I was going to shoot a can of Rustoleum gray primer on the hood today but have read mixed reviews on the forum. Is this a bad idea? I had planned on sanding and prepping first. Any other recommendation?
depends what your plans are for the car. Just beware that if you want to paint the car with real automotive paint some day, you'll probably need to remove the rattle can primer and start from bare metal with automotive paint products. I'd use a urethane primer if I were doing it
I have used it before and had great results. I'm sure the true painters here will tell you otherwise but I don't mind using it at all..... Just my 2 cents......
I don't think my current budget will allow me to have the entire car professionally painted. I am sure it would cost 5-8K??? I was planning on using this as a rat rod for a few years until I have the money for paint.
If you do the prep work yourself, you can get your car professionally painted for a lot less than that. But if you don't know how to do it yet...there is a pretty steep learning curve.
That car is not a rat rod! I can't believe how many people think that just because the paint ain't all shiny and pretty that it must be called a rat rod.
OK first off NEVER USE THAT WORK ON THIS FORM EVER !!!!! Now back to your concerns , I personally don't like that product at all . I like the rattle cans of Krylon much better . That's just me but have been using it for a long time on engines and panels . If that's all you can afford then that's fine . It's your car , right ? Yes not everyone can afford a really nice paint job but just because you are using a rattle can or just having the car in primmer doesn't mean it's the TERM you used ! there is nothing wrong with a rattle can paint job if you are OK with that . I saw many yesterday at the jalopy Showdown ! If paint cost is an issue , you have get some nice looking colors of paint in single stage from many different places that will cost you a little over $120 . If you have a small compressor and a cheapo HF spray gun you can shoot a car down with decent primmer for a lot less than you think . If you are using rattle cans then painting later , then you will probably have to sand it back off unless you are using the same brand of paint to do your car in . Still spray a car in primmer is cheaper than doing it with a rattle can ! Just do with what you have and can afford ! If you are happy with the results then who really cares what someone else thinks , right ? Retro Jim
If you have to use a rattlecan go to a paint supplier and get one with a good quality paint in it. SEM makes a good acid etch primer that can be topcoated.
Save money and buy a cheap gun, practice with water until you figure out how to use the gun and then save up for paint. I bought some cheap epoxy primer and single stage for my truck... I have used a lot of rattle cans in my short life and they are almost as expensive as the real deal.
Rustoleum is OK for its intended application. In your case there is the danger of lifting or failing if you paint over it with another paint. If you don't have spray equipment you can apply automotive primer with a roller. This is way cheaper than spray cans. By the way primer is porous and will not keep off rust. It will be OK if you are in a dry climate and store the part indoors. Otherwise you should seal it with a better paint. (I think Rustoleum primer will seal the surface but regular body shop primer surfacer will not)
I guess some types of primer are better than others? I drove my car in Uro (dupont urethane primer) for 13 years, no rust appeared on it any where. I took it up north a few times, and it got parked outside for a while too. the primer chalked some, but that's all. It was bare metal under the primer.
i have never used rustoleum products, but i did used krylon primer in a spray bomb on a custom bike frame we were building. our primer gun layed down one nite so i shot the whole damn frame with a few cans of krylon and wet sanded that and shot my color on it with our finish gun. damned if it didnt turn out great and we kept that bike for 4 yrs and it was still lookin good when we let her go lol. suprised the hell out of me.
Thanks for all of the advice. Sorry for the rat rod comment! My ultimate goal is to have this car looking shiny and new (original). I will be visiting some paint shops tomorrow to get some estimates. I am trying to learn patience with this new hobby but it is hard when you want it on the road now.
I am the king of Rustoleum. If I was gonna use it I would sand everything real good and then wash the car real good with simple green or dish soap & water. Carwash soap has silicon in it so you don't want that. Then, use a gun and spray it right. If you thin it 4 to 1 with acetone or naphtha it sprays easy. You can borrow a small compressor and cheap guns are everywhere these days. Mix it up good and practice on a scrap of cardboard or something. Read the directions for the gun and it's easy to figure out. For what it cost to rattle can a whole car you could buy a gun and a cheap compressor of Craigslist. Plus the result is a thousand times better and there is no striping if you practice a bit first. Also, if you want to mix a little paint in with the primer it will seal great. Just keep the ratio the same so all the panels will match. Rattle cans really only work good for small projects. I painted my entire 32 ford chassis with black satin Rustoleum this way and it looks like powder coat.
As stated already, painting quality 1 or 2 stage paint directly over rattle can primer can cause bubbling/delamination between layers. Rattle can primer is fine, you just have to strip it, completely, before laying down final primer/sealer and paint.
I say yes for small parts. I work in a body shop as a body and frame tech. Trust me all the newer urethane materials are f****** expensive ! I won't even use them sometimes just because of the prices. And only going up, just like gas. Here's an example I just did on my 58 Chevy tubs. Used a cheap aerosol etch primer, did my bodywork . Primed with rustolem rusty metal red( though a spray gun. Then based and cleared. No problems at all! Sent from my iPhone using TJJ app
You would have to seal the rustoleum with paint. I use Eastwood epoxy primer, a $99.00 kit gives you 2 gallons sprayable/rollable. That's enough to do your car a couple times.. You could wet sand for a smoother finish.
If you've never experienced priming your car with spray cans you're missing out. You'll learn all about lack of coverage and finger fatigue.
Jim i'm with you the word "rat rod" is used abit to extensively, the sad part is a guy works hard on his car, then primers it, because he can't paint it at this point in time,or whatever,It is car thats being finished and in the unfinished class at any car shows. This sounds a whole lot better to me than RAT rod as usuall just my opinion. bob s PS-I'm one of the older crowd that beat his brains and body out, to show the public how good a job he has done. They throw these r## r##s together and only a 50lb kid thats 2' tall can get in them. And i have seen some i wouldn't ride around the block in. [safety reasons]
YES------!! Back in the dark ages, early 60's, I restored a 1926 Model T touring to original. I was into customizing and restoring my own junk. Worked at a factory where they used Rustolium to seal many things. Couldn't buy it locally. Bought a gallon from the work crib. My T touring had no paint. It came from Lincoln, Nebraska and had been sitting since new in a field as a stationary engine. Water does strange things to an engine block in the winter. After getting the body decent, I sanded the best I could. It had small pits all over the rusty metal. Painted it with a brush with the red Rustolium. Let dry and repeated till the small pits were smoothed out. After finishing the T I put an enamal sealcoat on and sprayed it with a single stage cheap black enamal using a Sears cheap gun and compressor. Remember, I was restoring that T. My paint job came out better than factory. Ya ever see how they painted Model T Fords? The T is somewhere in Florida in a museum with the same black paint on it. I painted a 1950 Buick fastback for around $25 with NAPA discontinued Fleet black in the 70's. I've painted lots of other small parts with Rustolium with good luck, Prefer Krylon now for the smoother finish and faster dry time. On a car rattlecans are not practical except for priming. On small parts or bikes there is less chance of overlap marks. You don't have to spend thousands of dollars on a decent paint job. I painted my 55 Chevy wagon sometime in 1988-89 with Acrilic Urethane and it still looks decent. It will never win in a big car show but it's a driver. It has been later striped and clear coated with a metalflake added. The point is a driver does not have to have a paint job that costs more than the car is worth. Sandpaper, thinner, and a buffer are your friend. Anyone can spray paint a car. Even the pros had to start somewhere.
Don't get me wrong . I use rattles cans a lot for a quick way to cover metal up so it doesn't rust again . But I end up sanding it off again down the road . I use rattle cans all the time when doing engine work and works really great . I use rattle cans of Krylon Satin flat black in the engine bay and turned out better than I thought it would . I have no problems with rattle cans as we have all used them many time . What I just can't stand or should I say HATE when people use the "R" word just because a car/truck is painted in primmer ! Most of the time it's a Flat Paint that was used anyway and not primmer ! Still a guy or gal can only afford what they can pay for so when it comes to a good paint job , well that's on the very bottom of my list ! All I want it a good dependably Hotrod that is safe ! After that I will worry about a paint job someday . I DON'T have to get a Fancy High$$$$ paint job to drive my car and enjoy the good times at shows or a cruise with ! If you can afford it , fine but I can't ! I am going to paint my car myself and this will be the first time I have ever shot a car ! So I will do the best I can and will be happy with it . I will sand out the runs and respray where need be and that will be it . It won't take much of a finish to make me happy because I am NOT going to spend all that time to make it shine and look pretty just to drive and get dirty all over again ! That's not for me at all ! I just want to enjoy my hotrod and have fun ! Isn't that what it's about anyway ? Retro Jim
Jim, I drove my first car six years with red Rustolium primer on the hood, trunk, and where the door handles were before I filled and added solonoids. The red is really a dull maroon and the 1949 Dodge was deep maroon. At 25 feet it wasn't really noticable. Next car, 1954 Ford, did the same plus added a rear roll pan. This car was deep blue so I used grey rattlecan primer. 98% of us kids had what we thought were custom cars with primer spots all over them. At 50 cents an hour, who could afford car payments, insurance, gas, girls, and paint? Those were the good ole days and no one made fun because your car had primer on the custom bodywork. Even the fenderskirts were usually in primer. Ain't nuthin kooler than a 54 Ford , lowered, shaved, decked, roll pan, skirts, spotlites, and remote doors with 57 Caddy hubcaps. So, a real traditional hotrod should be one that looks like that, not one with a $10,000 shiny paint job that makes the owner nervous whenever someone gets within 10 feet of it.
I've had Rustoleum"Rusty Metal"red oxide primer last for years on frames and chassis here in the Northeast where they salt the hell out of the roads all winter long.I've also had friends who worked maintenance at a chemical company and all the exposed piping was painted with Rustolem "Rusty Metal" primer as per the plant engineers specs.GOOD Stuff!
FWIW, I'll weigh in with the long term results. I originally took this spare '36 fender down to bare metal and primed it with 'Rust'oleum in the early 60's. Has been in dry storage ever since. Recently decided to repair it but was curious to see how it had faired for moisture absorption after reading a previous thread on the subject. Enlarge the photo to see the results. To be fair, the product line has probably improved, and this might be considered an extreme example, but as previously mentioned, the regular, oil-based primer was not intended for automotive use or as a permanent sealer.
We're talkin 50+ years ago that fender was painted. Most of the visible rust appears to be within tiny pits like on my Model T. Probably was never fully cleaned. Also much of the other rust is recent from no paint protection. Put Rustolium on it again. If you and the fender last another 50+ years you have nothing to worry about. They make a sealer to put over it. Then you can topcoat with most any other paint compatible with the sealer. Even today new car paint is far from perfect. Guys try to over restore or over pretty their rides. A $10,000 paint job will scratch in the Wal-Mart lot just like a $500 paint job when grannys shopping cart hits it. Like another member wrote, MAAKO and others do a decent paint job if you get it ready. And there are lots of guys who will do it if you look around.
SEM is the only primer in a spray can I'll use on body parts. So what you're saying is it looks like***** real quick.
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