Itinerant Air-Cooled

I've had good luck with Rustoleum (or Ace's version). I painted my sliding door channel cover things with Rustoleum Rusty Metal Primer and gloss white Stops Rust using my turbine HVLP sprayer thinned with mineral spirits.

Full cure time is a bitch (1-2 weeks) but the end result is decent. And for the price...

Well, I was using the exact same materials and methods on my steel wheels.





(Here's a writeup on the steps I'm taking: http://www.donimages.com/guacamolebus/h ... g.php?id=2 )

The back sides went on fine. But the faces started doing the fisheye thing. CRAP! I thought about stripping the wheel and starting over, but the backs were done and good! I didn't want to have to re-do those as well.

So I figured I'd let the paint dry then sand it all off and re-do the faces. I waited. And waited. And waited. 72 hours later they STILL WEREN'T DRY!

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I sent a note to Rustoleum descirbing the situation and here's what I got:

Rusty Metal Primer should really ONLY be used on rusty metal. It contains fish oils to aid in penetrating the rust, but if there's no rust the oils will rise to the surface causing fish eyes or delamination of the paint.

Thin with acetone instead of mineral spirits to get full cure in something less than a week. (Even though the can label says ONLY USE MINERAL SPIRITS.)

So I'm waiting until the !@$#%^ wheels dry and using Clean Metal Primer and Stops Rust paint. Hopefully I'll get better results...

Shark,

Great idea using the roof flashing to make a masking ring!
Is your 10:1 ratio of paint to thinner derived from the "$50 Paint Job" guy on mopar?

You've inspired me to try painting my wheels. 10 years after buying 'em, I only have 2 out of 4 beauty rings left...

My sliding door covers could really use some love (rust spots on the edges from old, poorly-done touch-up), so maybe I'll try this method on them as well. Have you found tintable base (rustoleum) anywhere in Colorado?

Go to Ace hardware. They tint both Rustoleum and Ace's brand. I have a quart of their brand that appears to be a near perfect match to Sage Green. $7.50 for the quart I got. I'm gonna paint something to see later on.

My sliding door covers were NASTY. I was afraid the rust would break through any day since it was flaky on both sides. The Rusty Metal Primer did a fair job. I'd rather use Rust Bullet, but I'm out. (Eastwood's Rust Encapsulator is reportedly a damn good product too.)

My wheels were bad, but obviously not bad enough for the Rusty Metal Primer. Plus my prep is pretty good. heh

The 10:1 ratio was pulled outta my ass mostly. I tried with no thinning but my paint gun wouldn't suck it up. 20:1 splattered a LOT. 10:1 and 5:1 work well.

Obviously Rustoleum isn't going to be as durable as a true automotive paint. And it dries way slower. Flash on Rustoleum is 24 hours (!) compared to 2-3 for automotive paint. For comparison, most rattlecan paints are 15 minutes but the coats are so damn thin it still takes just as long to get the dry film thickness you want.

If I didn't have the rubber still on my rims, I'd be more aggressive. But as it stands, I'm not pulling my Nokians off the rims again. The bead was getting pretty beat up from swapping tires, so they're not leaving those rims until they're bald.

Great idea you have with the metal ring...I did my wheels a couple of years ago and I did the tape/newspaper and it was a pain in the a**!

And it is time to do them again so I think I will take your tip!!

I'll try Ace again, thanks for the tip. Looked (quickly) a few days ago, but didn't see tintable base...will ask at the counter this time. Our local Ace store has great customer service, so I bet they'll order it if necessary. Home Desperate doesn't carry it anymore (asked today).

Now I just have to find the formula for Dakota Beige...PPG's web site doesn't seem to have it.

bretski wrote:I'll try Ace again, thanks for the tip. Looked (quickly) a few days ago, but didn't see tintable base...will ask at the counter this time. Our local Ace store has great customer service, so I bet they'll order it if necessary. Home Desperate doesn't carry it anymore (asked today).

Now I just have to find the formula for Dakota Beige...PPG's web site doesn't seem to have it.

At the one here in Highlands Ranch, the paint guy is both an old bus owner as well as a computer geek. So he and I took all the samples that were even close to sage green outside to the Guac and started matching. :)

Do you know the name of the color sample that ended up being the closest? Or did he just mix up a batch on the fly? I have a lot of body work that needs to be done and intend to do it in small increments as time and money permit and having some inexpensive paint that is a damn close match would be much preferable to just leaving it primered.

It's meadow green or some such. The sample is in the garage, I'll dig it up later.

The color is "Springside B30-7". I had it mixed in Ace's "Rust Stop" enamel.

Check the other pics here:
http://www.donimages.com/guacamolebus/p ... .php?id=10

I used Rust Bullet on a rusty spot on the bus a couple weeks ago. I'm going to try covering it with this paint so we'll see how good a match it is.

Well, crap. It came out too light. Lighter than the color card. Need to go back to Ace and see if it can be darkened up.

Try a black primer instead of grey.

Bill

This may be a dumb question, but it that really all you have do? Sand it down, tape it off prime it and spray it? Is there a way to "feather" it in a little, (do you do that with the spray, or do you wet sand it?)

I need to do a few little spots, and he's not going into the body shop until the fall, so I want to keep things in check...

Wow - look at that heater box!

DurocShark wrote: So I figured I'd let the paint dry then sand it all off and re-do the faces. I waited. And waited. And waited. 72 hours later they STILL WEREN'T DRY!

___________________________________________________________

I sent a note to Rustoleum descirbing the situation and here's what I got:

Rusty Metal Primer should really ONLY be used on rusty metal.

I had the same thing happen when painting my seat frames. I thought it was too cold in my basement. I brought the seat upstairs and a week went by, still tacky. I'm staying away from that product, it sucked stripping that stuff off.

Before you toss the Rustoleum, try mixing 80:20 with mineral spirits.
I sprayed rustoleum on my wheels and it was dry in 24 easy. You can
also do the bodywork with a roller at that ratio, but it takes 4 to 8 coats
to get good coverage. Drys in 8 hours or so and gives a nice, hard finish.