http://www.rickwrench.com/50dollarpaint.html

ok im going to do this to my camaro for the winter so that nothing rusts and i have more time to afford a nice nice paint job. I was wondering if i could use like duplicolors paint shop paint or if there is any other paint i can use with a wider variety of colors and thats gonna be a little bit nicer. Also if i can do you still use the mineral spirits to thin it out and roll it on or what.

 

This same question came up in moparts thread about the duplicolor being rolled. I guess the paint is already thinned but I don't know how much. Also from what I understand is that this paint really starts to shine when hit with a clear coat, I don't think it is possible to roll the clear coat. I would try brightside.

 

Thats the first time I've seen that. I think the idea of rolling the paint on is hillarious but the outcome was awesome.

 

Wait until the low grade rustoleum enamel fades, after all those hours spent polishing and rolling. Sorry but my time is worth $$$$ too.

The duplicolor is lacquer and is meant to be sprayed (it is not a good quality auto body paint though)

If you really are just trying to prevent rust over bare metal, the right way to do it is to spray some real auto body 2k epoxy primer, which is waterproof. If you already have rust, that's a different story.

 

I'd still like to talk you out of this. You plan to paint it right later, youre probably just going to have to pay someone more to fix the **** that's on it.

 

I did something similar with my pickup...except i didnt roll i sprayed rustoleum. Heres my story. I was looking for sort of a flat/powder baby blue to spray my truck for a different/clean look. I knew if i went into a parts store asking them to mix me flat baby blue paint i probably would have been laughed at. So, i thought i'd go out on a ledge and try using the cheap spray gun that came with my air compressor and was meant for spraying like fences and stuff. So, i bought some rustoleum royal blue gloss (they dont sell baby blue by the quart), aluminum paint (for metal flake), and white gloss. Well, i used my own ratio for the different parts but about half of the mixture was paint and half was odorless mineral spirits. When all was said and done (i sprayed outside) i spent around $20-$30 including materials (make due with what you have). I didnt need to use much paint (about a quart) to cover since the truck was already baby blue it was just different colors (thats another story). The paint was also very thin. It came out exactly how i wanted and i get compliments on how the truck is very clean looking all the time. Keep in mind this was all done within a week including sanding and masking, all after work.

 

Also, just something to think about. I would always say that i would take it to have it painted nice eventually too, but i could never feel right about putting a 3000 dollar paint job on a vehicle that will be worth 2-3000 after the paint. Just something to keep in mind. I dont know what you have, but if you plan on selling it anytime youll never get the money back for paint. If you want a cheap spray gun, just look around you can get one for about $20 and see if you can borrow a compressor that can put out 40psi constant. It will come out MUCH smoother, and you wont have bubbles...

 

My time is worth WAY to much money to even work on my car.


Go for the rustoleum if you don't have the money right now for a real "pro" paint job, my rustoleum project has sat outside for almost a month now in the wind/rain/sun/heat/cold (New England weather changes VERY fast lol) and hasn't lost ANY shine, and I haven't even wet sanded or buffed it out yet.

 

91chevywt, how long ago did you paint that truck? How is it holding up?

The fact is that rustolium is just an enamel paint, like they used to use on some cars before urethanes became popular, and at the time much more durable then the lacquers used on cars OEM like the lacquer that our cars got from the factory.

I haven’t done it on a car, but I do intend to do it as a stop gap between working on bits of body work and other projects on my project to protect it from rusting till I do. I do have spraying equipment and some experience painting cars (and other stuff) with it, so I intend to use that. Also, in preparation for the project every small thing that I’ve done recently that needed paint I went out and got a small container or rustolium or ace hardware’s store version and tinkered with the gun and the paint. The latest was an engine crane that I modified that I used some of the ace hardware enamel on.

FWIW, both spray VERY well when thinned. Thinning is easy with mineral sprits, not quite so easy with acetone (it doesn’t tend to want to stay mixed so you have to work a little faster to get an even color coat). Mineral spirits slows down the drying, acetone speeds it up. For example, from experience, normal enamel will take _days_ to dry with temps in the 40’s-50’s (pretty much anything under 65, I think that the minimum recommended spraying temp for most of the colors is 65 or 70), but if you thin it with straight acetone it dries quickly even in cool temps. I believe that it was between 45 and 55* when I sprayed the engine crane (it was at night after I got home from work about a week ago, it was quickly getting colder and more humid), so I mixed it with acetone and even with the cool temps it was dry enough to pick up by the freshly painted surface without leaving any marks inside of an hour.

I’m debating if I’m going to try rustolium’s dark red shade (if it’s close to the lable, it’s pretty close to the original color of my TA minus the metal flake) or if I’ll just use the semi-gloss black (parts of the car are already that color so it wouldn’t stick out that bad). If I do the red and it looks OK I may decide to buy some metal flake and mix it with it to do the final color coat on the car.

 

Comparing fish oil based Rustoleum in $7 cans to a high grade enamel like Dupont Centari (used by OE automotive manufacturers like Chrysler in the 60s-70s) is really stretching. There is really no comparison between older OE acrylic enamel, and hardware store paint. Believe what you like.

 

Fish oil eh? Hmm, that explains the smell then eh?
I can't say that i've seen Rustoleum discolor from sunlight as easily as people think. I think its more durable that some give it credit for. We'll see, I bought the gallon for my car already

 

So i painted about 6 months ago and the paint is as good as the week after it was painted. I'd be happy to get 2 years out of it w/out any visible signs of wear. I can always just spray it again it takes like 10-15 hrs of work if you take your time and start with a good base. Also...im not really sure but i wouldnt recommend normal "car care" products on this finish i just have a bad feeling. Oh and i wouldnt recommend pressure washing it either. You kinda have to treat it like old paint

 

Um, assuming Centari fleet/oem: I wouldn’t be surprised if they had slightly better QC, but the fact is that the same hardners and reducers work for both Centari and Rustolium (and I believe that ace hardware store brand stuff is the same, they even have some identical color mixes), and Centari even has instructions for use without mixing with any additional products like most people use the canned rustolium. I’d bet that chemically they’re very similar.

One thing is for sure, the canned rustolium acrylic enamel is MUCH better than the rattle can stuff, and I have to say that the worst thing about their rattle cans is the rattle can, the paint can be decent.

I do wonder why the rustolium cans carry warnings about not for use on automobiles, roofs and whole house painting, but _I’d bet_ that it’s because those are specialized applications that have environmental/voc guidelines that rustolium gets around buy selling product that will be used in smaller quantities.

Huh,I wonder if part of this might be the mix of paints and possibly the consistency you got with your spray gun. I can tell you that the engine crane that I experimented on I both waxed with an automotive wax and also pressure washed with no problem and no effect on the finish (well, it was shinier when it was done) and none of the cars that I’ve seen done with the stuff (online or locally, long story), show any tendency toward fading, pealing…, at least they’re better then ‘80’s and early 90’s OEM paints.

 

I did thin the paint a lot, and also I sprayed 3 fairly thin coats. Its a truck so I can get away with it being dirty and not shiny. So i try to be gentle to the paint. I have gotten a few chips on the edge of the door cuz my door opened into a fence...long story, but it seemed to chip fairly easy so im guessing the adhesion isnt the same as better paints. Also, i noticed that i had a block of good paint dry and a block of rustoleum dry and the rustoleum dried to a hard block, while the good paint dried almost to a rubbery block. But its purely a budget thing so use your judgement. I'm not saying you should paint a flawless IROC camaro or a notchback T/A with the rustoleum and take it to a show. But if your not willing to invest in a good spray hit your 2.8 firebird daily driver with some rustoleum if the paint looks like @$$ and make it look better

 

I'd bet that 99.9% of people couldn't tell a good job done with rustolium from a good job done with good automotive paint unless they recognized your selection of color.

 

Exactly! Only the colors that are distinctly noticed as "housepaint colors" would be obvious.

 

ok thanks for all the answers. Ya i think what im going to do is get it professionally sanded and primered and have them fix the few rust spots i have then ill go ahead and paint that to how i want... at least till i have a couple grand to throw down and get it painted. Thanks ALL!!!

 

That cheap paint thread from the Mopar board is probably my favorite thread ever. It's been split twice and is now over a hundred pages long!

Despite all the naysayers, there are some people on there who have achieved SPECTACULAR results. The guy with the Corvair even shows that one year later, despite not having waxed his car, the paint is as shiny as when he applied it. That speaks to the durability of the method, I would say.

I'm more tempted to try it than ever. It's cheap, can yield excellent results, and poses no threat to your lungs.

 

I did the el cheapo rustoleum paint job on my 79 nova 4 door. Every car guy that sees it is amazed with the results, then I tell them how I did it and they say I'm full of sh!7, but that could be the people I talk to. I used lots of sand paper and rattle can primer and about 2 quarts of rustoleum and thinned them 50/50 with acetone.

 

FYI, Hot rods "Paint and body" offshoot magazine did an article about this in their winter 2007 issue. It's got a picture of a '57ish Chevy with flames on the front, and a hot girl with matching flames painted on her body

They call it a "$98 paint job". Page 29.

 

Thats what gave me the inspiration to use rustoleum on my pickup. It seemed like it would take forever to wet sand all the bubbles from brushing inbetween the like 7 coats that are necessary. Thats what made me want to try spraying it. Good article though

 

83 Crossfire TA, did you decide to go ahead and paint your car the dark red? Ever since I was quoted $4500+ to paint my Iroc, I started looking back into this type of painting. Only problem is I cant find a color close to maroon. Anybody know any?

The dark red your talking about, is it called regal red? Any one have any pictures of this color on a car? I'm working on a sample to see what it will look like after wet sanding and polishing, but haven't finished yet. For now though I'm just going to paint the hood of the Iroc black, as thats the only eye sore.

 

Rich, no, maybe, yes, no and yes

My TA is the dark metallic red color that is probably the most common color used on the similar year Iroc’s, which amazingly I haven’t found a common touch up paint (duplicolor…) that matches. Yes, I am talking about the regal red, I have bought a quart, but I haven’t sprayed it on anything to know how close it is yet.

For right now at least, I don’t intend to spray the whole car anyway, just bits that need to be covered up to keep from rotting away. If I can get the color close enough that you can’t tell from 50’ away or so I’ll be very happy, where if it’s just enough off that it clashes I’ll go back to some flat or semigloss black which will match some of what has already been done to the car and really doesn’t clash with the rest that badly.

I ran across some samples of the rustolium paints a while back and matched them up against some paint chips that I’ve been keeping in my wallet, and at least in the lighting that I was looking a them the color was identical with the exception of the metal flake. In bright sunlight the car does seem to have a little orangyness that I’m not seeing in the regal red, but was thinking that if I mixed a little gold metalflake with it, it would come really close…

Anyway, I have some other projects that I intend to paint to protect them that may just end up red just to experiment with this and have something that I can put next to the car and compare. In a perfect world that will happen in the next day or so since I’ve had the stuff built, welded, threaded and all the fittings to put it in service for over a week, just haven’t had time to do it. I wish that I could just get what I need covered, covered, but I can’t seem to make enough room in the garage and it’s been in the 40’s-50’s during the day and down to the 20’s at night since turkey day which is just too freaking cold.

 

Hear Rich, just for reference what color I’m talking about here’s an attached picture of the TA from the day after I dragged it home

 

Well, that won’t work… the stuff sprayed beautifully, thinned about 50% with acetone I was able to get a nice, wet final coat that flowed out nicely with no sags or runs on a round surface (if I was going to get runs it would have been there), and even in a garage only in the mid 50* range it dried quickly. I’m sure that I didn’t need to thin it as much to spray it, and it probably would have wet out better, but with previous experience with trying to get the stuff to dry at cooler temps and the good experience with using acetone…

The problem: the color is just wrong, not only too dark or light, but the wrong tone… the closest that I can describe it as is like the classic carousel red, it’s way to light and orangey to work, which is very surprising considering how close and dark it appears on their swatches.

For the time being, it looks like duplicolor’s Dark Toreador Metallic is about as close as I’m going to find that I can get easily and cheap (it’s available in the big, truck paint spray cans so you get 2x as much as the car ones for the same cost) since there doesn’t appear to be a match for the paint code.

To be honest even with some sort of temporary answer I’m quite disappointed. I really wish I found some cheapish synthetic enamel (or anything that sprays as well or better) considering how nice and easy it is to get a nice, smooth coat with good coverage with any spray gun (I tried 3 different ones in recent history). Spray guns make rattle cans look like a complete joke.
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maybe if I can get the car unburied (snow) some time during daylight I could try getting pictures to compare the colors.

 

Well I had some time to start working on my hood, and I'm pretty much done with painting my hood. Now I still need to polish it, but I think it came out pretty well. Its Rust-Oleum Gloss Black. I'll get some better pics when the weather clears up, probably not till Monday or Tuesday.

 

where do you get this Rust-Oleum Gloss Black? i never heard of it before.
is it fairly expensive? i primered my hood but now its rusting threw. so i would like to fix the surface rust and sand it down again and give it a quick spray. but i like the way the Rust-Oleum Gloss Black came out. looks good.
where can i pick me up one of em? did it coime in a spray can or a tin?

 

Since your in Canada, I believe its called TremClad. I got it at Lowe's and I think it cost about $8. I bought it in a tin can and rolled it on, but they have the spray can as well.

 

oh ok thanks. i think i heard of termclad here. im sure they have something like that at the local auto store. thanks ill take a look
rolling it on. how difficult was it to get it all nice and smooth?? did you use one of thos small foam rollers?? i never thiought of trying to rolling paint on a car before.

 

i was given a $5000+ quote for my paint job i want, and i picked my colour from a tremclad paint swatch! rich92 that looks GREAT, how many coats did you use and did you use those foam rollers? i can get the paint for 3 or 4 coats and some ready to spray clear coat for $100, a little better than 5000 for 2 coats

 

Yeah I used those High Density Foam Rollers. It took about 6-7 coats to get full coverage.

This link should be allot of help: http://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/...rt=&PHPSESSID=

 

rolling paint onto a car still seems bizarre to me, but hey i guess at 10 bucks a can its worth a shot. nice spray of clear on top will get it shining...

 

Rolled On - Affordable Paintjobs

 

This months hot rod paint and body special details the Rusto paint job. They cut some corners, and they say it shows (deadlines), but if you take your time and your 'Maro isn't your daily, it should turn out excellent.

 

Good job, most of those paint jobs ive seen have really bad orange peel. How many coats did you use?
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Why are you painting over a perfectly good paint job?

 

It's just like any other paint job. If you half a$$ your prep work, your entire paint job is going to look half a$$ed. If you take your time your going to have a good paint job.

 

=

 

I meant that question to be for "rich92 rs" His paint looks good

 

Thanks, I used 8 coats.

The rest of the cars paint is in pretty good condition, but the hood was a real eye sore for me.

Here some before pics:

 

Hmmmm very interesting, lol

 

question for rich,

what kind of polishing technique did you use?? it came out absolutley amazing!!!!!

 

I can't get over the visual image of rolling a paint on

 

So far Ive only used Menzerna Intesive Polish, applying with a PC.

 

Going to try something similar....

Have some vacation time coming up, and I'm planning on painting the Formula the very same Gloss Black as shown above. Only, I'm not using the "roller" method though, gonna use the Wagner 1800-psi paint gun that I normally use for the house's exterior....

-Rob

 

Has anyone tried the Duplicolor Paint shop finish system. Its uses a primer, paint and a clear coat that you spray on with a HVLP gun. Im thinking of trying it out on an old fender I have and see how it turns out. My budget for my car is running thin so Im looking for ways to save money on paint and body work.

 

the duplicolor stuff is just old school laquer, it should be pretty straight forward and laquer is fairly forgiving (easy to fix "issues") since it's relatively soft. Considering that I was able to figure out laquer on my own as a kid, I'd be suprised if anyone that has access to a decent gun couldn't do a decent job of it. I took a pretty good look at the stuff in the store and the instructions on the can pretty much cover everything unless you're going to be painting when it's super hot and humid.

I am suprised that they managed to do it now, after there have been so many restrictions to solvent based paints and everything else out there

 

I love how everyone that got quoted several thousand for the paint job didn't say anything about just buying the actual PPG or equivilant paint to do the job with. That in itself is not really that expensive, especially to the quality difference for the ammount of work it takes.

I'm not saying the jobs don't look good for what they are...but if your going to bother getting quoted for a paint job, you might as well buy the right paint if your going to do it yourself.

Now, if you're on a budget period, and just want some color on there then yeah, it's an awesome way to go.

 

Have you actually priced automotive paint products from an automotive paint supply?

I looked into it a few times. When I was in my teens I used to be able to go and get some custom mixed lacquer and spray a car for $30-$40 for a metallic. I priced supplies using the current urethanes about a year ago, and was at over $100 for just the epoxy primer/sealer, probably half that again for a high build primer and if I remember right, the cheapest stuff they carried was $56/quart for the metallic red that was the original color on my TA (you need probably a little over a gallon to properly paint a good size car) and then again as much for the reducer or whatever else you needed to mix it with and about 2/3 that for the clear.

I think if I remember right it came out to around $600 in just paint, primer and reducer/solvents for OK quality stuff. You can get “paint your car” packages online for a little less than half of that online, but they are usually missing something that you’ll really need, are just slightly too little material to finish or leave something else to be desired.

When I want some good epoxy primer I have a friend that owns a body shop that I give a call and just ask him to get some extra with his next order. The price he gets it at is less than I can, and he also gets a discount for larger quantities, and then I just give him a few bucks and we pour some off into some jars or something for what I need.

Rustolinum can be applied without a primer and enough materials to spray a whole car should run you less than $30 ($40 if you roll it), or roughly 1/10-1/20th of what “real automotive paint” would cost you.

 

I was simply saying, If you're even going to bother getting it quoted, and then buy stuff to do it yourself... you may as well spend the extra to get automotive quality paints if your gonna be using it for a while.

Like I said if it's just to get some color on it and to have it look ok for a few month, then cool.

I actually paint a metallic blue/white two tone 65 C10 pick up a few months ago, and it cost about 800 dollars for all mid-range stuff. And that is not bad at all if you are going to put the effort into doing the job in the first place.

 

Youre absolutely right

When I repainted my bird, I was trying to save some money by doing it myself after hearing the $1500-4000 quotes

After it was all said and done I had just over $500 in paint supplies not counting the dryers for the airlines or the gun or chem disposal
The $91/qt metallic paint was pretty steep
I used 2 gallons of filler primer, 5 qts of paint, 2 gallons of clear, 2 qts of hardener and 1 gallon of thinner