I think you guys are all going to find the same thing with the rustoleum bonding and being easily scraped off. Problem is the chemical makeup of the tremclad is different. I have seen two different replies from the tech support at Rustoleum and they do not say it is the same paint only similar. This goes to show that it indeed could be very different. Not only that but rustoleum has no mineral spirits in it. Therefore as the label states it should be thinned with acetone. Mineral spirits being introduced to the chemical compound of a non mineral spirits based paint will alter it adversly. I think before we all go painting out cars with this product we shoudl do some more research. TSC Tractor Supply Company sell a rust enamel that is mineral spirits based. They offer several colors and it is about 26 dollars a gallon. The tractor implement paint they also sell that is made by valspar comes in quite a few colors. I think this may be a viable alternative for us stateside guys. That being said is anyone capable of buying a gallon or two of tremclad and shipping them stateside sometime in the future. Using rustoleum is definatly, at best, uncharted territory as far as success goes.

i agree with toplessz, i can't vouch for the rustoleum, but i can say the tremclad is awesome stuff, i've hit my hood a thousand times taking out the hood pins, there's hair line scratches from that but i can say that it is tough stuff. from what i can see and from what i've read, the rustoleum is the same stuff as the tremclad. i did a test by going to the canadian rustoleum site and choosed the metal option and it gives you the paint to use, and they clicked on the us flag and did the same thing and that paint that exit1965 used came up for the usa rustoleium paint. i really just think that you should let it "cure" and then test, like i said i did'nt do a scratch test until today, and that is 4 months after i painted it so i can't speak for how it is when you just painted it a week ago. the stuff on my car is impossible to scratch with my fingernail.

I guess I should have checked this sooner but what I used was actually the professional version of the rustoleum. I attached the photo of the 2 products I used. I know 69charger says you do not need primer but I did my before this thread and used this spray stuff anywhere I sanded to metal. I never tried the regular rustoleum on this job but I have used it in the past. Lately I have only used the professional stuff in the spray cans because it dries much quicker so that is just what I grabbed when I picked up the gallon of flat black. Mine is extremely hard and the can says you thin with mineral spirits. I used the low odor mineral spirits for mine. To be purely scientific we now need Exit1965 to go buy some of the professional stuff and try it again using all the same steps! Sorry I did not check sooner but maybe our professional version is more like the Tremclad.
Todd

On your inquiry the Tremclad Rust Paint is only sold in Canada.

Mark Roberts
Rust - Oleum Consumer Brands Canada
Technical Support Team Leader
(416) 467 2603 Direct
1-800-387-9879 ext.2603
Fax 1-800-363-0665
mroberts@rustoleum.ca


here's the reply i got, i havn't called yet but they might ship the tremclad who know's.

For whatever this is worth, I switched from using the standard rustoleum to the professional version because the standard scratched way too easily. The professional, in a can, is about $2 more. This was for general paint use though, and not painting a car.

Topless & Blackwidow - great info. I guess the alternative would be to thin the cheap rustoleum with acetone or get the professional stuff and keep using mineral spirits.

Since my color, almond, comes in proffessional I'll try that and use the mineral spirits I already have.

69charger- does your tremclad mention anything about what to thin with, acetone, mineral spirits or?

oh, blackwidow - did you use mineral spirits to thin?

As Topless has mentioned they do appear to be different products. Even the professional paint I used specifically says Oil-based enamel but from the Canadian website is looks like Tremclad is alkyd-based enamel. And reading the description of the two it sounds like the Tremclad is even a better product than the professional Rustoleum. Tremclad mentions bonding with rust and other things. Now the professional rustoleum does say thin with mineral spirits and on my car is very hard but us guys in the states may not get as good a result as 69charger. Looks like someone needs to make a little border run!
Todd

On further inspection, the cheap rustoleum can says thin "with mineral spirits or acetone"........

It was mentioned in a post above about implement enamel. That should work pretty well and is usually pretty reasonbly priced. Color choise may be real limited though. John deere green, JI Case yellow or old Case orange, IH red, Oliver olive.

Low odor mineral spirits for me. The professional line says you can thin up to 1.5 pints of mineral spirits per gallon.
And in the name of science I decided to see how tough my paint was last night by bashing my door with the propane tank for my garage heater. Here you can see the damage. It actually popped the door panel in and then it popped back out. Leaving me a nice pea sized paint chunk on the ground. Now as you can see the damage went all the way to metal and this is in an area where my original B5 paint was still on the door. My car has original paint, yellow epoxy primer, black epoxy primer and now 4 or more layers of professional rustoleum. Not really any damage to just the rustoleum so too me it looks like the professional rustoleum is about as tough as the original paint. Of course my disclaimer is I am not a paint guy.
Todd

Looks like OEM orange peal too. I couldn't help myself. Sorry. You should see some my home oaint jobs when I started and probably worse no cause it has been so long.

That photo does make it look pretty bad! But I was only going for the primered look that is why I used flat. I did wet sand between coats but not to remove all orange peel and I did only a little sanding of the final coat to get rid of roller marks. I was actually using some fine grit steel wool to blend it all together as well as anything else I had laying around at the end.
Todd

The "industrial stuff" (not "professional") says it's akalyd enamel. I know it was mentioned before..

http://www.rustoleum.com/Product.asp?frm_product_id=219&SBL=2&ddic=6

Don't see any colors I like but I wonder if this akalyd is the difference in toughness.

edit: this does say bases are available to be tinted.

Bingo, maybe:
http://www.valspar.com/val/manufacturing/liquid.jsp

Not that I know what any of these different paint types are, but if we assume that this list is of all their industrial liquid product, and they do not mention an "enamel", does that mean the industrial enamel at lowes was the akalyd?

I don't know but you would think anything tough enough for lawn mowers and buses has to be tough enough for our cars and those certainly have some shine to them. Of course they are probably expensive 2 part paints that have to be sprayed!!
Todd

Back when this post first started I mentioned I had used the Rustoleum gloss enamel on my Jeep CJ and a Bonco II. I just went out to check the type of Rustoleum I used and it was the standard gloss oil based Regal Red. I thinned it with mineral spirits but sprayed it on. That is hard paint. I tried to scratch it with a fingernail-no way-and then I keyed it. The key left a scratch but not all the way thru the paint-it will buff out. I didn't throw a rock at the Jeep-my neighbors might think I'd lost lost my mind but that stuff is hard. It touches up easily, that's why I used it on my off road CJ. I did spot primer the Jeep and used an HVLP sprayer in the interest of time, but it shouldn't make a difference, I put 3 coats on it and it took 1 1/2 quarts to paint the CJ. Some was lost to spraying. Just my experience in painting a vehicle with Rustoleum. By the way, the paint's been on the Jeep since last May and it sits outside in all weather.

Just did coats 3 and 4, after wet sanding. Looks pretty good. I think I am going to wait longer before the next wet sand, since the paint checked up in places after the first wet sand.

I'm using Rustoleum professional "Safety Yellow"

By the way, a little trick to get those little bubbles out -- blow gently on the paint and it pops them.

Will post pics after the final coat and polish.