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Hello Guys, I’m another guy who’s been lurking around this thread for a while. Got to congratulate you all for your efforts and result, its inspiring stuff, and what a great guy this 69charger who let the cat out of the bag, brilliant.
I’ve a nice old Mercedes W123 USA spec. 300 Turbo Diesel with a manual box fitted. Goes well and is all good except some superficial body panels that are getting changed next week.
I’m a Brit living here in Poland part of the year, and my Polish is rotten, but I manage until I get into technical issues, like finding paint here. That’s my biggest problem, none of the paints mentioned are on sale here. It’s wall to wall Hammerite, but I’ve yet to hear of anyone using this stuff, so if anyone knows of a reference to a success with Hammerite I’d love to hear about it, please. I’m experimenting with a Polish brand of rust paint, the vendor thought I was ding-a-ling when I told him what I was doing, but even if it turns out looking OK who knows how it would hold up?




I have a couple aerosol cans of Hammerite in my garage. In the U.S. I can't recall ever seeing the smooth finish Hammerite sold anywhere -- it's always the "hammered finish" stuff (like what you see on industrial machinery, usually in silver or green color). I've painted outdoor light fixtures with this stuff and it has held up well. Painted direct to metal. Don't think you would want the hammered finish for your Benz though, so make sure you don't buy a can of that...

In the U.S., Hammerite is manufactured by Masterchem (www.masterchem.com). I looked at their MSDS (couldn't find this info on the European site for Hammerite, but it might be there) and compared it with the MSDS for Rustoleum.

Similarities: U.S. Hammerite says it contains an "alkyd resin". Rustoleum says it is an "alkyd topcoat". I think we've established that Rusto is an alkyd enamel (I think).

Differences: Solvents in Rusto are listed as "Stoddard Solvents" -- which from everything I've been able to read is another name for "Mineral Spirits". U.S. Hammerite solvents contain some of the same hydrocarbons which would be found in mineral spirits, BUT also contains a high proportion of Acetone. I know acetone has been discussed somewhere here before -- and I think people have tried using it with/in place of mineral spirits to thin Rusto and it didn't work well. Evaporated too fast, paint didn't self-level as well. So, this could be a potential problem.

I'm not an expert, just getting the ball rolling with a little research.

Rustoleum MSDS's
http://www.rustoleum.com/CBGResourceCenter.asp?sn=ms2&msdstyp=P

Masterchem (Hammerite) MSDS's
http://www.masterchem.com/pages/default.aspx?NavID=116