Primer over Rustoleum. Is my truck ruined forever?

I read through a number of threads and didn't exactly find my answer, so here goes:

A pretty significant percentage of my truck is covered in brown Rustoleum primer. I did this as a preventative measure early on because my truck had a lot of heavy rust on it.

I just assumed that when I was ready to prime, I could use an epoxy sealer primer to spray over all that and everything would be hunky-dory.

Talking to a friend last night who has some novice experience with paint, he said that nothing will stick to Rustoleum and I'd have to take it down to bare metal. This would be an unfortunate pain in the ass for me.

Do I really have to? Is there anything that goes over Rustoleum?

FYI I'm also deciding between alkyd enamel or single stage urethane for paint if that makes any difference

 

Brown "rusty" Rustoleum is an oil-based paint... you would have to shoot an oil-base over it, and you won't find any good topcoats for that.

Except Rustoleum

Alkyd is easy to shoot, but fades quickly. I'm using Alkyd industrial gloss black on my Galaxie because I WANT it to fade.

 

Its not that the primer wont stick.......It will eat the rustoleum....Any primer/paint with a strong solvent base is going to eat into it and make it wrinkle up....Strip it

Rustoleum is garbage...its not made for cars

 

Exactly why I want to use it on mine. Paint it, let it fade, rub it out to give it that a more natural look that I won't have to worry about someone rubbing against it or something. People think I'm crazy.

 

Thanks Poncho...guess it's time for the fiber wheel...

 

if you want it to fade why fkn paint it ???????????????

 

As said earlier Rustoleum is a alkyd (oil) based product and is a excellent product for rusty surfaces but is defiantly is not a automotive product.

You can however spray the car with a industrial enamel which will hold up well if you wax it on a regular basis.

If you decide to use a automotive paint be prepared to sand blast to remove ALL the red primer and start from scratch. HRP

 

I used some Rustoleum Hard Hat rust-preventative primer on a lamp housing the other day, and it reacted with the automotive (acrylic?) spray-can gloss in some areas. VHT chassis epoxy spray worked OK, but that would be an expensive way to paint a truck!

 

Problem is that nobody knows R-O makes auto motive rated products also..
Well, exept me and UPS..

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I disagree. How long has the primer been on the truck? If it is thoroughly dry you can spray primer or sealer over it in most cases without it reacting. Then you can paint as normal.

I've done this several times and the only time I ever had a reaction problem was when the Rustoleum was still soft. I knew I was pushing it but decided to go for it anyway. I just had to sand the bad part down after it dried and go again.

What are you trying to accomplish? There might be a better way to go.

 

Ultimately the plan was to lay down a sealer primer, then a high-build primer, then finally paint. Until recently I was dead set on using alkyd enamel for my top coat, but lately people have been bending my ear about single stage urethanes. The health issues associated with SS urethane frighten me and make me want to go with 'some kind' of enamel. But that's probably setting myself up for a debate best suited for another thread. I am painting my truck the original meadow green.

 

Most of the rustoleum has been on over 3 years, with the newest section over a year.

 

You should be fine although if your going to shoot single stage why not just stay with alkylid enamels? As crazy as it sounds to most people tractor paint after it's sanded and buffed out looks like single stage enamel and if you have a rust bubble pop up you can fix it easily and you don't have to worry about reaction issues.

It will fade eventually but this takes years and in most cases the paint will come back to life after you buff it anyway.

 

Any paint job is only as good as the foundation product that is under it and I would not put any product over rustoleum. Ive sprayed many products in 25 years of auto body repair and rustoleum was never one of them!

 

The only thing I can think of is a water based sealer from ppg. You can seal it and paint over the sealer with your Alkyd. but robertsregal is right nothing is going to last for very long over rustoleum. It would only last maybe 2 years before you would have to repaint the car. your best bet is to strip the paint off or have it sandblasted or sodablasted. Sodabasting would be the best. just my .02 hope it helps

 

When I was a kid I had a friend who had a friend who thought he knew everything. This guy did some half ass body work to my friend's VW and sprayed a nice thick coat of Rustoleum primer over the entire car. I told my friend it wasn't a good idea because Rustoleum wasn't an automotive prime, his friend blew me off for not knowing what I was talking about. My friend drove the car in primer for a while, a few weeks later I went over to his house and his friend was prepping the VW for painting. After he sprayed the first coat there was slight reaction around a few of the body panel seams. He proceeded spraying additional coats. What a mess, the paint raised on every surface. My friend drove the car like that for a while until he found a VW fanatic who bought it. Nothing short of blasting it would have fixed it.

 

seriously it needs to be stripped off. sucks but that's the truth. otherwise it will come back to haunt you.

 

No wonder I had wrinkling problems on my a-arms! Read the hamb and learn.

 

Why not just paint the vehicle with Rustoleum paint? I have a daily driver '38 Olds coupe ... I couldn't justify the expense of a "real" paint job, so I sprayed her with a "custom mix" of Tremclad (Tremclad is Rustoleum repackaged for Canadian markets).

I mixed three cans of Flat Black, two cans of Gloss Dark Blue, and one can of Flat White and ended up with (what I think is) a really "vintage" looking semi-gloss blue colour. Total cost for the entire job ends up being under $100. The idea would/should also work if you substitute Dark Green where I used Dark Blue.

I love my new paint job ... (and don't care what others think of it or what problems I should expect in the future because of it), I don't care about driving down a dirt road, I don't care about bird shit, fingerprints, dings, chips etc. I am back on the road, the metal is protected, it will get me into shows and cruises (if I want, don't care about trophies myself) and if it needs a repaint or a colour change in a couple of years, all I have to do is cough up another $100. I do agree, this is certainly NOT for everyone but it sure works well for me. (I have tried to include a pic).

You are not stuck using off the shelf Rustoleum colours ... mixem up and see what you get.

 

So, your going to have to do a pile of prep to get ready for paint anyway,take off the Rustoleum start fresh, sleep at night. Putting expensive product on top of a poor substrate is like putting a $100.00 saddle on a $20.00 Horse....you can ride it but it`s gonna fail.

 

Rustoleum paint sucks, it takes forever to dry, I use Valspar with their hardener,I get both at the local farm supply store, the paint is dry the next day. I've sprayed Rustoleum with the Valspar hardener without any problem but it still extra time to dry, faster than without the hardener.

 

I have zero interest in doing a rustoleum paint job. It's great that it works for others, but it's just not my cup of tea. Sounds like I've got some work to do. Thanks everyone.

 

never mind

 

I read your reply Z48. I actually wanted the semi-gloss look, the intent was to appear as though it might be original paint. I like it but as I stated it is certainly not for everyone.

If it is true that "real" auto paint will react to Rustoleum, then I am not sure a "flapper wheel" is going to be enough. The pits (assuming there are pits, you did say "heavy rust" if I recall correctly) will also need to be cleaned out and that might possibly only be accomplished with either blasting or chemical dip.


Oh, I do agree with the $100 saddle on a $20 horse ... Me? I put a $5 saddle on a $20 horse and (as Kramer would say) I'M LOVING IT !!!!

 

To protect the body from deterioration. Isn't that the purpose of paint? He's just happy with not having to worry about dings & scratches & bird crap.

 

Cool color borntoloze I really like like a satin vintage color really neat... Balzy... I don't have the kahoonahs. I will have to keep that in mind for future projects

 

Didn't realize Rustoleum made an acid etching primer until I looked at project lcar in progress last week and the guy said he was using it. I checked out the can for contents and price at Lowes the next day.
Beware - it appears to be enamel based as well.

 

If it is going to be a show truck, follow the above advice.

If your truck is just going to be a nice driver, get some Tractor Restoration Paint. It is oil based, and they have a hardener for it, if you want. It is made by Valspar (they own house of color). It costs about $35.00/ gallon, and in Wisconsin anyway, it is sold by Blains Farm and Fleet. It probably won't take as long to get to the "old paint look" as the expensive real auto paint......which sounds like a plus to me. Might be a good idea to spray a test panel over some Rustoleum first........ A Quart is only about $8.00.

Good luck!

 

The OP last replied three years ago. He probably has it handled by now. That is, unless he's even slower than I am.

 

How the hell do people find these threads?

Anyways, I haven't painted the truck entirely, but I've been using Shopline sealer and high build primer and used Shopline enamel behind the cab before I put the bed panel on and two years later it's holding up fine. Guess I should get my ass in gear and paint the rest.