Another Rustoleum $100 paint job

Yroundrdn

Observer
Afraid to leave and get arrested... I looked out at the un-used Covid restricted Suburban and decided any effort at a paint job would be better than what's there. It had gotten so bad that paint would flake off in the rain!


bad paint1.jpg

bad paint2.jpg
 

rayra

Expedition Leader
How's it look up close, did the paint lay down well enough, or did it flash too soon?
 

CrazyDrei

Space Monkey
Wow!

That looks fantastic! Can you take some close up pics, is there orange peel? That came out pretty good, I am about to spray the back 3/4 of my Sub to match the front paint, hope it comes out as good as yours!
 

rayra

Expedition Leader
yeah, thinking about the same, here. Got clearcoat cancer showing up in spots on my hood and over the passenger side of the windshield. Had paint buffer damage on the passenger doors, both top frame and armrest area, which have been wearing satin black rattle paint since a week after I bought it, nearly 5yrs ago. And my driver side got all keyed to hell a couple years ago. Did what I could to remediate that. But the whole damned thing needs a paint job that I'm not paying full price for. I've painted trucks before, I'm sore tempted to paint all the removable panels that I can in my garage, 1-2 at a time. My vehicle is basic black, too, so all the easier. I'm quickly running out of time and money to do it, though.
 

Jacobm

Active member
Dang, that looks pretty clean. I've wanted to do a Rustoleum paint job on a project for a while but I've not had a good chance to do so. I think if the paint on my Yukon goes bad though, that I'll get some desert tan Raptorliner and do that instead. Then I won't have to worry about the finish or scratching it, or cleaning it really. My daily driver is a black Chrysler 300 and it really triggers the OCD part of my brain sometimes.
 

twodollars

Active member
I have done 2 burb paint jobs with rustoleum, but I used a small foam roller. One gloss white, one flat black. Gloss white started to loose its luster after 2 years, but still held on fine. Flat black just lightened up year after year.
 

Yroundrdn

Observer
How's it look up close, did the paint lay down well enough, or did it flash too soon?
Not that knowledgeable on those terms but the paint seems very solid and will be more than enough for my use. It could use some buffing out where the fog landed over gloss in some places.
 

Yroundrdn

Observer
I have done 2 burb paint jobs with rustoleum, but I used a small foam roller. One gloss white, one flat black. Gloss white started to loose its luster after 2 years, but still held on fine. Flat black just lightened up year after year.
I did the roller job on the roof and it didn't last 6 months. Now I have to go back and redo that. I'm sure prep was a large part of it.
 

Yroundrdn

Observer
Wow!

That looks fantastic! Can you take some close up pics, is there orange peel? That came out pretty good, I am about to spray the back 3/4 of my Sub to match the front paint, hope it comes out as good as yours!
I didn't notice any orange peel and was quite surprised. It did show any and all shortcuts on the prep work though. I took a lot of time stripping the hood and wish I had stripped one fender a bit more but for what I use it as, it's more than fine. I thinned 3oz of turpentine to 16oz of paint and didn't notice any clogging, or runs. The gun has a 20oz capacity and that seemed to work just right.
 

IdaSHO

IDACAMPER
FYI, if you want it to be solvent resistant and hold shine, you really should add hardener.
It helps Rustoleum actually cure as well. Depending upon temps and humidity, Rustoleum can take a LONG time to cure.

Add hardener, and if thinning is still required use your choice of thinner.

I like Naptha as it flashes nice and fast.

44142886161_26dc1877b1_c.jpg
 

rayra

Expedition Leader
Not that knowledgeable on those terms but the paint seems very solid and will be more than enough for my use. It could use some buffing out where the fog landed over gloss in some places.
'laying down' is the paint flattening / smoothing out before it dries or hardens. With water- or volatile-based paints, weather conditions, sunlight, dry air etc can cause it to dry out before the paint has time to smooth out. That premature drying is sometimes called 'flashing'

Combined with spray gun settings that use too much air to paint mix, or atomize the paint too much - and combined with hot dry air - and you can get paint that almost dries before you get it on or worse poor coverage that requires too many passes to build up and can inadvertently lead to runs as you keep adding paint trying to build up a decent coat. It's easy to overdo things and make a mess.

Many of the same concerns and issues are experienced with various clear coatings in woodworking. I do a lot of woodworking and painting projects with all sorts of materials and here in SoCal and with CA's restrictions on good 'VOC' materials, and mostly workign in my garage, I have a very narrow calendar window and times of day where I can get really good results. That time window is closing now, rest of the summer-fall it's a very few morning hours before things warm up and never during a 'santa ana' condition.

It's tough to control conditions painting anything outside of a paint booth. So you try to control whatever you can to get a better result.


I'm going to be trying to paint my hood and my doors at home in my garage in the next couple months. Take them off, mount them on a rolling frame, do all the prep, clean them off and roll them into an improvised paint booth in my garage, rest overnight and try to shoot them in the early morning hours. Only way I can get decent results in the summer here.
 

1stDeuce

Explorer
OP: Looks great!!!

Rayra, FYI, "Basic Black" is going to be very hard to get to look nice... EVERY bit of prep work you skimp on, and every dent or ding you miss will show. White is the best color to paint, IMO, because imperfections don't really show. I will NOT paint anything darker than red, and even that was tough. White, sand, khaki, silver, gray, no problem. Darker colors require too much detail work for me to want to take them on. :)

I did our Comanche with Sand Rustoleum several years ago. It's a little chalky on the hood and roof, but the rest still looks good. If I buffed out the hood and roof, and put some wax on it, it would probably look great again... I keep thinking I might want to spray the whole thing in matte clear though... Ah, some other day. I'm supposed to be building a hose this year, so non-essential vehicle work is out. :(
 

F350joe

Well-known member
As mentioned, that stuff takes a long time to cure, like a week. Once fully cured you could wet sand to smooth it out. For those with chalky or faded paint, clean it good and give it a good buffing with coconut oil, works wonders and you smell like the beach.
 

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