I am not even close to painting a car, but I was in home depot today and could not help myself. I picked up a small can of the rustoleum "aluminum" color, foam rollers, mineral spirits, and sandpaper.

I have a 2000 for Van that was an airborne express truck. it got hit on one side and they fixed it, but not too well, paint sucks. I am going to try this on the bottom of the drivers door and see how it turns out

Hello

I have tried 69s method on a test panel Using BPS Tractor paint, With very good results! I tried taking some pictures yesterday but it was raining. I will post some pictures of my test panel, and the paint I used soon. Yes the paint is a little "soft" but that how enamels are, they take a while to get rock hard, but there is no way I could scrape any of it off at this point.

Forrest

I just called the Canada version Tremco company & said they wouldn't ship the Tremclad Automotive paint to the US.

Does anyone know where I can buy the Tremclad Automotive paint by the gallon in the US?

I guess I could drive across the border in Detroit next time we are there, but that might not be for awhile.

I was planning on painting my 95 Ram with it this spring.

I just called Tremclad in canada, and once i told them that i painted my cars with it they said "are you the guy with the cars on the internet, the orange ones?" funny they knew all about me!!!! i hope i get some royalities if they market this product!!!! anyways, they did mention that the rustoleum and tremclad are both alkyd based oil enamels. and that they are basically the same product and labeled for the us, but they are made in different plants. they said that the paint should dry fully in 14 days, but mineral spirits actually slows the drying process. however they are basing this on very heavy coats, typically saying that full coverage is acheived in 1 to 2 coats. but when i paint i don't get full coverage until on or after the 3rd coat. with aprox 6 coats in total, i think my layers of paint would be less then 1 heavy coat of the tremclad when you also factor in wetsanding. but i really think they don't know when painting on cars, since they never really tested it. they also mentioned not using any hardners, that it is not designed to be used with the paint. what all this means to you rustoleum users i don't know, but they said that the 2 are very simmilar products if not the same. also i know i'm repeating myself but, no matter what you paint using any paint even automotive (like singel stage acrylic enamels) they all take 3 months to fully harden, and that's exactly what i've noticed with the tremclad AND all 6 single stage paintjobs i've sprayed on over the years.

I want to buy the Tremclad since this is what you used & seems to have held up well. I guess I could try rustoleum on a fender I have laying around & see what happens, but don't want to wait months to see if it cures & doesn't peel.

I also, saw on the rustoleum website that there is a Tremclad Automotive paint. Is this what you used?
http://www.rustoleum.com/product.asp?frm_product_id=549&SBL=5
It doesn't say if it comes in the gallon roll-on type.

Here is the tint base in a gallon roll-on type
http://www.rustoleum.com/product.asp?frm_product_id=555&SBL=5

I'm looking to spend $50 total. Once you start buying hardeners, reducers, etc automotive paint is alot more expensive than a gallon of Rustoleum & a gallon of mineral spirits. The truck is only worth $3500 tops. The Challenger will get painted with top of the line PPG, but the Ram will get Rustoleum or Tremclad at this point.

I'm using Rustoleum Professional in Gloss White, with acetone as a thinner. I'm using Professional because that's what Walmart had onhand. So far, it's working well for me. But then, I'm easy to please!

The problems so far are mostly in my roller technique. Practice is making me better at getting the paint on without creating more work later.

Advil helps with the sanding!

The car (1964 Valiant four-door) has worn badly faded white paint, grey primer, and surface rust for years. I drove it to work and back, worked on mechanical issues, and let the finish slide.

It already looks a LOT better!

re the clearcoat - that would be AWESOME. The question I have though is how the clearcoat would be applied. When I was doing the roller process with the enamel, the coat wasn't nice and smooth (or free of dog hair) until after wetsanding - and then the shine was gone. Before wetsanding, the shine was nice but the surface still needed flattening.

So if you roll the clearcoat on, would you have to wetsand it also, and would that affect the gloss (I'm guessing "yes")?

also EXIT1965- i discussed your scratch results with the tremclad tech dude, and he thinks it is soley a function of surface prep/contamination. if the paint came off in layers then that's a different story. but it goes right down to the surface. also he said it takes 14 days to dry fully, and 2-3 months to fully cure in hardness. that is typical with any auto paint.
i think if the paint is good enough for a rusty mail box which sits in the elements 24/7/365 without washing and waxing, it's good enough for my car!!!

Project "Beer Fridge" notes:

1. Project gets underway today. Cleaned the fridge well, wiped down with mineral spirits and let dry.
2. Wetsanded with 400 grit paper to give the paint something to grip.
3. Wiped down again with mineral spirits and let dry well.
4. Mix Paint: It's a warm Florida day (~80 degrees, but dry by S. FL standards) so I mix the paint with ~10% mineral sprits. Seems pretty darn thin to me.
5. Of note, although the fridge is clean, there are a significant number of surface rust spots, most noticably on the top from condensation when opening the freezer. Beer Fridge has been living a very comfortable life in the garage for several years now, but as it is S. Florida, it does get VERY humid in here. I chose not to sand down the rust spots to clean metal because A. I'm lazy and excited to get going, and B. because I wanted to see just how the Rustoleum would handle these spots.
6. Main Door - Okay, here we go... BUBBLES! More bubbles, and more bubbles.
They are not going away, not after a light pressure re-roll either. A good stiff blast of breath pops them and the paint starts to lay down. Whew! Half way thru the door and I'm beginning to think the paint is too thick - or is it my technique? I press on.
7. Top door - trying to work a little faster and the results are better. Loading up more paint on the roller and trying NOT to reroll so much (causing in effect a second coat). This is where I realize I'm starting to make a mess of things, not with the rolling but with my brush technique. Cut-in is not my strong suit and it shows grossly here. Drips and sags from too much paint, then I remember 69Chargers advice; roller in one hand, brush in the other. Getting better... you are wise, oh Master 69Charger.
8. Left Side - Load roller more, roll faster. Hmmm, this is starting to work better. Still have lots of bubbles but by now I'm huffing and puffing away to get them all popped, and the results are starting to look much better! Note to self: quit smoking cigarettes... SOON!
9. Top surface - MUCH easier to do a horizontal surface! Even with te considerable rust up here, I can see much better results.
10. Left side - Ironically, this side comes out best. Ironic because "Beer Fridge" sits up next to the water heater and there's no manuevering room on this side. Because of this, I take the tact of REALLY loading up the roller and working very fast. Get as much on as I can and get it spread out as quickly as I can. Huff, puff, and the paint really statrs to lay down nicely. Lesson learned? By going quicker I'm not "pulling" the paint up with the roller as much.

First coat done, time to assess: Time for my "WTF AM I DOING!" moment! Standing back, the fridge looks... Horrible. Verging on frightening. BUT... It admitedly did a rather nasty job on the first door, and looking at the final side, things look much better. Wait an hour and re-assess.

Okay, it STILL looks bad but I'm ready to press on. I SHOULD really stop here and sand down what I've done, but I decide to press on.

11. Mix Paint for coat #2 - I basically doubled the mineral spirits to ~20-25% this time. MUCH thinner, really starts to feel like water this time around. Yes Master, Grasshopper is learning.
12. Second Coat - what a world of difference! Still getting the bubbling but only for a few quick seconds. Even the slightest breath disperses them and the paint really lays down quick and smooth. If not, a very light pressure re-roll and slight puff is all it takes.
13. Entire surface takes half as much time as coat #1 and the results are much better.

Clean up and done for the night.

Evaluation: learned quite a bit. First and foremost; THIN THAT FRIGGIN PAINT! Even while mixing batch number two I thought to myself "this will never work, it's too damned thin..." WRONG! I can definitely see that coat number one was too thick, and that it will take at least 3-4 coats using the thinner batch to completely cover the underlaying color (white), but the benefit is that the thinner coat goes on MUCH smoother with less trouble. Less trouble, and less sanding, which is what I will be doing ALOT of after that first coat mess I made. But I had the wife give me an honest opinion, and looking at the final LEFT side with two coats - unsanded - even she saw the potential.

Gonna take some photos but hold off posting them until I get a chance to wetsand first (don't want to scare off anyone just yet).

Got done doing the famous scratch test to the seat frames I painted out in my garage two weeks ago in 40 degree weather. The paint was Rustoleum (non industrial) mixed with mineral spirits just to keep paint thin and workable (roll and brushable) in the cool weather. The only prep work done to these seat frames was using a wire wheel to hit the heavy rust spots I could get to which wasnt much. Then I painted over bare metal and rust with no primering done. Now after the two weeks even though the weather has not been above the 40's they are perfectly dry. Some areas that I scratched with my fingernail test peeled right off which was where the paint went on very thin and the metal underneath was almost the texture of glass very smooth. Other areas I scraped and scraped and the paint never came off but just got a dull appearance which any paint would with the pressure and force I was using. So this leads me to believe that with the proper prep like roughing up the metal or if your going over a previous paint job roughing the paint that this paint will stick to anything. As well as getting a decent layer of paint put down maybe? This test was only done on some seat frames that will be covered in the next few weeks anyhow. I figured why not give it a try and stop some rust in the process. Like I said before there was virtually no prep done except wire wheeling some heavy rust That I could get at. I put it on in one coat and with no wet sanding afterwards. Jay (Until the next thing that gets the Rustoleum treatment) Will post results!

Nice Rick. Sounds like you diagnosed right that the first coat was too thick. Its very tempting to want to slather it on thick, otherwise there's not much to look at.

Are you willing to experiment with the clear coat too? I need to pick up a can of that and try rolling over my standard rustoleum area..