I have no experience yet with painting a vehicle, but I do have plans to do a bit of body work (just started learning how to do that) and then repaint my truck. My plan all along has been to buy the supplies and do the actual painting at my friends place (he has a pole barn and a sprayer system).


I've been seeing a lot of people doing these "$50" paint jobs with Rustoleum. Obviously they're not professional quality, but neither will be a sprayed on paint with a higher quality paint if I'm doing it myself. Neither will be perfect. Both will be better than what it is now though!


But I'm curious... 1st, can Rustoleum be sprayed on and would there be any advantage/disadvantage to doing so? 2nd, can you get Rustoleum in a custom color to match a color code? Or are you at the mercy of whatever colors they offer off the shelf?


Anyway, not trying to hijack this thread! I'm very interested to follow the progress of the OP as he continues repainting his truck!

 

Rustoleum can be sprayed but it must be thinned out quite a bit or else it will sorta puke out of the nozzle every once in awhile, As far as i know Rustoleum dosnt offer custom colors. If you are looking to match the door code color i would suggest Napa. When i did touch up work on my 89 it had code 2D Scarlet Red. NOBODY sold that paint went to napa and they mixed it right up for me and it matched perfectly.

 

You might want to rethink clear coat, the problem it brings is that you will no longer be able to do a simple touch-up on scratches dents etc.
If you add clear, in order to touch-up you will need to first sand through the clear and remove it.

Do you want a farm truck that is harder to work on?

I'm a fan of this sort of paint job, for trucks that actually do work rather than just look good.

This kind of paint fades after a while?
So what?
Scuff it up and put on another coat or two, it's not like it will cost you a lot of money or even as much time as the first painting.
Every two or three years or so you do some maintenance on the paint, just like you do some maintenance on the rest of the truck.

 

Single stage paint fades in a couple of month once it starts. Kind stupid to repainting the truck every couple of months when you could of just clear coated it and been done.

As for fixing clear coat, it is EASIER than single stage. Just ask ANY body guy

 

I wouldn't clear coat, get some hardener with UV protection it won't fade in months and probably won't for years. Just google around plenty of pics of these jobs with before and after shots, some several years old still looking good.

 

If im putting alot of hours and late nights into this i will most defiently be clear coating this thing! I painted a snowmobile one time and didnt clear it and 2 months later it looked like **** and everytime it snowed the snow around the hood had black in it because it was pulling the paint off the hood.

Even with a hardener i will be clearing it, did the same thing on my 4640 JD except i sprayed it and i has been on there for a good 8+ years

 

I am curious. If you are spraying the cab, why not spray the hood and just be done with it instead of the 3-4 coats and wet sanding in between?

Also, something else to consider since you are not waste deep in the project. Why not Tractor paint. You can get that majic crap from TCS for about 20 a gallon, valspar IH red for the same or IH red for $60 a gallon. MUCH better paint than the rustolium and sprays great

 

Probably should have mentioned I'm spraying it with rustoleumn regal red in a can haha as for the equipment paint I was going to get International Harvester red but I had 2 QT of regal red at home I hadn't used so I went with that.

 

If you really want to avoid sun damage to your paint then paint it white, the pigment is titanium dioxide which is also used in sun screen.
I have also noticed that blue lasts much longer, and red is the first to fade.

 

yeah, just look this single stage Pink.... I mean red that was waxed twice a year since it was new

 

^^^^ +1 ^^^^

 

Question....

When you did the hood, you used the Rustoleum Regal Red from the can, mixed it with thinner and hardener, right?

The hardener is supposed to help with UV and keep it from fading in the sun.

When you do the cab, you were planning to use the Regal Red rattle can, right? So, you're not going to use the hardener with it? And, you plan to spray or roll on the clear coat?

 

The hardener is made to try paint faster and firm it up so it isn't as easy to scratch it says nothing about keeping the paint shiny or glossy. I used it to firm it because when you thin paint it becomes soft.

I sprayed the clear coat last night Ill let it dry alittle longer than sand and buff it. I'll put pictures on Monday.

 

Just be careful so this doesn't happen to you….

I was painting my Peterbilt and one of my Viagra pills fell out of my pocket and landed in the paint can…. I couldn't get the hood closed for four hours.

 

I've never tried this but I imagine you get monster orange peel after each coat -- would take lots of 600-1000 grit sanding between coats to even things out.................

It looks pretty darn good for Rustoleum, but I'm just not sure it has the UV protectants that a cheap can of activated acrylic enamel provides................I've seen those enamels priced pretty close to Rustoleum.......