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I finished the outside of the truck yesterday. I wet sanded up to 1500 grit and then applied a wipe on coat of Penetrol. It's a product designed to be a rust inhibitor for bare metal, a paint additive, or a fiberglass restorer. The colors are a mixture of original paint, assorted primers, a little bare metal, and some surface rust.
Thanks John, glad to hear you're keeping the patina on your truck! People kept asking what color I was painting mine. Hopefully they'll stop asking now. You should be able to find Penetrol at most home improvement stores. I got it at Menard's, I think Home Depot carries it too. It was like $9/quart. I bought 2 and ended up using 1/2 quart.
So all you do is just wipe the stuff on? Did some research and only read about people brushing it. How many coats did you apply? Anything I should know before I try it?
The more you prep the surface, the better it'll come out. I wet sanded with 80 in a few spots, then 120/400/1000/1500 on the rest. Inside the bed I only did the 120. It still looks good in there, but there's an obvious difference. Then I washed it really well to remove all the dust and let dry completely.
To apply it, I made a baseball sized ball of rag, then wrapped that up with another and tied it. You end up with a little sack. I use the same thing for wipe on woodworking finishes. I used a small brush in some hard to reach places and detail areas around badges and stuff like that. This was one coat, as thick as I could apply without dripping. It takes at least 12-24 hours to dry, so it's easy to work with. You'll see brush strokes when you first apply it, but it all flows together while drying. That's it's purpose as a paint additive. Its been 3 days and it's still giving off vapors, so it hasn't fully cured. I would wait at least a week before doing any washing/waxing/polishing.
This is the first time I've used it, so I can't say how long it lasts from experience. But I've read that it'll start to yellow after 1-2 years, and you can just apply another coat at that time to freshen it up. I'm glad you guys like the look! Post some pictures if you end up trying it out.
Nope, that's the only kind as far as I know. You could probably do a very light sanding to knock down the gloss. You'd obviously want to test that out before using it on your vehicle.
Looks good!
I wonder if that is what these car shows really use when they say they clear coat over old paint? This looks much easier!
I might try it and give it the desert torture test... it's still in triple digits out here in Las Vegas.
I hope you update this occasionally to show us how it's holding up. My truck is yellow so the yellowing in time might be a good thing?
Yeah, Flood is the company that makes it. The can gives directions to use as a paint additive, a bare metal protector, and a fiberglass restorer.
I don't think they use this stuff on the car shows. They usually talk about spraying an auto clear coat. Supposedly this product will penetrate into the rust layer to make contact with the steel to create a solid surface that won't flake off. Clear coat will not do that, and will flake off as the rust loosens. I don't know if that's true yet, but I'll try to keep you posted. On this truck, most of the red is actually primer. It looks like a previous owner sanded down to primer in places, then touched it up with some type of brushed on paint. That paint all wore off, leaving some original paint, some primer, and some surface rust. Then I came along and did this to it.
08-27-2015, 11:28 AM
