But don't get me wrong there is orange peel and one or two runs but I'm pleased.. I have a few roller marks too.. I didn't have a polisher all I have is a regular ole car waxer from walmart I figured it wouldn't be able to get the scratch marks out of 1500 or 2000 grit sand paper but if you got any advice I could use please give it to me..

Thanks

Here is a few but you can't really tell that it's scratched up and chipping and had a few bad dents with a new primer hood... The color is Rusteolum Blue with just a little bit of black mixed in... I was going for a darker blue but didn't have enough black I guess to make it work.. But I like the color I came out with.. Will a little walmart car waxer get the 2000 grit sand paper marks out of the paint job with the right polishing compound??

A cheap buffer from Walmart probably wont have the punch to get your swirls and scrapes out. What kind of RPM do they offer, do you know? If you really want an outstanding job, a Porter Cable is really the key, however they are expensive. Here is what my fender looked like after compound, polish and wax with a porter cable.

hey, so i've just finished my paint job so i thought i'd show off the results!
For your unedumacated information she is a '71 Ford Falcon. the GT version of this model is the most popular and in highest demand classic car in australia, it was the fastest four door in the world in its day. though myne isn't a GT (thankfully) i went with some GT themed stripes and boot blackouts.
here is a before


and of course here is after

more...

so now you've seen what i've done i'll tell you about how this all came about.
i'm yet another student at university who can't afford to pay someone to paint their car, but i love my car and i hate to see it detiorate, with rust taking hold and generally looking her worst.
so i'm very thankful to all of you for giving such detailed and reassuring information that persuaded me to try this.

So anyway i live in australia so we don't have tremclad or rustoleum, but some very common paints we have are two competing products, one called kill rust and one called rust guard. i decided to go with rust guard, just because i like it, have used it before and it seems to work well and holding back rust, and i also had some primer of the same brand already!

now rust guard is slightly different to rustoleum/tremclad because along with alkyd resins (30-60%) it contains epoxy esters (0-10%). i wasn't sure how much this would affect the useability of this paint so i did a test piece on an old toolbox that was rusty and badly pitted, so i thought if i could make this look good i could make anything look good! it turned out amazing so i gave it a crack on the whole car.
it was probably too small of a test piece but i just rolled with the punches and worked it out as i went along.

Another difference in this method in australia is we don't have anything called mineral spirits, but the equivalent here is what we call white spirits, and nobody uses it to thin paint!, though the paint already contains it!
the paint also contains what we call mineral turpentine which is a turpentine substitute. this is what is recommended on the tin, and what worked alright though i think it could definitely level a little better.

i should also note that we do have brightside here yes but it seemed expensive and a little harder to use as far as prep and possible fish eyes etc. and rust guard was cheap, im poor, easy decision really.

so i layed the paint on, which i thinned with penetrol, about 1L of penetrol lasted 2.5-3 litres (litres are about 101% of a quart) of paint so i guess about a 1:2 mixture. this thinned the paint a lot, and when i added any turps to the mix it got way too thin, ran and bubbled like crazy which scared the crap out of me on my first coat.

after resolving that issue the following coats layed on very nicely, with some buildup of orange peel which took hours on end to sand out. it took me 7 coats to get good coverage, then i layed down an eighth coat for luck, though i could've done more but i needed to get it on the road so i could see family for christmas.

i spray canned the stripes and other black features and learnt a valuable lesson about the tenacity of overspray! she looks pretty good atm without a final high grit sand, but i think i will skip this and just work the paint with a slightly harsher swirl remover to even her out a little once the paint has cured. atm it is about a 4-6ft paint job but should be able to bring her to a respectable level once i get around to the aforementioned compounding.

this took me about a month and a half to complete, including the prep work which involved removing the vinyl roof and welding up the door strip mount holes. the prep work definitely took the most time to get it right, but the glossiness of the paint highlighted areas i had not even been able to feel or see before. i also had to wait for rainy spells to end etc. so it ran on a little longer than expected.

i reckon you yanks and canandians have got it good, because your paint was cheap but this stuff, which is the cheapest i could find was $33 a litre (~quart) and i used more than three litres, plus about a litre and a half of penetrol at about $40 so including all materials and equipment my paint job set me back around $200. also the penetrol seemed to make the paint a lot more glossy than it is on its own! a good point to note.

good on ya if you managed to read my whole post, i hope it will help someone. feel free to ask away if i could give any help.

col

I was wondering if anyone could tell me if my mixture looks about right: Its about a 50/50 mixture of Rust-Oleum Gloss Black, and paint thinner(its probably about 40/60 with more thinner). Youtube Video

I painted inside where my hood louvers go to see how it will turn out, using the foam brushes, not the rollers. So far it looks good and was wondering if I should paint the hood by using just the foam brushes, and not the rollers?

thanks dude! im stoked it came out good, i didn't really like the grandma look either!
yeah the bar is for 'roos, they're real bad around here, they have a knack for timing their jumps just right so you hit them at high speed!

Here's the Almond and Satin Black combo, after the 4th coat. It's about 50 degrees here, and I'm finding the rolling easier in the cool weather, doesent set as fast so you can really smooth it out.

I tried the roller paint method. It's too much work, and I am not very good at it, so I'm selling my stuff cheap for anyone else who wants to try this adventure.

3.75 quarts 'Sail Blue' Professional Rustoleum
3 quarts 'Gloss White' Professional Rustoleum
4" roller + 7 high density foam refills
12 1" foam brushes
1 brand new paint tray for 4" or 6" rollers

$50 or best offer for the whole lot, and I won't even charge full price for shipping. It's worth it for the paint alone. Free pickup if you're in San Diego.

I tried to sell this stuff before on the forum, but I screwed up my email server so I didn't get any of the responses, oops.

Email paint001@indolence.net if you desire any of these things.

Well ... I've been reading this threads for 4 straight days now ... right from the beginning of the original thread. That's a lot of reading and quite frankly I'm a bit overwhelmed with all the info. I'm very excited to try this method on my car during the Christmas break. I want as high gloss as possible. Here are some of my questions hopefully Marq and others can help steer me in the right direction.

1) Marine Paint. Do I have to mix Marine Paint with Mineral Spirits? I live in Vancouver so I prefer Marine Top Side Paint. "Exit" has a separate website detailing the technique. On his website it implies that mixing MS with Brightside is the prescribed method. However on this thread ... many have used Brightside without mixing MS. I intend to mix Brightside with 20% MS ... any thoughts?

2) Home Depot sells a CIL Marine paint. It is about the same price as Tremclad for a gallon. Can I use the CIL Marine paint? It looks to be very similar to Brightside except at 1/4 of the price. Here's what CIL's website saids about this product:

http://www.cil.ca/en/brands_professional.html

CIL Professional Marine Enamel
Is a top quality oil based high gloss enamel designed for use on metal and wood. Marine quality, the high gloss finish is perfect for use where maximum durability and protection from the elements is required. Available in a wide range of popular ready mixed colours, or it can be tinted to thousands of CIL colours. Meets CGSB specification #1GP59.

I'm thinking of using a test panel and try both the Brightside vs CIL Marine. Can anyone suggest what's the best way to test the 2 paints?

3) Metallic Paint. I know it is not advised. But has anyone tried using the Tremclad Aluminum and then a Clear Coat, then wetsand? I know it was talked about way back in the original tread ... but has anyone tried it? I think I'm going to try this method on the test panel as well. Any suggestions?

4) Tremclad Clear Coat. Did anyone try this? Does it work? If using clear coat, will it reduce the amount of sanding? Will the procedure need to be changed with use of Clear Coat? Coat, Wetsand, Coat, Wetsand, Coat ... then Clear Coat? Do I have to Wetsand before the Clear Coat? My test panel is getting big ... but it looks like I'll be trying this too.

5) Spray. I've read in recent posts that some have had success using a cheap Black & Decker Sprayer. Sounds like a great idea ... especially if I'm going to use clear coat. Any suggestions? I currently don't have a sprayer, but have been wanting to buy a air compressor for a long time. If I get a air compressor ... I'll pick up a spray nozzle as well. Any suggestion on what I should look for in a air compressor and a nozzle? I think I'll need to get 2 test panels.

Thanks so much for your help.

i'm stuck without any 110 electric, in the middle of the sonoran desert, but need to put on some high build, polyester primer before rolling on the rustoleum -- the old finsh is aged, crazed(sounds like me!) lacquer, so cant go straight to topcoat, can't use a thin primer, got to fill in the crazing -- has anyone tried rolling on "slick sand", or any other high build polester primer? -- thanks, roky

Hey,
I love all of the info, thanks so much for taking the time to share and answer so many questions. Please forgive me if this is a repeat question... I'm wondering if anyone has used this technique to paint a car flat black. I started today on my 66 barracuda and results are decent for my first coat. I guess my real question is, when I am done with my flat paint can I wet sand fine or is there some kind of rubbing compound that will give it the same smooth finish as a gloss only in matte? And is there a way to maintain the velvety finish and combat tiny scratches? Thanks for the help. -MICHAEL

I've had some great success with roller paint and rustoleum on my antique cars ('49 Dodge Truck and '43 Ford Army Jeep). Here's my question:
I have a 1990 Jeep Grand Wagoneer with peeling clearcoat. They all did it. The paint is a sand metallic. Is there anyway to get the clear coat off and save the paint? I know I can't roll metallic paint. The vehicle is in great shape but the clear coat makes it look worthless. I know rustoleum makes a clear that I can get through Grainger. I just don't know if I can get the clearcoat off without messing up the paint.
HELP PLEASE!!!!

A couple of months ago a buddy told me about this thread. I was working on restoring a 67 chevelle malibu for my 16yr old daughter. Knowing that a 16yr old would be driving this car I declined the $3000.00 paint job for the $ 57.00 version and even tried it in black! After 5 days of labor, it looks great. I will post some pictures if I can figure out how to do it.