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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.