“WTF am I doing?” This sounds like a good name for a club. I think I may have come across a WTF moment. Have you guys used PENETROL with Rustoleum? I came across it while I was at Home Depot shopping for stuff to paint my car with (I can’t believe I just said that.) Its web site states it’s a rust inhibitor, enhances penetration and adhesion, makes paint flow more smoothly, and reduces brush marks and leveling problems. So in the spirit of research and adventure I said, “WTF” and volunteered to use to the hood of my bug for an experiment.

PENETROL is about the same consistency as Italian dressing so I couldn’t quite mix it to the “water” consistency 69Charger recommended. The closest I could get was the “Malox” consistency Exit1965 mentioned. This resulted in a dilution of 40-60% (depending on the weather), even though the PENETROL instructions recommended a 10-40% dilution. I was in such a hurry to try it, I rushed through 69Charger’s instructions and got mixed up. When he mentioned having a roller in one hand and a foam brush in the other, I thought he meant to apply the paint mixture with a roller first then use a foam brush on the same area. As to how to apply it, I wasn’t quite sure, so I thought it might be like the application techniques used in the Coach Painting website-http://www.stephen.hull.btinternet.co.uk/brush.html. So I first rollered in a horizontal then in a vertical motion, then brushed horizontally/vertically with the foam brush, then again lightly with the foam brush first horizontally then vertically to prevent the paint from furrowing.

When I first applied it, there were the bubbles left behind from the roller trail, but they would disappear on their own, form miniscule orange peels then settle. I went for the maximum drying time (24 hours.) When it did dry, there were no bubbles or orange peel, just the microscopic trails left by the brush. I was impressed with the general smoothness and gloss.

Once again I mixed up 69Charger’s instructions and sanded not after the 2nd coat, but after the 1st coat (600 grit.) I sanded after the 2nd coat too, but the finish was so smooth, I just jumped straight to 1000 grit. When the 3rd coat dried , it looked good enough to polish right there.

As with any paint technique, I know you need a good surface to begin with. So I applied a primer/sealer first, then sanded it as smooth as I could. Another reason why I used the primer was because I didn’t want to risk the adhesion problems others had with Rustoleum. I may have not needed it though. I noticed that a drop of the Rustoleum-Penetrol mixture which had fallen on a non-primered area, passed the scratch test after 3 days.

I apologize to 69 Charger for f***ing up his instructions, but in my mess-up I think I’ve stumbled across a new, barely explored branch to this budget painting thread. Oh no…not another thread!