RustOleum Rusty Metal Primer (the red version)

[uracal]

I use a 50/50 mix of Acetone/Naphtha, when the temp is in the mid 60's to mid 70's. Just as the primer can says, acetone works great to reduce for general spraying. To accelerate the drying time Japan drier can be added. The recommendations on the Japan drier can should be followed to prevent wrinkling. I have also had very good luck using a synthetic enamel hardener with this primer. It drastically cuts down the drying time, and allows the top coat to be applied that same day. I red scotchbrite the surface before top coat. I have had great luck with the tractor supply hardener. Mix at 8:1, or 1 gallon of primer to 16oz. (pint) can of hardener. Remember the ratio can be explained as 128oz (gal. primer) divided by the 16oz. (pint hardener) this gives you 8 as in 8 parts primer/ 1 part hardener. Or 32oz. (quart) to 4oz. hardener.
Either the primer by itself, the primer with a splash of the Japan drier, or the primer with the hardener all work very well. The Rustoleum primer sold at home depot does not contain any fish oil. Although, Rustoleum does offer a primer with this added ingredient. This is just a good old quality medium alkyd resin with added oil most recently refined soy bean oil (Soya). If you are planning to brush this on then at the most I would use the Japan drier. The hardener will just make a mess if you are not familiar with the product. Also the 8:1 ratio is only relevant to the hardener. This does not mean that a recommended primer to reducer ratio does not exist. It all depends on your spray gun, the surface temp, and the surface being coated. As with any painting the more you clean down the surface the better it will hold down. I have been a painter for more than 18 years, and have worked with and applied a wide variety of finishes. You always get back exactly what you put in to it and onto it.

 

[rivired]

hey just to let everybody know..in my project i jsut sprayed with this..ive ran into a big brick wall about using any epoxy poly urethane acrylic ect ect fancy paints like pretty much all sherwin williams chemical coatings and what not..they say hot paints like that will most likely wrinkle this primer..however i have not tested it yet..just wanted to put my info out there.multiple paint places say the only thing they would put over it is oil based enamels ect.

if i had known this before hand id have never used it.

 

[rlwm211]

I sprayed the bed of my deuce today with Rustoleum red orimer and did not have any naptha, or zylene soo I used Coleman fuel. It worked better than the other two and it dried quickly with a great seal as evidenced by the flood while spraying it with an HVLP gun at about 40#. I mixed around 65% paint to 35% thinner, I put the thinner in first and then add the paint, to avoid plugging the filter with thick oozy paint. No runs, no problems. You could use unleaded, but it smells pretty bad as compared to coleman fuel.

 

[jimk]

You should be ok if it dry. It takes a while to dry. A few days if it is hot, maybe a week if not. Try a test area if not sure. Let us know how it worked.

Rivired wrote-
"using any epoxy poly urethane acrylic ect ect fancy paints like pretty much all sherwin williams chemical coatings and what not..they say hot paints like that will most likely wrinkle this primer..however i have not tested it yet..."

ps-Correct me if i am wrong, but the word "dry" is misleading. The solvents leave the paint and it may seem 'dry', but oil based/enamels cure afterwards. This is a reaction with O2, or they oxidize. The rate varies, but fast at first then slower as time goes by. It may take a very long time to complete. It may be slower with top coats.

 

[rlwm211]

In my post I talked of the flood, and Iam referring to the "wet" that you see when you apply spray paint. The truck I painted yestwerday dried quickly. From what I can tell it is ready for a second coat of primer or finish coat today. I worked at a company where we used a lot of rust inhibiting paint and it is far better to use a pretroleum based solvent to thin this type of paint than a laquesr thinner or other aggressive thinner.

 

[wellesleyhighway]

I see that David was the only one in this post to mention POR-15. Used it along with the "Marine Clean", "Metal ReadY", POR, Primer, and POR paint itself. Expensive, but worked real well, actually prefered it after talking to our Welder. Only thing with it's sensitve to UV light and breaks down. Can be covered with Rustoleum. The beauty of it is it goes right over rust with minimal scuffing or sanding...

 

[txdodge43man]

I used it on my M35a2 sanded the CARC paint and shot the primer over it. I did not thin the primer. I waited a few days than lightly sanded the primer and shot the green paint over it seems to be working just fine for me

 

[davesgmc]

I used the same stuff on my elmo truck. Shot primer on a cool windy saturday evening, was actually painting until i couldnt see any more. The I shot rapco 383 carc sub over that the next day in about 80 degree weather, slight breeze at about 5 pm. it turned out fine, no bubbling,wrinkling, etc. the rustoleum i thinned with mineral spirits, the rapco was thinned with xylene. both just thin enough to shoot through the cheapo gun i was using,,,,,l,,pictures and results to come after this weekends unveiling of elmo.

 

[Parker2]

I painted my entire truck with it. Smoothed out the camo paint and went at it with the Rustoleum. I liked the color so I left it that way 5 years ago. Some day I'll get around to putting a top coat on it, but I think I will stick with the brown color. It's still holiding up well.

 

[regular guy]

Here is my 1st post after lurking awhile . I painted my pickup. The bed 1 week apart from the cab and wanted to share with y'all what worked for me in the South Texas summer climate. I used the same mix for both the cab and bed. I used a 1.7 tipped Black Widow (Harbor Freight) HPLV gun.

Using a orbital 6" sander I took it down to the bare metal for 85% of what I painted. The orginal paint was in sorry shape where the sun hit it since 1997 (97 cummins 2500 farm truck). I started with 40 grit to get to bare metal, moved up to 80 grit, then 180, then 220 to smooth it out to glass then changed my mind and took it back to 180 so the primer could have something to hang on to. The other 15% I took it down to the grey stuff under the topcoat and feathered it so I couldnt feel the transition.

Ranch Hand front And rear bumpers I sand blasted both using 400lbs of black diamond media (coal slag) sold at Northern Tools. I used self etching primer (grey) in the spray can sold at auto zone then used Rustoleum Rusty Metal Primer over that 24 hours later. I let that dry another 24 hours. Then without scuffing I used the same mix mentioned below that I used for the cab and bed.

Bed and Cab I used: the red Rustoleum Rusty Metal Primer sold at Lowes by the gallon. Used almost a whole gallon for the entire truck. I thinned it with a 4:1 xylene Mix. 1st coat was applied very light, 10 minute wait. Second, and third coat with 10 minutes in between. Keep in mind I shot it at 7 am when the sun was starting to come out but It was parked under a cover. After shooting the primer, I let it sit for 24 hours and kept it in direct sunlight.

After 24 hours It was scratchable and I used a red scuff pad sold at orileys. Scuffedd bed and cab lightly. Just enough to make it dusty. I used my blower to blow off the dust.

Topcoat: I used GCI tan color with a 4:1:.5 mix With Xylene, and majic catalyst (hardner) for enamel sold at tractor supply.

A week later it's Awesome. I'll be trying the bulldog adhesive promoter for the mirrors and fender flares and using the 4:1:.5 mentioned above. I hope the GCI and bulldog are compatible and can be used as I did above. The mirrors and fender flares Are plastic.

Any suggestions for the plastic mirrors and fender flares?

Thanks all for the wealth of knowledge I have picked up here on steelsoldiers.

 

[8madjack]

Just adding another positive review, I've used it for years on all kinds of projects, usually in spray cans, make sure to shake well to avoid clogging the nozzle.

I've also used the krylon red zinc primer and like that a lot too, I like krylon nozzles better as they seem to clog less than the rustoleum nozzles

 

[Kevgentile]

Reviving this thread to seek some insight since I primed my project using Rustoleum rusty metal primer.
I've read that this primer is hydroscopic like most primers are but I figured that since it is a "rust fighting" product that it should protect against moisture causing any additional rusting.
I'm not ready to top coat yet and I need to store the vehicle outside under a tarp and cover for a few weeks before I can get some color on it.
Should I be concerned about this or not?

Cheers!

 

[SCSG-G4]

I brushed on the Rustoleum RMP on the bed of a cargo deuce and let it dry 72 hours, then put a coat of the BEHR paint on it. After three years of cargo and people about 20 percent of the green paint is gone, but the Rustoleum is keeping any rust at bay. YMMV.

 

[mikey]

Reviving this thread to seek some insight since I primed my project using Rustoleum rusty metal primer.
I've read that this primer is hydroscopic like most primers are but I figured that since it is a "rust fighting" product that it should protect against moisture causing any additional rusting.
I'm not ready to top coat yet and I need to store the vehicle outside under a tarp and cover for a few weeks before I can get some color on it.
Should I be concerned about this or not?

Cheers!

No worries! I have a deuce that I painted with behr over rustoleum red metal primer over 10 years ago and last summer I touched up a few rust spots that came through. The rust spots that came through were in your typical spots on the bumper, bed and fenders. I could hit them up with por 15 if they come through again, but it took 10 years the first time, so I'm confident they will be fine.

The trick with rustoleum red metal primer is knowing when its "cured" before painting over it. This summer my M108 cured in just 4 days. In the past it has taken almost two weeks. It all depends on factors such as humidity, how much sun you get and how long you "bake" it in the sun. This summer we had weeks of abnormally hot sun, zero humidity and no rain, so it cured quickly. I now know when its ready to paint with a scrape of my finger nail, but that's hard to explain in a forum post.

Here is my touch up 9 years after original paint. The original green is Behr over rustoleum red metal primer.

 

[RedNBlue]

I know this thread spans years, so I was hesitant to resurrect what may be a zombie by now, but its still relevant and good info. I am just getting started on a miles long list of things to fix on my new to me '72 deuce, and theres a good bit of rust etc to take care of.

I was checking the forums for experiences from others with POR 15 as i was strongly considering it, especially for the right front fender with the most rust and the exhaust heat. I've helped a friend with a jeep using POR 15, but wanted to see how others have done things with their MVs. I've used the Rustoleum RMP on several other things and the stuff worked really well for me. I've only ever used the spray can and the only problem I encountered was the nozzle clogging. For this project, I need to buy it by the gallon, but have decided to stick with the rustoleum rather than POR 15 since I know it works and cost is also a factor. So, thank you everyone for sharing your knowledge, experiences, and pictures!

 

[Kevgentile]

Finally got around to applying a coat of rusty metal primer. I was only able to get one un-thinned coat on yesterday. The can states to let dry for 24 hours before re-coating. I want to apply a second coat of the RMP. Does it need to be scuffed if I apply the second coat the next day? what is the best window for applying additional primer coats without sanding?

Thanks

 

[87cr250r]

The hot products today are low viscosity, penetrating epoxy primers. International Pre-Prime 167 is an example but all of the big manufacturers have their own version.

These are a pain to work with, they run everywhere and the recoat windows are narrow but they do work very well for marginally prepared surfaces.

 

[SCSG-G4]

I've let RMP dry at least 48 hours, in warmer weather than is currently prevalent in the USA. As I think I stated earlier, I put it on the inside of the cargo deuce bed, then put the green Behr paint on top. Each coat got 48-72 hours of drying in summer S.C. weather. That was five years ago and there is no rust anywhere in the bed yet!

 

[Kevgentile]

I've let RMP dry at least 48 hours, in warmer weather than is currently prevalent in the USA. As I think I stated earlier, I put it on the inside of the cargo deuce bed, then put the green Behr paint on top. Each coat got 48-72 hours of drying in summer S.C. weather. That was five years ago and there is no rust anywhere in the bed yet!

Thanks for the input, greatly appreciated.
I was on a time constraint since I won't be able to apply a second coat of RMP during the week and don't want to have to scuff the first coat, so I went ahead and did it this afternoon, roughly 24 hours after the first coat was applied.

The project is in a climate control shop with the temp around 68-70 and low humidity. it'll sit for another 2-3 weeks before I even have time to put on a top coat so I'm hoping it'll set up nicely.

Cheers

 

[glcaines]

I've been using Rustoleum Rusty Metal Primer for years and have top-coated with all kinds of paint on all kinds of surfaces without issue. The label says to topcoat within one hour or after 48 hours. I have successfully top-coated almost immediately after applying the RMP and have never had a problem.