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Rattlecan Striping, Can It Be Buffed Out?

JR_Charger

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For those who were horrified by my pending bondo repairs, the nightmare continues! I'm trying to fix parts of a 30 yr old MAACO paint job with rattlecans! The vertical parts of the MAACO job aren't that bad, but the horizontal parts were full of dust. I can take the trunk lid off and have it painted, and I'll buy a bulge hood and have that painted, and the fenders can be taken off and redone by a real painter. I want to put the vinyl roof back on (the front 2/3's of the roof was vinyl). That only leaves me with the back of the roof, the dutchman panel, the c-pillars and the top parts of the rear fenders to do. Seems reasonable? I've already painted the trunk and the area behind the bumper, and did not get stripes. I'm using a different paint on the exterior though, Duplicolor Universal Black lacquer. It matched whatever MAACO used. The Duplicolor doesn't "put out" like Rust-oleum or Eastwood products. The output is weak sauce, but after 7 coats surely the area is fully covered (will be, this shot is after coat 5).

I've been doing 50% coverage on my passes.

Any idea why these stripes are happening?

Can this be corrected with buffing? There's got to be plenty of paint there to work with.

60_paint_stripes.JPG
 
Why are you getting stripes ? Because its a rattle can. On smaller areas you may not notice but big flat area like that your going to see the stripes from regular old can of spray paint. It's just a "general use" can of black lacquer probably made for quick dry time . By the time your done one long pass and start the next it's already flashing off and your next pass is sitting on top instead of melting in.

You might think you have a lot of paint on there but I bet your luck if you have 2 mill. Doubt you would have any luck polishing.

AT the end of the day your using spray paint . Expect a spray paint job.
 
I've used rattle cans on bike tanks and it works ok. Lots of coats and then wet sanding
 
FYI , Rustoleum Turbo wide pattern 24 oz spray cans for painting cars.
Many You Tube videos showing the paint and how to eliminate stripping.
I plan on trying it in the future on my old bomb.
 
Why are you getting stripes ? Because its a rattle can. On smaller areas you may not notice but big flat area like that your going to see the stripes from regular old can of spray paint. It's just a "general use" can of black lacquer probably made for quick dry time . By the time your done one long pass and start the next it's already flashing off and your next pass is sitting on top instead of melting in.

You might think you have a lot of paint on there but I bet your luck if you have 2 mill. Doubt you would have any luck polishing.

AT the end of the day your using spray paint . Expect a spray paint job.

It may have something to do with being lacquer instead of enamel as well. The trunk is a few times larger than that little area of the roof, and I didn't get any striping in the trunk. The trunk got Rust-Oleum enamel. The performance of the Rust-Oleum enamel may have set me up with false expectations of what the Duplicolor lacquer would do. Also, I read that the Duplicolor was a superior product to Rust-Oleum, but that doesn't appear to be the case for this particular Duplicolor paint.

How thick does the paint have to be for buffing?

I may be wrong, but my thought when painting was that the blast from each line of paint was disturbing the way the previous line was laying down, so perhaps it could be sanded and buffed out. It's weird how there is one gloss line and then one less glossy line.


experiment with it...... you cant really **** it up lol

Yes, I can always sand it and "do it right."

FYI , Rustoleum Turbo wide pattern 24 oz spray cans for painting cars.
Many You Tube videos showing the paint and how to eliminate stripping.
I plan on trying it in the future on my old bomb.

I used non-Turbo Rust-Oleum gloss black in the trunk and it's not a match for the MAACO paint. I don't care if the trunk is a little different but it won't work for the exterior. Really a shame, but it is what it is. I've watched a bunch of the turbo can videos and definitely would have used that if the paint had matched.
 
I did a quick and dirty repaint of one of the fenders on my old 84 W350 cummins cewcab last winter with the roll on Tremclad/Rustoleum technique. I didn't spend the time or effort to make it really pretty with good body work or primer, or wet sanding it well between coats, and it turned out surprisingly good.

wnUsLcnh.jpg


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With some proper prep and a little time and care you could get some really good results.
 
Here's a door jamb I painted with Duplicolor lacquer -

46_door_jamb_painted.JPG


That is plenty wide for striping. It isn't as tall as the roof is wide though. I'm doing a test now to see if I can get smaller sections to blend together. I tried earlier on a different panel, when I was testing to see if I could match the MAACO paint. The Duplicolor blended in great with the original paint. I feel like I'm cursed with the roof and dutchman panel, but perhaps I'll manage to "crack the code" yet.
 
Yes enamel will stay open much longer and give you less tiger striping . Enamel will also take a lot longer to fully cure.

As far as the door jam, it has tons of angles and different lines. Not the same as painting a big flat section of the roof that is at eye level for you see at every angle
 
Back in high school I painted the trunk of my 62 Valiant with a rattle can ($250) car. It was black as well. I wet sanded and coated with a rattle can clear coat. Actually turned out pretty good. It helps to have one of those trigger attachments to go on top so you don't wear out your finger.
 
Yes enamel will stay open much longer and give you less tiger striping . Enamel will also take a lot longer to fully cure.

As far as the door jam, it has tons of angles and different lines. Not the same as painting a big flat section of the roof that is at eye level for you see at every angle

I don't believe the door jamb is hiding anything. I definitely like the enamel better than lacquer.


A few thoughts - I believe Perfect Match is enamel, and those little cans have a lot more power than the Duplicolor lacquer cans.

His passes are waaaay faster than what I've been doing.

Breaking it down into quadrants at the end makes sense - although in my case perhaps I could accomplish the same thing by going front-to-back instead of side-to-side?
 
I made a couple front-to-back passes and another side-to-side pass, and that took most of the striping out. I believe I can get the rest with sanding and buffing. The front to back "stripes" in the 2nd pic are reflections of the rafters.

I've moved on to the c-pillars and the striping problem has disappeared - possibly because my technique is better now, but I'm getting the feeling the paint applies better to vertical surfaces than horizontal surfaces. I've noticed these chintzy Duplicolor lacquer cans spray better when held upright. This is the kind of can that can be cleared by spraying upside down. The closer to upside-down the can gets, the worse it does.

61_paint_stripes.JPG
62_paint_stripes.JPG
 
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