[67MercCat]

I heard about paint rollers being used for applying rustoleum paint and i thought I could eliminate a bunch of sanding by spraying the paint instead. I started to today by spraying rustoleum white baremetal primer. It worked out great, I reduced the paint with thinner until it was like milk. I turned the pressure regulator on the compressor to 30 psi and made the fan a bit smaller out the gun. I got nearly complete coverage the first time around.

I plan to apply two more coats of primer to smooth things out and then block sand with 400 grit.

Then I applying semi gloss adonized bronze rustoleum color. I intend on lightly sanding but not buffing out to a shine, just enough to accept the ppg urethane clear I'll be putting on top. Urethane and enamel are compatible so I shouldn't have much problems there. I then want to wet sand the clear out to a clean shine.

 

[badcatt]

I'd like to see how it turns out. Good luck.

 

[desertdave55]

Urethane and enamel are compatible so I shouldn't have much problems there.

Don't know just what you're painting, but there could be all kinds of problems with this. What PPG clearcoat product are you using? Have you shot any test panels yet using the Rustoleum primer subcoat?

 

[jshcobra]

I've used rustoleum paints for years for various projects (including my old case garden tractor) with my detail sprayer and have always had excellent results. I've never done a car body, though. Be sure to post pics.

 

[67MercCat]

yeah I have some clear from a company called PCL. Its not the greatest stuff in the world, but it dries to the touch in 15 minutes and cures after a week or so. I mix a lot of hardener in because I work out doors and the faster the surface gets hard the less dirt I have to wet sand out. I don't put too much hardener though because it will crackle. I've sprayed and old door panel that I replaced on my cat, and I haven't seen any problems yet, its been over 2 months.

I'll upload primer pics tonight. I'm always working so I can only get things going once a week, oh well...

 

[67MercCat]

Here goes the primer pics after the first two coats. I put another coat on and then sanded it down with 400 grit, then 600. This stuff really sands down easily and it doesn't clog the sandpaper at all.

The paint I'm using isn't really the most attractive color (adonized bronze), but I bought it on sale and I thought it would be great to use to practice my spray technique on an actual vehicle. I sprayed the first two coats today and since I have a rag top, 3/4 of a quart did a good job of laying the base. tomorrow comes the final coats. It dries pretty quickly if you spray thin coats so I should be able do the rest. Then the clear.

 

[Cougrrcj]

My own Rustoleum Adventure was a total disaster... In fact it is one of the major reasons why AlphaCat never got finished back in '84 when I started on it. OK, so you have to go back to the available technology of the early '80s, so we didn't have the epoxy primers and sealers we do today.

Anyway, after yanking the motor for a refresh/rebuild/upgrade, I decided to 'restore and detail the engine compartment'. In true ECI form, that entailed welding in new front inner fender aprons, patching the rust in the rear fender aprons (they were not reproduced at that time), new radiator support... Back them neither I nor my buddies had a mig welder, so it was either brazing or plain old gas welding. The new parts and patches looked pretty good, but now to paint/seal everything.

I wanted to protect my new sheetmetal work, so I got the bright idea of using Rustoleum Rusty Metal Primer and then topping it off with Rustoleum gloss black paint with a flattening additive to get the desired factory semi-gloss finish... The Rusty Metal Primer was a very bad choice since it has a lot of oils in the paint which caused 'fisheyes' in the topcoat, and the flattening agent reacted with the topcoat in such a way as to form tiny clumps like sand. Add to that with the fact that it never set up or hardened properly. Even letting the car sit out in the summer sun failed to cure that paint. Every time I tried to sand it, it clogged the sandpaper instantly. I was so depressed that I shoved it into my parent's garage and there it sat...

A couple years later I got married and the car got shoved onto a trailer and brought out to the new house where it got shoved into the garage and promptly got buried with junk... Even now when I'm looking for something, the wife asks "Did you check the trunk of the Cougar?" Very funny -- /sarcasm Anyway, now that it is over 25 years later, that tacky Rustoleum has finally hardened. Now I have to remove it so I can redo it the right way. Very slow going. I spent several evenings out in the shop working with coarse Scotchbrite pads in the drill, and got maybe a quarter of the engine compartment stripped. I still have the rest of the engine compartment to do as well as the entire underside of the body shell... I'm thinking about shipping it off to a sandblaster.

 

[towcat]

I heard about paint rollers being used for applying rustoleum paint and i thought I could eliminate a bunch of sanding by spraying the paint instead. I started to today by spraying rustoleum white baremetal primer. It worked out great, I reduced the paint with thinner until it was like milk. I turned the pressure regulator on the compressor to 30 psi and made the fan a bit smaller out the gun. I got nearly complete coverage the first time around.

I plan to apply two more coats of primer to smooth things out and then block sand with 400 grit.

Then I applying semi gloss adonized bronze rustoleum color. I intend on lightly sanding but not buffing out to a shine, just enough to accept the ppg urethane clear I'll be putting on top. Urethane and enamel are compatible so I shouldn't have much problems there. I then want to wet sand the clear out to a clean shine.

What did you use as a thinner? Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[67MercCat]

@ Cougrrcj sorry to hear that man, I'm sure the temperature and thinning had something to do with it. When you deal with rustoleum, its a must you thin it out so that the dry time is shortened. It also sounds like you put it on too thick and in the cold. Rusty metal primer is not a good choice for applications that require a smooth finish. Thats for parts under the car that are subject to constant road wear (like tie rods or sway bars). I used the white clean metal primer which I also thinned out.

@towcat I thinned the primer with Paint thinner to a milky texture (slightly thicker). I sprayed it with 30 psi and a narrow fan. I'm currently spraying the paint color I thinned with acetone (stronger) and I used less pressure (25 psi) and a wider fan. The paint is thinned to a milky texture too. I dont spray too much material at once because it will run being this thin.

 

[Cougrrcj]

I thinned it with Rustoleum's own thinner to their specifications. Sprayed it in July, so I doubt it was a temperature issue. Probably needed an accelerator or hardener, and the 'sand' was probably due to the flattening agent. Anyway, it is all going to come off and get re-sprayed with good old PPG DP-90 Epoxy primer. I still have several gallons of the original, not the lead-free stuff they sell today.

 

[67MercCat]

hmmm, thats so strange, but I've had that drying problem with other parts of the car before. I mostly came from putting on too much too fast. I dont know if it has to do with the paint getting old or the solvents not evaporating...did you paint it in the sun? That can cause issues too...

 

[jshcobra]

These horror stories remind me of my first Cougar back in high school. My friend and I painted it in his dad's garage using some leftover paints from a nearby bodyshop. We mixed up a really great looking metalic burgundy color and because there wasn't enough to paint the whole car so I decided to finish the top with some glossy black that we found conveniently sitting on a nearby shelf. It went on shiny and smooth and looked fantastic-- initially. After a few hours, however, the black paint started to bubble up and turned to rubber. We actually peeled it off in a single piece! Not sure what that black paint was, but obviously it didn't agree with whatever primer we were using. Luckily, the burgundy paint didn't have the same issue.

Getting back to the original topic here, just a suggestion: take the mirror, door handles, locks, etc off before you actually paint the car. The end result is just that much better and worth the extra time.

 

[67MercCat]

Here goes some pics of the paint after two coats....so far I've used 1 quart of paint. The droplets you see is water, it rained this afternoon. I think I can get pretty good solid coverage with 3 quarts. I'm going to wet sand this layer and spray 2 more quarts, then move on to clear. I started wet sanding the quarter panel if anyone is wondering why the back of the car looks like that...I figure it would be good to lightly sand between layers...I got the color from a F-15 Fighter Jet

 

[jk69cat]

so let me ask you this, how much money do you have in this? you can buy a gallon of single stage with reducers/hardners for aproximatly 150 bucks , rustolem @ 20 bucks a quart(estimated)

 

[67MercCat]

oh no 20 bucks a quart??? where are you getting your rustoleum man thats expensive. I spent $2.50 a quart from home depot on sale, but its usually $8.99. So far the total money spent is $35 bucks. Most of it was spent on sandpaper, mineral spirits and acetone. I don't have the facilities to spray auto paint, it smells horrible and it takes too long to dry outdoors. I'm in the back yard man.

 

[towcat]

so let me ask you this, how much money do you have in this? you can buy a gallon of single stage with reducers/hardners for aproximatly 150 bucks , rustolem @ 20 bucks a quart(estimated)

What brand of paint is this you are speaking of?

 

[jk69cat]

towcat , ppg's omni line for one and even thru eastwood or summit racing now offers single stage and base/clear , in that price range

 

[67MercCat]

quick update...i know its been awhile, but I only get to work on my car once a week now. I shot a test panel with the polyurethane clear today from a company called PCL. so far it looks good. I'm going to wait the week to see if it bubbles up. according to my research enamel and polyurethane are compatible. so when I finish spraying the whole car I'll post pics. then move on to the wet sand and polishing stage. the clear is $35 a quart and it comes with hardener. I'm going to end up buying a gallon for $70 since this won't be my only project if this works out. so far my costs are up to $75.

 

[leach03xx]

Can't wait to see how this turns out

 

[67MercCat]

I can't wait too lol, I've been wet sanding like crazy since my clear coat spraying skill SUCKS!!! but so far the paint and the clear are holding up well. It's important to do the car panel by panel, I tried to do the whole car and it made foggy spots where I overlapped...but this is all a part of the learning process....