degrees. The other bus was dark metallic green with mauve and gold metallic stripes. Dark green was 146 degrees, Mauve was 123 degrees ans gold metalllic was 126 degrees. What ever temperature the metal is, that is the heat that is being transferred to the inside of the bus. All temperatures were measured using an infrared laser temperature gun. Jack
John,
This MCI-9 was complete when I purchased it last Oct. The best I can tell it has an inch or so on installation. Which is not enough... Not with two overhead A/C's. I passed four Prevost this morning on I-10 in Florida that had four overheads each. Guessing they were entertainers. Two where pulling matching trailers.
I stop by Fred's in North Florida a couple weeks ago. You should see how it does the spray form. Really started my mind working. Thanks for the tour Fred.
Bill
http://www.hytechsales.com/products.html (http://www.hytechsales.com/products.html)
Here's the link, I have the beads in the clear coat on my roof.
my bus needs a bath from being under a tree.
I have 2 13,500 btu's and rarely need more than one, and hardly ever both on high.
next time I might use their elastomeric mix with their clearkote.
JM2C
I used Kool Seal on roof down to the gutter rail. Makes a big differance on interior temps.
When I paint the bus I intend to paint it white with color accents somehow.
Has anyone painted over Kool Seal or is there to much movement with temp. changes?
Paul