Greetings, a fellow observer... Nice polish / reflection on the previous post...

I've been practicing with black... By seeing other's results, I see some colors need more layers to cover the initial color, I had almost 100 percent coverage with black (over gray primer).

I used Rustoleum and oderless mineral spirits... no runs, no orange peel, I did wetsand between each coat... the only main problem I had was dust and stuff, but I didn't clean the garage as it was just a test piece... I was amazed at the gloss and how it always slef leveled....

I got to about the 6th coat... I tired the turtle wax polish & a randam orbit polisher (turtle wax 4000 rpm) and now it doesn't shine as much.... I left a 1/4th of the piece undone (no turtle wax) and it was much more glossier. So I tried by hand with the polish and a terry cloth pad... now it's less shiny, just like the rest... I kept it damp and moistened it throughout... I noticed swirl makrs now that weren't there before... exactly what type of pad shoudl I use? Any other tips?

I may try and hunt down some regular mineral spirits, but I would like to see this through.

I am legally bilnd, do not have a driver's license... Ironically, I'm building a Kitt car 69chargeryeehaa, photo op after I paint'er up?

Hey Charger I can't believe this thread is still going, right on my hats are off to you again. It's been a while since I have logged on here, been cruisin on my main site.Just to let the other readers know how tough Tremclad paint can be, let me share some of my most recent experiences with the paint. I recently painted my steel work bench using uncut tremaclad and a high density foam roller, even like this it turned out great. I had some left over when I finshed the job and painted a strip over a bare metal spot on my coupe. Within a couple of days I could not scratch or scrape this painted spot, I also cleaned the roller in mineral spirits, some got on my finger nails and has not come off very easily and is still on my fingers in spots after 3 weeks. I will post more of my latest experiences with this paint later. Good to see you ROLLING on with this Charger, all the best...C38Coupe

I'm getting ready to start on my truck, still trying to decide on a color. I stopped by Sherwin Williams today and they have an oil based enamel called "All Surface Enamel" that seems to be very similar to Rustoleum. They can also tint the paint to most colors. Has anyone tried this type of paint? I wonder how the tinted base will hold up to fading? Thanks guys.

Rob

Ok, I've been trying to improve my technique at wetsanding. After my 7th coat went on so smoothly I decided to go ahead and wetsand with 1500 and 2000. Look here at my before and after pictures:

Wetsand with 1500 then 2000 grit

I put down another coat because the color was still semi transparent but my main question is whether the shine will come back to that. The color is very dull and I am having trouble seeing that it will come back. I'm going to pick up some of the rubbing compound tomorrow and try it out after another wetsand but is that what I should be seeing before my polishing?

So has anyone used one of these yet? It's a refillable aerosol can available at Harbor Freight for $10.



Or anyone use a Preval?
http://www.prevalspraygun.com/home.htm

edit: see some people have commented on the preval and liked it. anyone tried the refillable harbor freight one?

I'm thinking I could go with one of these to spray the jambs and engine bay, rather than getting a six pack of spray bombs.

FarFire--

Yes, after you buff it the flat look goes away and it shines.

Exit--

No, haven't tried those. That would get expensive in a hurry. I did buy a wagner on monday though. The rolling was just going so slow for me -- especially with the yellow -- and since I only had done one panel so far I decided to buy the wagner and switch to royal blue. I have to say...it is awesome.

I'm still trying to figure out what is exactly the best mixture setup for the spraying...and I've had a couple of drips here and there...but overall it's awesome. Cleanup is quick, application is even quicker. Plus I don't have to keep buying rollers.

Don't get me wrong, the rolling was working just fine for me, but the yellow just takes too many coats. You REALLY have to want it.

Anyways, I'll have some photos up by tomorrow afternoon. I really hope to get the welding and prep done on the rest of the car very soon. I'm getting tired of smelling like welding.

jamesjstar,
Look at the bumper under where you pulled off the paint. See the water bead up? Like a fresh wax job? That's your problem.

I bought some of the Hunter Green professional. Going to experiment with it when I get some time. Up to my eyeballs in wrenching work right now getting ready for Sturgis, Megasquirting my 20v 'Rolla and the timing chain on my DD RN Truck went out. Anyway, I am hoping that Hunter Green is close to British Racing Green for my Locost.

Hi there, I came across this thread randomly. I started reading from the beginning, read up to about page 15 and then realized there's another 30 pages, then the link and then another 15! So I am sorry to have skipped so much and came to here. Starting from around page 10, there was a discusssion about Tremclad in Canada vs Rustoleum in USA and people were concerned whether they are indeed the same paint. I started using Tremclad some 15 years ago and IMO Tremclad is by far the best off the shelf Enamel paint ever existed and is not the same as other enamel rust paint. I've tried many other brands (mainly rattle can versions) that are available at Canadian Tire, Home Depot, Rona and none give the same results. Here in Vancouver, we can get Rustoleum brand paint as well, not only are they more expensive, they are not nearly as good. Tremclad sticks to anything including bare metal really well, while Rustoleum and other brands tend to chip and flake off easily. With Tremclad fully cured, I can take a hammer and put a dent on a steel surface and the paint goes in with the dent, while Rustoleum come apart from the metal and flake off. Tremclad paint really does self-smooth but not so with other paint brands.

I first learned about the idea about paint a car using Tremclad and 4" hi-density roller about 2 years ago from Sean's Turbo Niva site www.turboniva.ca He painted all his Niva's that way. I decided to do the same to my Niva. (yes I have heard all the Lada jokes thank you very much) I went to Rona to get paint and because Tremclad didn't have a colour I wanted I asked them to tint me a deep orange colour with their house brand rust enamel paint which they said was exactly the same quality as Tremclad. I sanded the car quickly with a sand block, wiped the car with paint thinner, and painted the hood, doors and rear hatch straight out of the can no thinning (I didn't really care, the Niva is a bush wacker!). The paint went on ok but a LOT of orange peel. I didn't like the colour after painting those parts and I ended up going back to Rona and got another can of paint. This time I got the Tremclad Recreational white. Again, without thinning I rolled it on and what a difference with paint quality. Much easier to roll on, great coverage, and the self smoothing was incredible, no orange peel at all. I've attached a few pics, they were taken over a year ago and about 6 months after the paint job. I sold the car last year and it is sorely missed

I only did one thick coat. I didn't sand the hood, doors and rear hatch after I painted them orange. The pictures were not taken intending to show paint quality but you can kind of see that the hood and doors are orange peely, while the roof and the rest are really smooth and shiny. It's almost not possible to get orange peel from Tremclad because it really smooths out itself. I did paint in the winter so temperature might have made a difference. The grill, mud flaps, the rubber pieces on the bumper and wheels were painted with Tremclad gloss black rattle can version. The wheels were rusty but the paint stayed on them as long as I had the car.

Sorry for the lengthy post, just thought I would share my roller paint experience. By the way, Tremclad has a colour called Aluminum. The colour is exactly the name, Aluminum. It looks real good, looks just like aluminum and has a metalic tint. I painted a lot of wheels with it. But I do not recomment paint the car with it. The colour never really cure, and you can always rub some off. And it cannot be re-coated with another colour! I emailed Tremclad about it and they said you can paint the Aluminum over another colour but never the other way, can't even put clear coat on it. So in case someone wants to mix colours and get some metalic look in the tremclad, don't do it! I heard that Sean at turboniva.ca mixed Aluminum and Black 50/50 and got a really wicked colour and painted one of his Nivas but the paint ended up peeling off. So definitely don't use the Aluminum to paint your cars!

pic

another pic

one more

Oh by the way, if you want to check out another nice Tremclad/roller job, look at the pics of Sean's yellow Niva www.turboniva.ca , I think he did an outstanding job and the paint on his Nivas get a lot of abuse: snow, sand, rocks, salt, mud, rivers! Mine was definitely FAR from professional but the paint definitely held up really well, shiny after wash, and looked very presentable.

This might give you an idea how tough Tremclad paint is.

Just found this:

http://www.turboniva.ca/photos/picpage5.html

I came here from accordwagonclub.com where a buddy of mine did his wagon with this method. I have read all of this thread and the original thread and cannot WAIT to get started. I will be trying a test piece first of course to perfect my technique. My Accord coupe is all sanded down and waiting. I of course, do have one quaetion which I can't remember if it was answered.

When painting, are you painting a section at a time, or do you roll the entire car at once? Was just curious.

You guys have a great forum and alot of helpful folks here. Thanks for the great info!!

I've added a pic of the project car half sanded.

Hi all, here's a pic of one of my original test pieces, it is a rusty metal dash that I only gave a quick sand before painting it with Tremclad using the Charger Airless Roller System or (C.A.R.S.) Registered Trademark name and system, Just throwin in some fun Charger, but it's not a bad idea.
This test piece was painted with 6 coats reduced by 20 to 25 % with mineral spirits, it was sanded after 2 coats with 1000, then 2 more coats were applied followed by wet sanding with 1000, then finished up with 2 more coats of paint follwoed by wet sanding with 2000.
I then used turtle wax brand polishing compound and hand buffed the piece as I don't own a buffing bonnet, the results were very good. but would have been many times better with an electric bonnet buffer.........Fred

cyclingches-

I think if you had gone further in that last thread, somebody talked to somebody official at Rustoleum and they said Tremclad and Rustoleum were virtually the same product. In fact, I think somebody said Rustoleum improved the formula of Tremclad after they took it over.

But I haven't read that last thread for a while, so somebody correct me if I'm wrong.

In any case, your paintjob looks pretty good

C38coupe what color did you use on your dash?

Well, I can only speak of the Rustoleum paint that we have here in Canada. At Home Depot they sell Rustoleum and Tremclad but I've only tried the spray can version. There is no way they are the same in my experience of using them on bare metal. I used to paint bicycle frames using them and I had bikes that I used to commute on, so they always get locked up against railings, posts, bike racks, etc...always getting banged up. The Rustoleum version will always chip off, while the Tremclad'd bikes just get scratches on the paint but the paint doesn't come off. The Tremclad sticks miles better than the Rustoleum on bare metal in my experience. Better yet, if you use Tremclad's metal primer first the adhersion is even better. I don't remember what they are all for, Tremclad has Grey, Brown and another colour for their rust primers but I used the grey one.

Tremclad takes a lot longer to cure fully than automotive paint. But once cured, they are really tough. I remember the car smelled like fresh paint for several weeks after it was painted (maybe because I didn't thin the paint). My friends and coworker always joked about it, then one day the smell was not there anymore.