Aussie, again that looks great and will look even better after some wetsanding to smooth out the suface.

How do you find the hardness of the paint when applied straight?

I think this should work Adamctanium is very talented at what he does.
https://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/show...rue#Post2835014

Hello Everybody. I'm new to this forum. It was linked from a Jeep Cherokee forum, and I stayed up all last night reading about this technique. I'm hoping to do my Cherokee next spring.

Marq: have you tried using a clear coat over the Brightside? Also ... do you have some more pics of your completely finished projects?

I tried to search for this, but this thread is humongous

Thanks!!

See if this limits Marq's post to this thread only:
https://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/dose...&fromprof=1

Thanks for the compliments Exit and Marq.

The pics show the car to be better than it looks in the metal/plastic, but once it is wetsanded and polished, it should look just like any bc/cc job.

The paint is pretty tough already compared to the original paint. While I was bolting in the roll cage I dropped a half inch drive ratchet fitted with an extension bar onto the paint and it left a tiny mark on the paint.There is a fair bit of weight in that ratchet so I was impressed to see such a small mark afterwards. Years ago I dropped a nut onto the original paint and it chipped the paint right down to the base coat....

This leads my thinking to another aspect of our 'rolled' paint jobs that no-one has really touched upon. The costs of repairing the typical minor dings that many people get in their cars.

This is a pic of some minor rear end damage to a guy's miata in my local club.



The bumper wasn't damaged apart from the paint and the total bill for his repair job came to $2700 AUD. He claimed it on insurance and only had to pay the $500 AUD excess. People on our local forum were congratulating him on 'dodging the bullet' with his insurance company covering most of the very high bill. They were saying that he was lucky that it only cost him $500.

The same situation for us would cost about nothing. We could get some of our left-over paint, fix it and it wouldn't cost us a cent.

Our paint jobs give us the opportunity to save heaps of money on our repairs as well. 69Charger, you are an automotive DIY God!!!

Hey Brightside guys. I'm giving it a shot, I picked up a quart of Hatteras Off White today. In fact first I picked up regular off white, which on the nice color card I got looked like canvas white, but when I got that home it was closer to regular white. So I returned the off white. Hatteras off white is a better match to canvas white, and since I've already painted the door jambs and engine bay a close enough color, plus the fact that the color is so close, I can problably get away with 2 quarts to do the whole car.

The off white that I ended up returning, I put a foam brush in there and painted a tiny spot under my hood (full coverage) to see the color difference. At this point, it's dried to the touch and is already more scratch resistant than rustoleum would have been in the same amount of time.

I am not sure if I'll try to thin (just to try to avoid orange peel) with mineral spirits since that's an ingredient, or perhaps penetrol.

This is feeling like the neverending (paint) job, but it's something exciting to do which I hope will lead to better gloss and hardness than I got with the rustoleum. Plus, it's just fun to experiment to get the best, safe, inexpensive DIY paintjob. With all that rustoleum under there, I can be sure rust wont be an issue.

Exit ... did your rustoleum ever harden properly? Did you ever find out what the problem was?

I followed your progress for about the first 40 pages or so, but by then it was about 4:00 AM, and I was getting pretty stupid.

But I've been thinking ... all of this effort you are putting in, this isn't just to get the car painted, this is making you an experienced painter. I'm sure this Dodge Dart won't be the only car you fix up, and now you can be increasingly confident of your ability to give it a great skin.

Thanks for posting all of your results and please let us know how the brightside works out. It's a big help to all of us.

Ok ... so just to recap: You have found the Brightside is higher gloss than Tremclad? And more durable?

Thanks!!

So what's better: Rustoleum or Brightside?

Anyone tried Automotive grade paint like Nasson or something thinned out applied with a roller?

Montanaman, never found out what the problem was, but "problem" is subjective so it's in the eye of the beholder. My biggest beef was that I couldn't get it to harden enough not to be able to put a slice in it with my fingernail, even after about 2 months, when I rolled it on. I know that fingernails aren't likely to be doing that in the real world, but it just bugged me since it's so unlike a regular car finish.

Spraying the rustoleum seemed to work well if the surface prep is good. I could still rip through the paint with my nail, but it took more effort and probably had to do with surface prep too.

I ran into some weird results the last couple coats of rustoleum i put on the roof, it came out dull looking. And this was put on thicker than my normal coats since I was anxious to get all the red covered up. It came out without orange peel, but really dull.



So I was/am at the point that I want to see if I can get something with better gloss, and with better hardness. Brightside is a better quality paint than rustoleum, with teflon and some UV additives for color retention, so I figured it's worth a shot since the other guys, and plenty of boaters, are having good luck with it.



I'll post pics as I go..

Well, I have been doing lots of reading and research trying to find a good "orange" and in so doing have come across some info akin to what I think Marq discovered.

Whereas Marq looked to the marine world, I turned to the world of tractors, because I am after an Allis Chalmers orange.

In so doing they have YEARS of experience painting and restoring tractors.

Here is the skinny, no real surprise just more refinements/things to consider.

First, EXIT it appears that Rustoleum can get rock hard in curing after as much as six months according to some, however it still maintains some softness. Apparently this is intentional to help in instances that have been noted here, including charger, of things falling/banging/hitting the paint and not damaging it. However the soft properties would validate your discoveries of a nail or "slicing" type of motion being able to mar/chip the paint.

Another thing, and I don't remember if this has been discussed, but Rustoleum utilizes fish-oil in its mixture-- this is what they use as a rust-preventitive agent. Found a post as recently as Aug '06 where Rustoleum was called, and even though it is not listed on the cans, fish-oil is still used. Consequently from their experiences they recommend only using rustoleum over rustoleum... some have had short term success but many others have experienced adhesion issues/etc. At this point some of chuckthompsons (?) claims start to appear more plausible as the tractor guys have history with alkyd enamels and rustoleum.

In regards to all alkyd enamels, not all are created equal, and according to research if they are stored outside for long periods of time they will all fade/discolor (I am talking to those, like myself, whose vehicles NEVER see a garage). However, some last quite a long time.

Nevertheless there are some industrial/farm implement enamels that a hardener can be used and definitely increases gloss, fade resistance, and "slicing" resistance. There are also favourable reports of brushing on enamels with hardener.

Most recommend not doing it on sheet metal because of brush marks, although they do note that slow dry times (w/o hardener) allows for quite a bit of self-leveling. This encourages me to think that combined with application methods outlined here that rolling an enamel with hardener is possible.

In regards to hardeners though, most agree to utilize recommended hardeners. There has been some mention of Valspar hardener with Rustoleum with some positive results, but there seems to be a split on whether this is a good thing- those against say if rustoleum could use a hardener they would recommend and/or market one too.

Nevertheless if rustoleum isn't seen as great as an alternative there are a number of industrial/implement/tractor enamels out there with quite a range of colors that have recommended hardeners, and the price per qt/gallon is comparable to rustoleum still, with hardener running an extra $13-$18.

Most recommed staying away from Tractor Supply Company and Quality Farm & Fleet house brand enamels though, as they seem to be on the lower end of the quality scale.

Krylon Iron Guard was recommende often and seems to be a potential paint agent for us.

Lastly there does seem to be an agreed upon pecking-order for glossiness factor- alkyd enamels, acrylic enamels, acrylic urethanes, bc/cc.

However there is some consensus that an enamel with hardener has produced results equal to and superior to urethanes w/o hardener and approaching bc/cc shine characteristics.

Sorry for the long post, and I will probably remember/discover more, but I just wanted to try and contribute the information I have found to this collaborative effort Charger created since I have received so much from it already myself.

Some more food for thought...

HEY Folks... I am not sure if some one else had found this web site yet, But here is yet another Marine Paint Specialist - Blue Water. They seem to have some bright colors including Orange .... I have seem to found some more blues for myself ...

http://store.nationalpaintsupply.net/blwapoto.html

I just rolled on my first coat of brightside onto the driver's fender. I thinned it very very slightly with mineral spirits. At first, I got millions of bubbles, that could not be blown out. Going over the surface lightly with the roller knocked down most of them, then after I had put paint on the whole fender, I went back over everything semi-firmly to even things out. Dog hair fell into the paint on a few occasions and it was much tougher to get it out than using thin rustoleum.

As the pic shows, there is lots of texture to the paint as it sits now. I'll wetsand it before going any further (if it dries with this texture). I would like to avoid orange peel altogether, but unless the paint is thinned more it seems like a challenge. I can try increasing the mineral spirits on my next run, but I'm afraid that will lead to more bubbles.

To Marq or others who have experience with auto painting--after my first coat of Brightside on my Jeep, it felt real smooth. After the second coat, I felt and saw these little, bitty specks that I figured were bubbles that I just overlooked and did not brush out. So, yesterday I did my third coat, and it seems that those specks are on there again. I am pretty confident that they are not bubbles. So, what are they? My guess would be dust particles, or something else from the ambient conditions? What do you guys think, and what do I do to avoid them? My garage really is not very clean, and wetting the floor is not doable. My guess is that I am stuck with them. If I do not sand until after the final coat (when I would use that ultra fine grit paste or whatever), will I be okay?

Thanks.