rattle can technique

First, My dad was the foreman of a finishing shop for 35 years. He was a master, and is now long gone to rest. I worked with him through my teen years in the finishing shop, and went on to have my own cabinet shop for many years. I've had, and still have a spray boothe and spray equipment, albiet old school equipment that works well for me...

Anyway, I bought that interstate tank from India that from ebay without any finish on it, which seems like an OK product. I decided that I didn't want to buy a gallon of high tech primer and paint for $200. or more, so I bought a few rattle cans thinking I could do a half decent finish and call it good enough.

Well, simple, cheap, and high quality never go hand in hand. So far, I've sprayed and then stripped the entire tank TWICE. As it sits now on it's third paint job is fine, but only because I haven't tried to rub it out after the top coat dried and spray a second salvo of coats, like I did the first 2 times, which resulted in the first top coat wrinkling and lifting. (to be subsequently stripped back off)

SO,.... I have now read the instructions on these rattle cans... (laughter...) and I see that it says you can recoat within the first hour OR you have to wait 7 days to recoat (and they recommend you wetsand with 600grit before recoating) I was going to use a stencil and masking tape to paint gold pinstripes and the norton logo. Then I was going to spray a more impervious clear coat over everything to help resist any fuel that might spill on the paint when fueling up.

I'm so "rattled" with these rattle can products that I feel like the paint which is OK now, may react again and I'll be stripping this tank for a third time (which is crazy) and starting all over again. I wonder if anyone has gone through this and has worked out this rattle can chemistry to a point where they are confident about wetsanding and recoating somewhere down the line... Anyone?

My other option is to forget about the subsequent top coats of gold and clear, leave it as it is now (I shot 4 coats of gloss black within the 1 hour recoat period on top of the primer that I sanded prior to topcoating) and just apply a vinyl norton decal and forget about the pinstriping...

Anyone use this restoleum automotive paint and have an experience to share.??? Thanks in advance...

No rattle can finish is as good as cup mixed spray. That being said, there are some 2-in-1 epoxy rattle can paints that are fairly durable. The vast majority are not meant to be clear-coated, wet-sanded or recoated. You can recoat, but all i does is make the paint thick and somewhat less durable.

The best bike paint I've found is catalyzed polyurethane over epoxy primer. You can get by with a normal sandable primer, but the epoxy primer covers scratches better. If you use regular primer, you have to go over the little imperfections with spot putty.

Danno said:

No rattle can finish is as good as cup mixed spray. That being said, there are some 2-in-1 epoxy rattle can paints that are fairly durable. The vast majority are not meant to be clear-coated, wet-sanded or recoated. You can recoat, but all i does is make the paint thick and somewhat less durable.

The best bike paint I've found is catalyzed polyurethane over epoxy primer. You can get by with a normal sandable primer, but the epoxy primer covers scratches better. If you use regular primer, you have to go over the little imperfections with spot putty.

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Thanks for responding Danno.

Honestly, if I can rub out and buff a particular finish material (given that it's possible for that material) no one would be able to tell whether I rattle can'd it or used high quality spray equipment to apply the finish material. That was what I intended to do with the rattle can paint material, but the recoat properties have left me wondering if it's possible or advisable to risk a 3rd stripping of this tank's paint to try and rub it out to either recoat, buff, or both...

For the most part, finish quality on my bike doesn't warrant a high quality paint job for the tank, that's why I decided to use the rattle can option, hoping that I could rub it out, mask and spray the pinstripes and norton logo, then coat it all with some impervious clear top coat. (all out of cheap rattle cans)

Maybe the thrust of my inquiry isn't all that clear. I'm really wondering if anyone has sprayed this rustoleum automotive paint from a rattle can and actually waited for the "recoat window time" to expire so they could wet sand and recoat sucessfully, or even just spray paint the norton logo stencil and pinstripes without the top coat reacting... This paint can be recoated as many times as possible within the hour after the first coat is applied, OR it has to dry for 48 hours for future recoating. It can be wetsanded prior to recoating.

As it stands, the tank looks "OK" now with 4 coats of black gloss sprayed within the 1 hour recoat window. I'm probably just going to put a vinyl decal on it and call it good, rather than risk having to strip the tank again for a 3rd time just because I sprayed stencil paint on it.... and that makes the current top coat wrinkle and have a bad reaction.

Your challenge will be to find a gasoline-proof clear that won't lift and wrinkle the paint underneath. Color-Rite makes a good polyurethane clear in a rattle can.

Danno said:

Your challenge will be to find a gasoline-proof clear that won't lift and wrinkle the paint underneath. Color-Rite makes a good polyurethane clear in a rattle can.

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Yup, I'm going to see about a clear polyeurothane top coal to cover my rustoleum. I have a few pieces of metal that I was doing some testing on, so I can test before I spray. I'll also mask out a small portion on the underside of the tank and test that too before I spray the tank... thanks for your feedback. I googled the whole situation 5 different ways and read up on the polyeurathane clear top coat you have suggested and I'm leaning that way if testing indicates there won't be any "reaction" with the existing paint.

Research indicated that these automotive paints have this weird recoat window that I was not really aware of. Some paints need to cure as long as 2 weeks if you don't recoat them within the first hour of spraying the first coat... I supose I should follow the damn directions more closely. It wet sanded so nicely that I assumed it was hard enough to recoat, but I was wrong and need to let it cure, do the testing, and then procede. Typically, I need to fuck stuff up first before I do my homework and learn to do it right... I guess this is just another one of those times... Thanks again for your help

Hope it works out. Nothing more frustrating that doing something over and over.

o0norton0o said:

Danno said:

Your challenge will be to find a gasoline-proof clear that won't lift and wrinkle the paint underneath. Color-Rite makes a good polyurethane clear in a rattle can.

Click to expand...

Yup, I'm going to see about a clear polyeurothane top coal to cover my rustoleum. I have a few pieces of metal that I was doing some testing on, so I can test before I spray. I'll also mask out a small portion on the underside of the tank and test that too before I spray the tank... thanks for your feedback. I googled the whole situation 5 different ways and read up on the polyeurathane clear top coat you have suggested and I'm leaning that way if testing indicates there won't be any "reaction" with the existing paint.

Research indicated that these automotive paints have this weird recoat window that I was not really aware of. Some paints need to cure as long as 2 weeks if you don't recoat them within the first hour of spraying the first coat... I supose I should follow the damn directions more closely. It wet sanded so nicely that I assumed it was hard enough to recoat, but I was wrong and need to let it cure, do the testing, and then procede. Typically, I need to fuck stuff up first before I do my homework and learn to do it right... I guess this is just another one of those times... Thanks again for your help

Click to expand...

Sounds like you've had many successful rattle can jobs in the 'good old days' with cellulose... but weren't aware of the 'progress' that's been made in recent years by the paint companies!

That's how it is with me. I've done many a good rattle can paint job with cellulose in the past, but these days it just ain't worth the aggravation and I get things done pro.

Actually, I spray lacquers out of my professional spray equipment and still do to some extent on woodwork jobs, but the reason I went to rattle cans is 2 fold

1) Modern fuel resistant paint is incredibly expensive.

2) the last time I used it on a gas tank, the gas that spilled on it some weeks later left a shadow on the paint anyway...

I was trying to buy the least amount of paint possible, not contaminate my equipment with some new chemistry, and use my finishing skills to rub out the lower quality rattle can imperfections and apply a clear gas resistant clear coat...

Like I said, the overall paint quality of my bike doesn't warrant professional quality paint on the gas tank. Maybe if I get the entire bike to where I want it. (and I'm close to that now...) I would take it completely apart and paint it all as a winter project, but it's just too much fun to ride, so it stays looking like an unrestored original, but a mechanically improved rider...

As long as it runs good, doesn't leak too badly, ride it! A rider's better than a museum piece, anyway.

Ive painted several tanks and frames with the Preval paint sprayer, this is for the base coat color you get from auto paint store. For the clear Ive used Spray Max 2K , it has a harder inside the can and its made to use on tanks, gas resistance. Its fairly cheap with good results.
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http://www.spraymax.de/index.php?id=361&L=1
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Preval-9-oz-Complete-Spray-Gun-267/202533738
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Update: I waited a week to let paint job #3 cure. I rubbed it out with 400 wet/dry paper just to give it some "tooth" to recieve another coat. I sprayed one thin coat of black gloss, just to cover the few spots that burned through on the light wet sanding. I got a great finish with no reaction with the existing layers of paint. (I did actually test spray this final coat on the underside of the tank in the tunnel to make sure there was no reaction and there was none, so I proceeded)

I actually did some more research (google) and found numerous people who painted tanks with rustoleum paint, and then topcoated the rattle can rustoleum with high tech clear gloss paint like the spraymax that Marc is suggesting (thanks Marc!) I ordered a similar clear gloss from eastwood supply.

Since I was able to recoat my tank successfully, I'm actually going to use a stencil to paint the norton logo on the tank and also mask out the pinstripes and paint them too... Then I'll strip and repaint the side covers black and add some backwards pinstripes too before I shoot the clear coat on everything all at once, since the clear coat only has a 48 hour pot life.. That's my plan

I'm not going with the waterslide decal on the sidecover this time because they didn't work all that well. I'm going to use a vinyl decal on the side cover because there's no stencil for them...