It will say on the can .....................

Rustoleum industrial enamel can be reduced with mineral spirits paint thinner for about 5 bucks a gallon. It holds up really well and the whole job is affordable. It also cover in one coat without primer.

I've been using rustoleum( in the gallon can from Home Depot) for 5-6 yrs. I've always reduced it with lacquer thinner. I keep my car inside, so it does hold up well. The sun is your worst enemy with cheap paint. Yes, you can use an automotive primer, but I would only spot primer the metal areas. Honestly, I've sprayed it over a combo of bare metal, primer, and different layers of paint and you can't tell once it dries. It's a very forgiving paint.


The white, black and yellow turned out the best. Silver dries dull, and the red does too, kind of looked like a red curb. Look at the interior of my old toyota(#40 I think). The yellow paint in there is rustoleum that I sprayed in '05.

I rolled my first car and it was a 20 footer. It looked great from 20 feet or more. All of them look like that after 3 races anyway.LOL

Thanks for all the tips guys.  I'll post a pic of the results in a few weeks.

the rustoleum from home depot is great... i just painted my car about a week ago with the black... i used laquer thinner 10 to 1... well thats what the paint can said to do... i've always used that paint becuase its real easy to keep touched up... like Kirk said, the spray cans are a perfect match for touch ups... dont worry about primer... that paint works great on every kind of surface i've used it on...

Rich

I roll it on with the foam rollers.  It if is a warm sunny day it smooths out pretty good.  I can paint the whole body in an hour.  And the gallon lasts forever.

I agree with smith3d.  It isn't the nicest paint job but it looks great from the stands.

CD

Japan Drier or Naptha will speed up the drying time of alkyd enamels quite a bit.

But, the more enviromentally friendly enamels get, the slower they dry

Well,  here it is.  first time painting a car.  Used Harbor Freight $19 palm sander with 220 grit paper.  Harbor Freight  $19 spray gun.

Reduced Rustoleum 4 to 1 with acetone.

My guess is 4 parts thinner to 1 part paint. I thinned mine about 1.5 thinner to 1 paint, and it doesn't look near as smooth as Korban's job does. I should have tried more thinner, but it was a cool day when I painted. I was worried about runs. Good looking paint job for about $60.

That looks really nice.