Have seen lots of posts concerning using Rustoleum to paint a vehicle and I have been struggling to try to paint an old Ford tractor, with less than desirable results until just recently. Would like to share what I have finally found to work for me. To start with I was trying to spray the Rustoleum like you would regular automotive type paints where you spray a coat and then let it flash for a little while and then recoat. This does not work with rustoleum as it has either a very short recoat time or you need to wait 24 hours to recoat, this recoat window is very critical for alkyd/oil based enamels as I have found out the hard way. I have repainted some of the sheet metal for this tractor 3 times because when I would recoat after the window the otherwise smooth coat would severely orange peel and would stay soft for weeks. I tried to put the primer on thick for a high build and the primer still printed after two weeks so I ended up stripping all of the primer back off. After doing much research and trial and error I have finally gotten the Rustoleum to come out very nice. I used the Rustoleum Stops Rust line of products thinned 4 parts paint to 1 part mineral spirits and then added 2 ounces of Majic hardener per pint of paint. I have read that any type of enamel hardener will probably work but I used the Majic just because it was readily available at the local Rural King store. The hardener is suppose to increase the shine, make the paint more gasoline\chemical resistant, make the paint more fade resistant and make the paint dry and harden faster. Can also use acetone as thinner but I opted for the mineral spirits due to the high heat and humidity that we have been experiencing recently. Will probably try the acetone whenever weather cools down a bit. Be sure to use a respirator as the hardener contains isocyanites (did I spell that right?) which are very toxic. I used a House of Kolor G-6600 HVLP spray gun with a 1.8 needle/tip and about 20-25 PSI of pressure at the gun with the trigger pulled, this supposedly will give you the required 10 psi at the nozzle. I sprayed 1 coat of paint and tried to get good coverage on that one coat and then waited approx. 5 minutes and put on a second coat, as stated earlier the Rustoleum (oil based enamels) have a very short re-coat window and this is where I was previously messing up an otherwise pretty nice paint job. I concentrated on painting one piece at a time I would coat and then re-coat within 5 minutes and then move on to the next piece. Painting in this manner the paint flowed out to a very smooth finish and was able to be carefully handled in a matter of about 2 hours. After drying to the touch I set the painted pieces out in the sun to help speed the drying process. Any parts that I have waited the 24 hour window to re-coat I wet sanded with 400-600 grit sand paper and then wiped them down with mineral spirits to remove any oils that may have contaminated the surface. You need to wipe the mineral spirits on with one rag and then use a clean rag to immediately wipe it off, if the mineral spirits dries without wiping it off it will not remove any contaminates. the bare metal should also be cleaned in this manner prior to using body filler or the initial primer coat. I am not a professional painter and have actually done very little spraying of vehicles, but this is what has worked very well for me and I hope this post will help others who consider trying the Rustoleum or other alkyd/oil based enamels to paint their vehicles. Yes the automotive type products would have probably worked better but cheap DTM epoxy primer is about $150 per gallon and a cheap acrylic enamel paint with the additives would have been another $150 for a gallon. The last cheap acrylic enamel that I used was Kirker and it wasn't long after I sprayed it that it started to fade badly. Since I am not an experienced painter I would rather screw up $30 worth of paint than $300 worth. Yes I spent a lot of time redoing the first few attempts and I feel that I have gained a wealth of knowledge from this process. Just think, if I get good at shooting Rustoleum I can move on to the superior products, hopefully with much success...
Dude I LOVE rustoleum!! I just brush it on out of the can! I have painted MANY cars this way and some( using a foam roller) people thought it was painted at a shop. I just painted my 49 Ford with a brush using "Almond" and painted the wheels "navy"....I'll post pics tomorrow...you won't believe it. Sometimes I add a tad of Mineral Spirits but only of it's hot out and it won't "flow". the brush works great and I love telling people I brushed it on....
When I did my roof, used an el cheapo HVLP gn from china freight. Same basic steps, just I didn't need a hardener - than again I had it thinned damn near 50/50 with mineral spirits. I don't lay claim to a show quality job, but the shocked look on people's faces when I tell them how it's done makes the little imperfections worth it. That plus I was able to do it myself at home, on the cheap! Show car she ain't, but great for a driver!
Ok could not wait here's one from my Walmart cell from today...I’ll get some better ones tomorrow...same truck as in my avatar just two weeks later....
Can you please tell me everything you did to get that dodge to look like that Oldsmell?? I got a 78 f100 I would like to paint black and ive had some bad luck with the rustoleum..
Very forgiving paint, good to know on the recoat window. I have used it a lot on equipment and found you can mix it with about any thinner shoot it from any gun and get decent results that flow out to a smooth finish. Mineral spirits is very slow, acetone I prefer, have thinned with naptha as well. I still think I'll never use it on a car though, $200 will get me single stage enamel. Either way I'm happy to see People getting their cars on the road.
The Dodge was Single stage "summit" urethane black. the nice thing about urethane is it dries fast so you can sand it (wetsand it). I put a video on youtube about how I did it. Rustolem take like 6 months to dry so you have to just live with the..."orangepeel...or brush marks in my case:0 But I just like the ease of repair with the brush and the girls things it look great Here's the video I made of the paint job on the Dodge...You NEED a nice compressor...a water filter in the air line (or air dryer) a NICE gun...I'll tell you this once. People will tell you how GREAT HVLP is but the truth is it is WAY harder to use and it sucks. By a NICE gravity feed gun or a DeVillbus plus like It ender up buying. (after 5 OTHER guns). you won't regreat it. Shoot in the shade and make sure you use a slower drying hardener so the paint get LESS orangepeel. ANtway dude watch my video and if you want call me and we can talk. I painted that stupid truck TWICE to get it looking good. I won't mind helping you 763-280-4785 Ryan here's the youtube video ...http://youtu.be/NE5X8SJ3D0s
I just don't want anyone to go through what I did I learned a COUPLE tricks and would love to help ya - Ryan
I'm planning on brush painting my Modified - I've been doing the chassis and running gear of my O/T car that way with great results - see here; http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=696592&highlight=brush+paint
Just an update...sprayed the hood and used Nason acrylic enamel reducer with the rustoleum paint. Shot the first coats yesterday and it went on kinda rough, butt scuffed and recoated this morning paint went on well and flowed out smoothly. Only problem is that I now have a fly hanging around the garage with ford tractor gray legs...
Sounds like my kind of paint job.......CHEAP. I have used it on frames before and I think I'm going try doing the body now... Thanks for the tips....
What Rustoleum color did you use for the gray? Best match for the original 8N gray was always Rustoleum's "light olive", but they don't seem to have that available any more.
I see your in Indiana. If your close to Chicago theres a paint company called Carbit on North ave. They sell a nice epoxy primer at less than 50 per gallon. Helps keep the costs down. Ive used it under many lower budget paint jobs with excellent results. Ron
I had to take the body off my T Bucket to change the transmission a while back and while I had access to the frame, I brushed on black Rustoleum. Came out great. I was surprised how the brush strokes went away after about 10 minutes. Great paint and easy to touch up.
I painted my truck last fall with rusteoleum satin enamel cut it with acetone per the directions on the can came out great held up through a michigan winter and is left outside all the time even held up to the scrubbing it took to get my sons ex girlfriends prank off it
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