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Not to pee on your parade, but it won't work. Auto paints use a catylist, where a chemical reaction occurs to "cure" the paint. Without hardner, the paint will stay soft for years, too much and it will over dry, become brittle and crack. You'd be trying to roll single stage paint, and you would have to use a hardner, single stage paints are much like bondo, when you mix in the hardner you got about 3mins to work the bondo before it becomes hard and blobs making it impossible to smooth out, which is basically the same mess you'll end up with auto paints. Plus the metalics would be hard if not impossible to keep uniform, even with spraying using HVLP/spray gun (air) it's hard for the inexpirenced painter to get the metalic uniform and not end up with "zebra" strips on their whole car let alone trying to roller metalic paint. The enamels (tremclad/rustoleum) do not use a catylist, the "gas/vent" and dry. To and extent the mineral spirits is a catylist, ineffect decreasing pot life, but at the same time making the paint thinner, and giving you the ability to apply thinner coats and they self level. You may be able to do a small peice with a roller and auto paints like a mirror, but a hood/roof, no way, you'll end up with a big ball roller with auto paint in a stringy mess!!! SIngle stage paints are designed to "flash" litterelly within 20 mins, that's why with single stage paints you have 20-30mins to recoat, or 5 days until it's fully vented (enough to recoat and not disturb/re-wet the underlying layer; which typically presents it'self by "wrinkling". I'd rather explore putting metalic in tremclad/rustoleum, and explore mixing in tremclad clear coat (liquid, only available to us lucky guys in canada!!!); that i think has a really good chance.

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Any alkyd enamel like Rustoleum,, Tremclad, TSC, Van Sickle, etc. can be used with a catalyst just like alkyd synthetic car paint. Most people don't, and given the safety concerns that's probably a good thing. The TSC/Van Sickle usually has the urethane catalyst sold on the same shelf. You mix it 8:1. Pot time is around 3 hours IIRC (going on memory here...could be longer). I've used this catalyzed paint with both a roller and a brush...never had any problems with the working time. I've never painted a whole car, but I have done the entire trunk of my Olds in one sitting. Never had any problems with lifting/sticking etc. It does cure much faster than a non-catalyzed paint (tacky in about 3 hours, dry to the touch in 4 or 5). Here's the trunk:


Here's the interior:


Both areas are pretty big, and I painted them both in one sitting. Both got a second coat about a week later. I also painted an old junk fender with catalyzed enamel, and a brush. Here was the result:




The paint flows out very well...the brush strokes aren't that hard to sand out. The nice thing about doing it this way vs. a roller is I got this kind of coverage IN ONE COAT. With a brush and hardened enamel, it's probably a two-coat paint job. The only downside is the roller is done for good...the paint cures in it solid. I did manage to clean my brush...leaving it sitting in reducer seems to help a lot.

Anyway, all I'm getting at is that I don't see any reason you couldn't do this with catalyzed car paint. Synthetic car paint is an alkyd enamel just like Rustoleum. Acrylic enamel car paint may very well behave differently...I don't know, I haven't tried it...yet. I've got some PPG urethane clear coat out in the garage...if someone wants to mail me a roller I'd be happy to try and see what happens And I agree that getting a metallic to look decent might be hard if not impossible...but I still think it's worth trying. I'm just going on my own experience here...YMMV, of course .

And if someone does want to make a metallic Rustoleum, any decent size body/paint shop should be able to sell you metal flake. If you can't find it locally, just shop on line.

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If anyone knows it would be the original roller. Charger has spoken! I figured it was worth a try by someone in the Pioneer spirit of all those here, but a friend of mine did do an amatuer job on a car of his, and even shooting it through a gun he had a zebra on his hands. It was a beater so he didn't mind much.

What about making rusto stick to aluminum parts???

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they sell primer for allum, and galavinized metal. But from what i've seen/done, the stuff sticks to anything like crazy. My plastic recycle bin still has paint on it (from needing something to put the front valance of the charger while painting) and it gets thrown around every week on pavment, and the damm paint is still there strong. I've got a drop on chrome, and that's been there for 7yrs, and i can't get it off!! once this stuff cures it's stuck there for good.

Also, last night i saw my old charger, the new owner just put the General Lee decals on and the car looks sweet, i kinda miss it. It was a sad sight, the car lives outside in the elements, under some big trees, and this guy washed the car once since he's had it. Guess what? The paint still look great, even though the "new" year one bumpers i traded my first born for are rusting, and the engine is starting to rust from sitting outside, but the paint..... I'll get a pic of the car next time i'm over at his house, and post it here.

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If anyone knows it would be the original roller. Charger has spoken! I figured it was worth a try by someone in the Pioneer spirit of all those here, but a friend of mine did do an amatuer job on a car of his, and even shooting it through a gun he had a zebra on his hands. It was a beater so he didn't mind much.

What about making rusto stick to aluminum parts???

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they sell primer for allum, and galavinized metal. But from what i've seen/done, the stuff sticks to anything like crazy. My plastic recycle bin still has paint on it (from needing something to put the front valance of the charger while painting) and it gets thrown around every week on pavment, and the damm paint is still there strong. I've got a drop on chrome, and that's been there for 7yrs, and i can't get it off!! once this stuff cures it's stuck there for good.

Also, last night i saw my old charger, the new owner just put the General Lee decals on and the car looks sweet, i kinda miss it. It was a sad sight, the car lives outside in the elements, under some big trees, and this guy washed the car once since he's had it. Guess what? The paint still look great, even though the "new" year one bumpers i traded my first born for are rusting, and the engine is starting to rust from sitting outside, but the paint..... I'll get a pic of the car next time i'm over at his house, and post it here.

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Thanks for the info. I'd rather have it stick like a son of a gun instead of peeling off in a month. Like I said, the side and hood louvers were my concerns. When I bought the Mustang the regular autopaint was already mostly peeled off those parts.

I'm sorry to hear that the Charger is not being taken care of the way it should be, but it's nice to know that the paint is holding up well.

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I rolled on and got this......I think I might have made a mistake by repeatedly rolling over the paint after it started to dry. There are tiny bubbles but no runs and some orange peel which seems to be normal.

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I am wondering if the wet sanding will take care of this, does the direction of how you roll seriously matter, and did you get lines in the paint due to paint collecting on the edge of the roller.

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Any ways I stripped the car of chrome and all and sanded with 40, then moved to 60 then wiped it down with degreaser to make sure it was clean and then shot it with rattle can Rustoleum automotive primer which not only covered the bare metal due to rust removal but covered those hideous sparkles embedded in the 2 mil thick clear coat .

I am wondering if the wet sanding will take care of this, does the direction of how you roll seriously matter, and did you get lines in the paint due to paint collecting on the edge of the roller.

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toolbox - anything that uses a catylist in my opinion won't work, a hardner is a different story, they accellerate the drying time, but with single stage paints, including enamels and laq, the reducers used are specific to spraying and have very fast flash times, barley enough time to roller anything before it starts drying. Typically anything with a recoat time of <1 hour, or after 5 days uses a catylist.

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Not sure we're on the same page... The hardener I'm talking about is a urethane catalyst that should be just about identical to the hardener used in automotive enamels. It doesn't just speed the drying time, it polymerizes the paint. It's got the same ugly isocyanate ingredients as "real" car paint hardener...which is why I said it's probably good that most people don't use it.

But...that's also why I think there's a good chance you can use "real" car paint for this. The reducers used in automotive paint are just solvents that evaporate at different rates depending on which "speed" you use. For this, I'd probably use a retarder instead, giving you maximum working time. Or, don't use a reducer at all...if you use a catalyst, the paint will cure just fine without it. It might not flow out very well, but that's another issue .

And there are still 1K acrylic enamel paints available that don't use any kind of catalyst at all...you just reduce and spray. Today this has really fallen out of favor...but people still shoot it. The one nice thing about it is since they don't have any iso's, you don't need any special respirator equipment. It's how everything from Chrysler and Ford was painted in the '50s and '60s (GM clung on to acrylic lacquer forever). OTOH, you're not supposed to touch it for a month so it can cure.

I think the answer to whether or not you could use real car paint for this is going to lie with whoever actually tries it. I'd love to see someone with more time on their hands than me do some experiments with a synthetic enamel, an acrylic enamel, and if you want to get really crazy--an acrylic urethane. Try using slow reducer, a retarder, or no reducer...try w/hardener and without. Try a brush, try a roller...see if it works. That's the only way we'll know. Maybe there's no way to make it work. Maybe there is . You can buy car paint in pints, and it's not very expensive.

If it did work...the color palate would be limitless. And the "value" lines from the major paint manufactures aren't that much more expensive than Rustoleum. More expensive yes, but it's really not bad if you look into it.

Anyway...I still think it's worth a shot. Any volunteers...

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well, this is just a fun car but Im glad to be learning. I was thinking that the rougher the surface, the better the purchase or bond of the paint would be. I was noticing that the finish was a bit gritty but I will put in the elbow grease tomorrow and try to work it out a little more. Thanks for the help guys. Ill post up once I get the things settled out a bit more.

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I have a question for the satin/flat roller's out there!
Our journeyman was given the task to try this on his project. He is rolling flat black rustoleum. he is on the 5th or 6th coat and it still has really bad roller marks.
I went over it as I have been playing with the method for a while, and I had no better success. it goes on easy, but then when it dries it looks bad.
I am thinking for flat we may need to shoot it.

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Maybe there's a difference in the satin vs. flat in the way it comes out. I'm sure you saw the 69 Mustang that looks really cool in satin a few pages back...other than that maybe your friend wasn't sanding every other coat. If not then the roller marks from previous coats will just multiply with each layer.

I found that on a test panel where I tried both ways. Saving a few coats to wet sand only the last one did not look nearly as good as the other half where I followed the original method everyone here goes by.

I'm guessing that is not the case and it could be that flat is just tougher to get right compared to the gloss and satin colors.

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I have a question for the satin/flat roller's out there!
Our journeyman was given the task to try this on his project. He is rolling flat black rustoleum. he is on the 5th or 6th coat and it still has really bad roller marks.
I went over it as I have been playing with the method for a while, and I had no better success. it goes on easy, but then when it dries it looks bad.
I am thinking for flat we may need to shoot it.

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well, this is just a fun car but Im glad to be learning. I was thinking that the rougher the surface, the better the purchase or bond of the paint would be. I was noticing that the finish was a bit gritty but I will put in the elbow grease tomorrow and try to work it out a little more. Thanks for the help guys. Ill post up once I get the things settled out a bit more.

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Very interesting car that you've got...I'm jealous that you got it for $300! You'll have to go very aggressive sanding the paint. Some of the gouges from the grit you used just look to deep from your pictures.

The sandpaper you used initially would have been ideal for prepping the metal for a skim coat of body filler. It was much to rough for any paint or even primer for that matter to level out without a ton of coats.

Try with the 600 like Marq suggested, but keep in mind that you may have to cut into the primer in some spots to get it smooth enough for the next coat.

I hope it turns out well for you! I applaud you for being able to buy such a unique car with the change found in your sofa!

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There's been a lot of this lately. Sounds like you're oversanding. At least you're not using 50 grit. You don't need to remove any clearcoat except for where peeling exists. Once any defects such as rust, dents, chips, deep scratches are smoothed out, you're only looking to roughen the surface with 320-400 grit to give the new paint something to adhere to.

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this is my first time doing any body work. so i have no idea. thank your for clarifying it for me. wow. makes my job a lot easier

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ok. i feel really rediculous for having to resort to asking this here, but its my last resort.

i have started my project. i finally got my penetrol and everything i need. i have snaded and prepped my replacement fender. i have started sanding the rest of my car.

my question is, how much do i have to sand this thing? the car is a light blue. when i sand a lot i hit three different colors. one, the blue gets darker. i assume this is when im past the clear coat. the next, i hit white. i assume primer. third, i hit metal. ive only hit metal where ive needed to to remove rust.

my paint is good, a little sun faded in parts, but nothing bad. do i have to sand all the way through the clear on the whole car? or do i just need to spend some time on a spot and make sure its rough. i just dont want to waste a lot of time going through the clear on the whole car if i dont have to.

any help is greatly appreciated.

thanks.


just wanted to add. im wet sanding with 400 and a block. im also using a 320 sponge. it doesnt feel like i can get as much done with the sponge, its too soft.

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