Hot Rods Does Rattle Can Spray Can Paint Suck...or is it just me???

I feel like you guys are all overthinking this? I just wipe bare metal down with lacquer thinner (no blasting, no sanding) and spray Rustoleum appliance paint (if white or black) or Krylon right onto the bare metal.
I have done this for 30 years on wheels, brackets, motors, tools, firewalls, and small parts and never had a problem with flaking or peeling or anything else. First give it a light coat to cover it all, then heavy coats until the color is good. That's it. I haven't used spray-can primer since the 1980s. If I'm spraying a light or bright color I'll actually hit the part with a coat of satin white first. Period.

 

One thing I find helps is to ease any sharp edges- Paint does not like sharp edges and if you ease them
slightly it helps maintain a consistent thickness to the paint layer.

 

If you are a professional painter, all spray bomb paint sucks.

If you are a rank ass backyard hot rod hack, the pray and spray, spray bomb is your best friend.....and I don't know what I would do without them.

 

I painted my Roadster with Rattle cans. Duplicolor Semi Gloss black.

 

yeah its not up to some of the body shop quality jobs that's for sure but its driver quality and if done right it does not look all that bad

 

Problem solved:

 

So it's not a steel ball bearing in there then? I've thought otherwise for the last 35 plus years....

 

Many of the older spray cans and some undercoat products had steel balls in them. Now they use industrial glass marbles.
Saw a funny post on here one winter. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/rattle-can-marbles.788053/
Was bored so I opened a couple of old cans and got hooked. Most are plain clear, green, blue or black but I have found some nicer colored ones that have imperfections in the glass. Size also can vary. Grandsons like to mix the different colors and shoot marbles.

 

How do you clean 'em up? Just wipe with a rag with a little thinner on it.

 

I like the $.99 rattle cans for my rat rod, I need something to cover up the holes in the street signs. I get the Patina color, so it matches my Mexican blanket seat covers,available at Wic-mart only ,spray my Two Lane Blacktop 55 and Jungle Pam always wants her picture taken by it.

 

You are a true artist. I love how you painted that radio in there. You're a tagger for your night job aren't you. LOL

dash looks good by the way.

 

Cheap paint is cheap paint. You can get a small air compressor and paint guns, I got a set of 3 spray guns for $89 and use the touch up gun a lot. Have seen little putt putt compressors for $100 or so. Or just brush paint if I don't want to clean the gun.

 

I'm doing the cut-in work for my '59 and had to expedite things a bit since the windshield was being installed on short notice. I had my quart of paint, but I was not ready to get that going, plus it was rainy and my garage is tight as it is. So my auto body supply place made me up a couple of rattle cans of the same paint. It went on very well over SEM primer. Did the cut-in around the windshield and it went on real nice.

 

Thanks beaner

The way I got that deep metallic look is by using purple see through chrome rattle can paint over silver. Then spraying rattle can clear over it. Since it doesn't have any hardener in it you just have to give it some time to dry before handling it. The more coats you put on the longer it takes the first coats to dry. A few days before handling and a few weeks before wax.
I spent a lot of time fitting and hinging the radio front. I hadn't figured out how to lock it into place when I first put it together. I discovered it just clipped under the speaker grill and no other locking device was needed.
By the way those are Lincoln gauges in the '48 Ford dash.

 

I actually have some cans of metal flake paint here that go on pretty nice. But that look is excellent, chrome over silver? its like a candy paint?

The Lincolnn gauges are a nice touch too.

You actually hit the nail on the head about waiting for the paint to gas out. For some reason rattle can paint take a while and it is not for someone who is impatient. The dash on my Willys took a good month to get hard, of course it had several wet coats and that is part of it.

 

I have found that I have to set the can down and walk away between coats or I will rush it and spray before it is ready.
You just have to figure out what works for you.

 

A friend painted his replacement C3 Corvette diff cover ( with integral spring mount ) using Rustoleum engine enamel. Preheated to ~ too hot to touch with my propane jet heater.
He got compliments, and even questioned if it was powder coated.

Post 21 and thereabouts.
http://www.digitalcorvettes.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1950998

An hour or so Once parts cool from 140 or so most paint is pretty hard. Way harder than weeks of air curing.

 

Yep you are absolutely correct you have to determine how long it takes for the paint to flash. I smoke not proud or ashamed of it I just do. I figured out on wet coat with the urethane rustolium that walk away and smoke a cigarette was perfect.

 

Old-school lacquers would flash in like 5 minutes as long as the humidity was down. The rattle can acrylic urethane I just used was maybe 10 minutes between coats.

 

It varies and you just have to learn how to tell. Painting is an art of sorts or maybe a talent is a better word, anyone can learn the basics but not everyone is a "painter".

 

For smaller stuff, try some of the Hobby Lacquers. Tamiya is an excellent paint, and it sprays smoothly and dries fairly quickly. Testors has some bright metal flakes, and several automotive colors in lacquer. The only downside is cost. The cans are small, and the Testors runs six bucks or more per can.

Don't confuse this with the Testors enamels. They take forever to dry, and spray like pudding going through perfume atomizer. Bill Hannan in his book "Peanut Power" reminded us that Testors enamels never really dry, they just eventually pick up enough dust so that they don't feel tacky anymore.

 

Dave I actually did the dash in my '48 Plymouth in testers Lacquer. It is pretty paint but really fragile. I wish I had sprayed clear urethane over it before I installed. Anything chips it easily and it doesn't wax well.

 

Yeah, the Testors enamels are awful and have been for decades. The new metallic are good. Also try the House of Kolor "Liquid Gold" line. These are lacquers and spray very well. Pricey too, think I was laying out $10-11 the last time I got some.

 

i think the problem is you should let the primer dry completely. spraying paint over primer that is still sticky will trap solvents. the solvents soak to the metal and lift the primer.
let the primer cure, spray the paint and let us know if you have the same problem.

 

Have you seen the new Mad Max movie yet? He's shiny like chrome for Valhalla!

 

Krylon / heat lamp works very well

 

I'm Done with most spray cans for car use. About the only thing I use is UPOL weld thru primer.
I got a small harbor freight detail hvlp, couple quarts of different color rustoleum, acetone, and some hardener. It only takes a few minutes to mix the paint and put on a respirator. I have gun cleanup down to less than 5 min. Also have some cheap auto enamel and thinner. Both of these are superior to rattle can, if I've taken the time to prep the part, what's another 15 min to mix, spray, cleanup to use a better paint. I find myself batching parts now.
$10 gun, $6 rustoleum, $6 acetone, $15 hardener, it goes a long way. The gun and hardener last multiple quarts of paint. A regulator on the gun and you can use a pancake compressor, you're not shooting a whole car So the air volume needs are lower.

All that said, I still won't use rustoleum as a topcoat for body panels, there are so many inexpensive auto enamels available. Mix in some clear on the last coat or 2 and its decent paint. Decent meaning better than rattle can and rustoleum. For chassis on a driver, rustoleum or tractor enamel works just fine.

 

Indy, Where and whom sells the hardener for rustoleum?. I've used quart cans of rustoleum in the past and the stuff is oil based and takes like a week to harden. Even when I leave it out in the sun in the summer.

 

I seldom huff but when I do I huff gold.

I have actually been giving this whole subject some thought and it has come to my attention that rattle can paint does not suck it blows.

 

I did this with all spray cans.....



Just don't ask me the specific techniques I used......