Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

After three coats of Rustoleum with a 4" foam roller, I still have a few dull spots on my weekender. Not sure what causes it, but I tried every which way to avoid it to no avail. Rolled heavy, rolled light, rolled hard, rolled soft, rolled crossways, etc. I'm not shooting for a pristine glossy carlike finish, but I would like to have the paint with a uniform gloss throughout if possible. I've seen the Youtube video on how the guy does get a carlike finish with wet sanding, thinning, rubbing, etc., but I'm simply not going to put that much work into it (might as well set up a spray booth).
Has anyone used rubbing compound and hand or machine buffing to bring out the shine in Rustoleum or any similar oil based paint? I assume that you need to wait a few weeks for it to cure out pretty hard.

The only thing I have ever done with paint on my campers and wooden boats is to roll it on and tip with a QUALITY brush back and forth and that will get you as good a finish as you are going to get. If that doesn't work it's the surface under the paint.

NathanL wrote:The only thing I have ever done with paint on my campers and wooden boats is to roll it on and tip with a QUALITY brush back and forth and that will get you as good a finish as you are going to get. If that doesn't work it's the surface under the paint.

I've done the tipping thing with epoxy paints with good results so I know what you are talking about. In my case the surface under the paint is smooth as I filled and sanded numerous times before priming. The dull spots that I am talking about are the result of the roller and how it is applied just in certain spots. I've tried applying the paint heavier and lighter and working it out until the roller is nearly dry, but I still end up with these spots. They are not bad and I may be the only person who worries about it. I'm just curious as to whether rubbing compound will make these areas have a more glossy appearance.

Are they in the same spots every coat? If so it's the substrate. If not try rolling and tipping - you can do that with any kind of paint.

Les, I painted my weekender with Rustoleum also, Almond color. Be sure to keep you roller wet when painting and tipping. When the roller gets dry it leaves a bare spot which doesn't have the shine the rest of it has. Larry

Which Rustoleum are you using? I would only use the foam rollers for the Rustoleum "Hammered" paints. If its just the plain Rustoleum High Performance Enamel then use a regular nappy roller to apply the paint in fairly generous coats.

I used both paints on my trailer, and did notice that the "Hammered" paints dry MUCH MUCH MUCH faster than the regular enamel, and don't quite have the same glossy finish. But it is all even. Just be sure to shake the paint cans very very very well.

Les go heavy and DONT roll back over the spot but tip it! My Valspar tractor gloss paint did the same thing and I finally figured out the foam roller was picking up the paint again and thinning it out, leaving a dull streak in different spoats, I sanded and repainted 5 times before figuring out what the culprit was. Last time I redid the front and have a small streak on the front passenger side, but I will cover with diamond plate sometime as a rock guard and no one will ever see it.

Cliff

I love Rustoleum. Dries shiny, fast, and hard. I hate brushing and rolling so I typically spray it with a compressor and spray gun. One trick I've learned to minimize the mess and amount of paint thinner required to clean up the gun is to pour the extra paint out of the gun, wipe out the cup and the other parts of the gun with paint on em and then proceed to rinse out the gun with solvent. It seems to take a lot less solvent that way.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,

Gus

Sounds like it was over rolled. When rolling glossy paints you have to put it on, smooth it out and then move on.

I would try a coat of wax.

I may have found a solution to my problem. I experimented yesterday by thinning my remaining paint by about 25% with pure mineral spirits. I had a large sample board of my color that I had previously done so I applied the thinned paint to the sample board. Did it horizontal on one half and vertical on the other. The thinner paint rolled out evenly without all those little ridges and dry spots. Even rolling the same place twice didn't affect it and it settled out to a nice even glossy finish all over. It had more bubbles at first but they all went away without a need for tipping. The vertical section did not run or sag at all. We are back in a rainy period for a few more days, but I plan to coat the entire weekender with this thinned mix as soon as the weather breaks. I'll post the results here and on my journal when I'm finished.

Lots of those problems develop from not following the minimum recoat time recommendation. Normally it's within the first 1 hour and then not again for 24-72 hours depending on the paint, it should be on the can. So you have to recoat it in the first hour or you have to wait 1-3 days to apply the next coat.

The rain and humidity finally cleared out and I was able to put my theory to the test. Coated he entire weekender with the 25% thinned Rustoleum and it turned out beautifully. Looks like it was sprayed on without a single roller mark anywhere. Exactly the look I was going for. Looks like the thinner mix settles out smoother regardless of how much you work it and you can work it for a much longer time before it sets up. I even had a couple of areas where some gnats landed in the paint that I was able to re-work 15 or 20 minutes later and it still settled out uniformly with the surrounding area. The key to getting it smooth was to apply a moderate coat over a small area and continue to work it out with the roller with increasingly lighter strokes each time. Start by knocking down the little ridges that form off the end of the roller on the initial pass and keep the dry roller moving over the entire area. On the final pass you just let the weight of the roller do the work. It starts out with lots of air bubbles, but they go away on their own without blowing air or tipping. Problem solved.