Rustoleum auto primer?

[GrenadeKing]

What's the deal with this stuff? I can't get it to stick to anything. It doesn't matter if I spray it on metal, wood, or plastic, smooth or rough. I'd wager this stuff wouldn't even stick to paper.

I wash and degrease my parts. I shake the can even longer than it suggests. I spray from the distance it suggests. It's not cold outside. I bring the piece inside immediatly regardless and leave it alone for the recomended time or longer.

The Krylon primer I used on another piece has turned into an impenetrable shield in a matter of minutes while this junk still scrathes off with minimal fingernail pressure after 24+ hours.

What gives? Am I somehow doing something wrong or is this stuff just plain useless?

 

[jasonw2112]

Is it laquer or enamel? Enamel in a spray can ( or any for that matter ) can take a long time to fully cure. Where as laquer dries in about 15 minutes or less.

For awhile I was having problems with other spray can primers sticking ( drying ) to my resin props, even after alot of cleaning. Then I switched to the Dupont spray can primer I sell at work ( about $16.00 bucks a can! ) and it sticks, fills, and sands like no other spray can primer.

I used to use the dollar primer, but I think something is going on with these anymore..

 

[Jet Beetle]

I was having bubbling problems recently with Rustoleum. The kit was metal and I did the same as you - distance, temp and everything else all accounted for and still I'd end up with a horrible texture on the thing - had to sand it off two times and start over. I stopped using it all together.

 

[exoray]

The EPA has been cracking down on 'consumer' rattle can paint formulas, the new formulas are mostly garbage to comply with the EPA... You need to bump into the commercial lines sold at commercial outlets vs the consumer lines sold at Wal-Mart... They still won't be the best paint and suffer from being a rattle can but just the same the commercial lines are of higher quality...

Personally I have made the switch to mostly spraying 2K urethane primers, the end result is night and day over rattle cans...

 

[TheSt.LouisKid]

I find humidity sometimes has a factor in the result but I have not encountered it having a problem sticking. I have had the problem of it taking a couple days to dry at times. Perhaps you got a bad can.

Maybe get the same paint at a different store and see if that batch is any better. I got a bad can a Krylon once. Went elsewhere for a new one and no problem.

 

[themanwoaname]

since i found krylon primer i havent used anything else. rustoleum paint works really well on it.

 

[Vaderman]

Yeah, I have had good luck with Krylon paints, including primers and also SEM and another primer I can't remember the name of right now, but from a paint store.

A few of my local hardware stores dropped Krylon and added some low rent paint that it terrible. Rustoleum has also added those new trigger-style spray cans that cost a lot more and spray poorly.

For priming in general though, i have found that the prep makes all the difference.
I can't recall ever spending a decent amount of time prepping something and getting a poor finish. The reverse is also true; in every case where I had a poor result with the primer, I had not prepped the surface well, though I suspect the paints have also contributed to the effect.

 

[themanwoaname]

i like the new spray top for krylon, it sprays a flat spray thats so beautiful and even.

 

[Noeland]

I use rustoleum dark gray primer, have for years, and have only had it flake off a model once. otherwise it's been rock solid for me. I use krylon camo and BBQ paints on top of it, and it works well for me. I don't let the primer cure though, just air dry, one or two coats, and then I hit it with the krylon, then I let them cure.

 

[Vaderman]

I am glad to hear you have had good results with them.
I took two different cans back to my local "Do-It" Center and they said they had had a few others back a well.
Maybe they got a bad batch?
Hearing it does (or can) work will get me to try it again sometime.

So many things can affect paint too: heat, humidity, wind, dust, oils on the surface, the material itself...

One thing I realize I hav not paid much attention to is the curing v.s. drying of the primer. I have primed things and let them sit for months, sometimes I did it just to protect bare metal from rusting (though I have learned that this does not work like I had hoped!)
I will have to start paying more attention to the time between primer coats and paint.

i like the new spray top for krylon, it sprays a flat spray thats so beautiful and even.

EDIT: Oops! I just realized you said the new top for Krylon. Is there also one for Rustoleum or am I confused? Maybe the Rustoleum one is no good after all... ?

 

[GrenadeKing]

With this, I was spraying it on metal parts. I hadn't planned on laying down any other colors because the primer turned out to be just the color I was looking for.

I left the parts to air dry (in the house) for the rest of the day and overnight. The next day, after work, I noticed that the finish was... poor.

That's what I started testing it on other materials and comparing it to other paints.

I can literally wipe this stuff off of a piece I've had sitting for 48 hours, with a T-Shirt.

It just seems like something is very very wrong with this stuff.

 

[Volpin]

I gave up on Rustoleum (except for their "hammered" texture paints) a long time ago. I don't know if its the humidity here in GA or what, but I could never get any of their products to work correctly. Any time I thought "well, I have this color already, I'll just try it out this once" I ended up paying the price and having to sand and buy new paint.

Eventually I just threw it all out. If I'm going to use rattle cans, I go with Krylon. Never had any issues there, and I swear by their "ruddy brown" primer. Great stuff.

 

[jasonw2112]

With this, I was spraying it on metal parts. I hadn't planned on laying down any other colors because the primer turned out to be just the color I was looking for.

I left the parts to air dry (in the house) for the rest of the day and overnight. The next day, after work, I noticed that the finish was... poor.

That's what I started testing it on other materials and comparing it to other paints.

I can literally wipe this stuff off of a piece I've had sitting for 48 hours, with a T-Shirt.

It just seems like something is very very wrong with this stuff.

You may want to try an etch primer for bare metal parts. An etch primer "bites" into the metal, to give your following coats something to stick to. If you just put reguar primer over bare metal, it's bound to scratch off alot easier, or not stick at all. Just make sure the metal is clean, wipe it down with laquer thinner, than wipe clean with cloth.

Just do not wipe plastic, resin parts with laquer thinner to clean them! just imagine what would happen if you was to dip plastic into thinner, it will melt! Therefore when you clean plastic with thinner, it can (not all the time) cause the paint to flake off.

 

[themanwoaname]

Oops! I just realized you said the new top for Krylon. Is there also one for Rustoleum or am I confused? Maybe the Rustoleum one is no good after all... ?

yeah as far as i know just krylon uses this new top. the one on the left.

it sprays a nice flat coat that helps make an even coat. i really love it. as far as i know rustoleum still used the old style spray tops, because when i last painted something, i layed the grey krylon primer down and then i sprayed a rustoleum silver over it. you can even spin the little white piece around so it sprays horizontally too, not that that makes much of a difference.

it was beautiful.

which is something, because i hardly ever had any decent luck with rustoleum pants, and it irks me they almost always has the right color i need. they end up flaking, or bubbling, or running, where krylon (and even WALMART'S) brand works really well.

 

[Noeland]

Yeah, rustoleum paints are terrible. I only use the dark gray auto primer. But if they have changed it, I may start having the same issues as GK. Personally, I have had problems with Krylon primer sticking to metal. Especially aluminum.

Hell, if rattle can paints in general have been watered down, so to speak, it may be time for me to buy a spray gun finally.

 

[GrenadeKing]

I'm spraying onto anodized aluminum. I hit the part with Krylon before and after a few days it turned into a beautiful and solid coating. The color wasn't right though so I stripped it and tried this stuff. This color is great but, like I've been saying, it wont stick.

Does anybody know if Krylon makes a charcoal black (I think that's the name of this color) primer? They list "black" on their website but the picture shows "charcoal black".

Who knew it'd be so difficult to find a good dark grey spraypaint. :sleep

Maybe it is time to invest in a spray set up.