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CARC flakes off easily and is expensive for the real deal.
Behr housepaint may be the best bet, but it isn't as resistant as CARC to salt/brake fluid etc.
Or just use rustoleum. It's nowhere near as durable as the above choices, but its cheap and easy, looks good, and is readily available for touch up when the cactus scratch it. (Pictured)
IMHO, CARC is the best bet. I believe it flakes because all these trucks have abysmal paint preparation. I have had several trucks that the military sandblasted and then didn't put any primer on! They shot the CARC directly onto bare metal. And all the other trucks I've had were maybe washed before being repainted. No paint would adhere to that.
CARC, when applied properly to a properly prepared surface is amazing. The two commercial sandblasters I use have both said something to the effect "I hate you, don't bring any of that Army paint to me-it takes forever."
If you want modern CARC colors (tan, green, brown, black, etc.) then you really have 3 choices:
Real CARC
Gillespie
House paint (Behr, etc.)
Real CARC is expensive (I think about $90 a gallon at my Sherwin-Williams industrial store) and it fades wicked awful and wicked fast in the sunlight. If you paint something with CARC, then you obviously care about it's appearance, so keep it out of the sun. A cheap $700 carport is sufficient. I think CARC is as easy to spray as anything else and I've shot plenty of it. People all over the internet will tell you it's made out of straight cancer lava, but it's no worse than any catalyzed urethane with isocyanates. Wear the proper gear (that you should wear regardless of what you're shooting) and you'll be fine. I wouldn't sand it without a respirator, but I wouldn't sand anything without one. The codes for the correct CARC colors are here on SS and you can buy it from a Sherwin-Williams industrial location.
Gillespie is cheap (like $40 shipped per gallon) and easy to spray but it is about as cheap a paint as you can spray. It's a single stage paint with no catalyst, so it doesn't harden or chemically bond to the primer under it. Easy to scratch, chip, etc., but really cheap and that's the only reason anyone shoots with it.
Behr. No experience and I know I'll get the pitchforks on this because I know a lot of people on SS love it, but you'd never get me to paint a vehicle with house paint. There are probably dozens of reasons that no paint shop anywhere would put house paint on a metal vehicle. But, it's cheap, easy to apply and apparently you can get the colors pretty darned good (I've seen stuff on the internet that I'd think was the real deal if it weren't for the poster admitting it was house paint.).
Source: I paints stuff.
<--PPG's house brand of base/clear. Customers '66 Valiant, idiot who painted the car didn't know the dash, steering column, A and B pillars needed to be painted (this is why you never let non-restoration professionals work on your antiques).
<--Gillespie 383, fake CARC. Frame stripped to bare metal, primed with Southern Polyurethane's line of Epoxy primer.
<--Gillespie 24052 USMC semi gloss OD. On my Mule's new reproduction aluminum tank.
<-- This is TM9's line of catalyzed urethane paints. It's the bomb, but expensive. I think $140 for a gallon and catalyst. But it's the awesome sauce. They don't offer a CARC color, so I didn't mention it above.
<-- Gillespie Strata Blue on u/rustyjunk's 1969 W200 USAF crewcab.
<-- M416 stripped to bare metal, SP epoxy primer. Later painted, no pics
