Im doing my first paint job and I really wanted to try this Rustoleum ready to spray base/clear line they have. Im not expecting miracles, this is more of an experiment. The victim is my nothing special 86 daily driver. If it turns out crappy, nothing lost and Im only out $200.

Rustoleum and the Tech I talked to claim this paint is ready to pour into your gun and spray, there is no re-coat window, and no sanding or roughing up of the surface necessary between coats. It can be thinned with acetone if absolutely necessary. The clear coat I picked has metallic flake in it which I thought was pretty cool.

I went ahead and bought:
rustoleum auto body #253500 Jet Black Acrylic Base-coat
rustoleum auto body #253521 High-gloss Metallic Clear-coat
2 of the $25 Harbor Freight spray guns.

I started sanding with 800 grit, (400 grit in the worst rock chip areas, and a couple tiny bondo areas, which were then blended with finer and finer grit until matched with the rest) now I have it all up to 1000 grit where I've paused to get feedback about this paint before I continue.

Guys and gals, has anyone used these? I read online that people say they didnt even change the tip in the harbor freight gun. What tip did you use? Did you thin? Did you wait a specific time between coats? How many coats of base and clear did you use? Did you sand between coats? What #grit(s) did you use, what was your final grit? Did you sand the clear?



68FBAC53-5267-4939-B5D4-AA71C59A7F08 by Richard Bailey, on Flickr

A while back there was a thread about painting a car with Rust-oleum enamel using a roller....thinning it and using about 17 coats...I think it took about 17 weeks to dry as well...lol. I painted the top of my van with Rust-oleum enamel...its peeling already...I really didn't prep it that well though. It seems like you are taking time with your prep which is probably most important. I think Rust-olem is a good product, I use rattle cans for everything all the time.

Their product is non-catalyzed which means it never really hardens and will scratch easy and always be susceptible to solvents like gasoline. I have used a product like that before thinking I was going to save money or do something easy but I was never happy with it. I was never tough enough, scratch resistant enough and I could damage it with my thumb nail. Also if you try to sand it down later it will glob up your sandpaper making a huge mess. The globs will stick to your sandpaper and make gouges into the paint making more and more of a mess. The only way I could clean it up was to carefully wet sand it, frequently cleaning my sandpaper and surface.

A proper product will include p-sheets that will answer all of your questions. In the past I have used the restoration shop and kustom shop products sold by www.tcpglobal.com with good results. They have p-sheets on their website which tell you all the pertinent info like mix ratios, compatible substrates, surface prep, grit, application techniques, gun tip size and air pressure, etc. Their gallon kits of single stage urethane prepackaged colors are like $120 each and layed down real smooth even with my cheapie spray gun. I thought my results were kind of hum-ho until I went into the chevy dealer for parts for work one day and noticed how much smoother my single stage job was than the OEM clear coat on the corvette and camaros they had in their showroom!

I'm just a backyard hack but the only time I have prepped with 1000 grit has been if I've been scuffing base coat to re-clear an existing panel. Normally I do 400 before hosing on the single stage paint.

MoJoe,

I believe You are referring to the 'tremclad' method originally posted here on moparts. Ive painted multiple vehicles this way. You use Rust-Oleum oil based enamel from the hardware store, thin it just right with mineral spirits, then use a 6" foam roller and start rollin the paint on. You have to do a minimum 2 coats for every step of wet sanding. For example I sanded my Polara down to 600, rolled on a couple coats, waited 48 hours minimum, sanded with 800, 2 coats, 1000, 2 coats, 1500, 2 coats, 1800. Then cut and polish, buff. It takes a couples weeks for me Im sure others do it much faster Im just slow and OCD.

I'm not doing the roller method anymore, I want to try spraying. I was looking for a cheap and entry level base-coat/clear-coat when I found this product line from Rust-Oleum. I did a little research and besides the painters who automatically say negative things when they hear the word rustoleum, there was pretty good feedback especially from amateurs which i paid most attention to. People who actually spent some 'warm up' time practicing and playing around with pattern and dry time etc said they got really good results (for $18 a quart paint.)

Im looking forward to trying it out

I suspect this product is very much like the Duplicolor and Summit Racing ready to spray systems. Definitely bottom line as far as quality goes, but you can do a fairly decent job with any of them. That said, don't expect the paint job to last very long since these paints aren't designed for that. They're designed to be easy to spray, not for durability.

Also... do NOT sand to 1000 grit and expect paint to stick. For a non metallic base coat sand to 400 grit and for a metallic sand to 600 grit. The paint needs mechanical adhesion and 1000 grit scratches aren't big enough to allow the paint to adhere to the surface properly. Otherwise it will just peel off in a few weeks.

Daytona, I am 100% decided that i want a 2 stage paint job. I believe you did get good results from your method/paint choice, and I appreciate the advice, but ive already purchased my supplies so im going to give it a shot. no pun intended .

I dont know what non-catalyzed means, but is their an additive I can put in my clear coat that will 'catalyze' it? or what if I did a 3rd coat of another type of clear coat that was more durable?

Interesting, I thought that automotive paint was meant to be sanded in stages ending in super high/fine grit?? For base coats are you just supposed to lay on a ton of coats then sand down to super fine before spraying clear? At what point are you supposed to smooth out those deep 400 grit scratches?

Catalyzed means there's a hardener that gets mixed in before you spray. All real automotive primers, single stage paints and clear coats incorporate a hardener that catalyzes the product which is really what makes it tough and glossy as well as dry fully compared to a general purpose paint you would buy at a hardware store. I used the duplicolor stuff that centerline mentioned, which is basically the same thing as what you bought(acrylic enamel not all that different from the stuff at the hardware store). If you were happy with the results you got with the roller paint job, that is basically the same result you're going to get with this stuff in terms of durability, scratch resistance and corrosion resistance. I have sprayed cars with thinned rustoleum and really you might as well have done that instead of buying this stuff.

With real automotive paint, you don't sand between the base coat and clear coat. The p-sheets for the base and clear will tell you how long you can wait between applying the base and applying the clear.

Proper paint will lay right on top of that 400 grit surface and not display any scratches through the top coat.

I know this isn't what you want to hear.... But as someone who paints multiple cars every year, it's not even a paint I'd consider using, especially for $200... I'd use some kirker single stage urethane, summits brand and other for that price. For a little more you could get some omni/nason base and clear and have a way better paint job when done. Too much work to paint a vehicle to have it look like crap in a year or so.

Daytona Turob,

Are we talking about the same paint?? the Rustoleum Oil Based Enamel I rolled on took awhile to fully 'cure', like months, but once it did it was incredibly durable. Have you read the gigantic Tremclad thread here on moparts? I believe it's archived. Tremclad is the Canadian name for the same rustoleum oil based enamel paint. I painted my sisters nova like 4 years ago, and besides dulling a bit, which cleared up with a quick polish, its been the toughest paint Ive ever seen. Not even any rock chips, and she has/had gasoline spills all the time and there's been no effect except a very light and tiny discoloration from the worst area where gas will stream down when gas overflows. You cant dent the paint with a finger nail at all, you gotta press firmly with a key to make a mark ( I tested an inconspicuous area). I also painted my Polara and also a Ram. The only thing I didnt like about the paint was the color selection, I could never master the technique, and I just dislike single stage paint.


Silver70,

are you saying the clear coat dulls/discolors over time? could I just use a different clear coat over the rustoleum base coat?

Thank-You...

200 was for 5 quarts base, 4 clear, and the gun

2 guns actually

**and another 25ish of that was shipping costs

it was the cheapest option I could find at the time and it seemed like the most forgiving paint regarding sensitivity to tip sizes, moisture content in the air and the temperature at which it's sprayed at.. I think I did ok for having zero experience spray painting, and barely minimum knowledge about paint lol. We'll see how it goes!

Yes we are talking about the same stuff. I was on the board here when that tread was ongoing. Yes it's durable, compared to spray paint. Still sub-par. I dislike base/clear in general, I have spent too much time fixing peeling clear done by other backyard hacks so for solid colors I stick with single stage and only use base/clear for metallics or repairing existing clear coat. I have found generally that the budget line auto paint systems are reasonably priced these days so that an extra 100 bucks upgrades you out of the hardware store aisle. Bottom line, you have the product and you're going to use it. For the same money you could have got something significantly better, not mention the time and effort that could have been saved.

Hey Adam, a few things I will throw in.

1. You cannot add hardener to a paint not designed for it, so forget about that.
2. You "might" be able to improve your durability with a 2-component (with hardener) style clear coat, but I would strongly suggest that you test a small piece of metal first (before you paint your car) to see exactly how it will affect the basecoat you have.
3. I think I responded over on FBBO to this as well (?). 1-component enamels are somewhat like the old school lacquer paints. They don't have the chemical resistance like 2-component paints (do watch out for gasoline spills), but you might get decent results.
4. I didn't realize that Rustoleum is now making automotive paint.

I havent been over to B bodies Only for a long time, are you sure? Maybe I was thinking about using it at the time and looking for input, but I dont remember posting.

I would definitely experiment with a different clear on something other than the car. I have a large piece of sheet metal I use to fix small pinhole-to-golf ball size rust areas on floor pans. I will use it to test spray .

This paint has actually been out for at least a year, I think it is just widely unknown that it exists. I didnt know about it until I did research for cheap 2 stage paint

Im definitely not trying to defend rustoleum just cause I bought it already, I knew it wasnt great, and was prepared for some poor reviews but I didnt know it was as bad as you guys are telling me... Which still doesnt necessarily change my mind about using it. What is sticking in my brain though is that you guys are telling me I could get something of much better quality for similar price. I still have my receipts so if it truly is this terrible I can send it all back.

Do you have any other suggestions for a Dark Black 2 stage kit for around $200-300 total, other than whats been posted already?

I replied to your pm... couldn't figure out how to post a pic in pm, but this is the truck I used the speedokote black base coat on. It's only be painted for maybe a year, but showing no signs of fading and so on yet. For 110 bucks for a gallon with gallon of reducer, it's a way better option.

The website linked in my first reply.