Rattle can bling advice needed

K

KIKH400

New Member
I followed the rattle can bling instructions, and have done the primer, color coat, waited 48 hours, and second color coat, and waited 48 hours. When I started to sand the tank, I found that I could dent the paint with my fingernail. After checking it out some more, the paint just seems thick and soft. I used regular rustoleam gloss black. The tank has been drying in a room where its about 65 degrees. Since this morning and finding that the paint is soft, I've had it under heat lamps and it doesn't seem to have changed anything yet.

What to I do now? Do I wait and see if it hardens up? Do I have to scrape or sand it all off and start again? Anybody know what I did wrong? I'm pretty bummed--the tank looked pretty good and the paint seemed hard after the first batch of color coats.

I have the spray max 2-part on order, and its supposed to be here in a couple of days.
 
Sounds like you may have laid the paint on a bit thick. If the temp is under 70°, I would give it even longer between coats. As much as four days.

Another effective option is to bake the part after it's painted. Give it a day to air dry and then put it (carefully) into a 200°F oven for an hour. Then give it another day to outgas some more and that does the trick for me.
 
A car parked in the sun on a warm day serves as an excellent curing oven.

The Rustoleum paints do take a while to cure fully, especially if you put on full, wet coats. Whatever you do, don't try to put lacquer over top of it.
 
I'm not a big far of that paint either. But yeah, give it more time and dry heat, if that doesn't help you may start over. It does sound aweful thick though, and may be prone to cracking or chipping if/when it cures. If you do end up having to take it off and try again, it'll come clean in about 2 minutes with some good stripper. Stripper loves soft paint. I have made this mistake several times in bicycle parts, and got sick of sanding. Aircraft remover is like $6 a can and should take it down to bare metal in a hurry.
 
Thanks for the advice. I guess I put the paint on too thick, and didn't let it cure enough. The tank is under heat lamps now, and I'm going to give that some time. If the paint hardens, I still gotta' take some off to get it fair and less thick before I try for a final coat. If it doesn't harden, well, I guess I start all over. I won't use stripper though--I found the first time that it reacted with the filler that was under the old paint, and I really don't want to do the fill, sand, fill, sand process again.

I just hate having to do stuff over. Oh well.
 
Don't know what happened, but the paint in some spots on the tank just hasn't cured. Its been under heat lamps, in a heated room, and in some spots the black paint can be scraped off and looks like tar. I've heard and read about paint failures, and now know that they are a major PIA. I've scraped/sanded the bad spots, and am going to try again. This time I'll try a couple of light coats at a time.
 
I took the tank down to bare metal, filled the dents with bondo, and then sprayed Rustoleum primer and then gloss black.
 
Did you wet sand the primer with 400 grit? Maybe your primer wasn't dry, and that is what is causing your curing problems.

I ALWAYS wet sand the primer. You will find surface flaws that you may not notice until the final coat, and you will get better adhesion.
 
I wet sanded the primer with 400, 600, and 1500. Too much? I thought I should get as smooth a primer surface for the paint as possible.

I painted the tail piece as the same time, and it came out fine so far.
 
That's too fine. You would do the 600 and 1500 on the final coat before buffing with polishing compound. 400 grit gives the proper "tooth" for the following coats to adhere.
 
OK, I did alot of sanding of bad paint off, reprimed, and did a few coats wetsanding in between. Looks pretty good except for some dust specks, but I think its the best I can do. So, how long do I wait until I spray it with SprayMax? The SprayMax has a potlife when opened of 48 hours, so how many coats and how long in between? Any ideas? How long until I can put the tank back on the bike? The can doesn't have any directions. Thanks.
 
Read the whole rattle can bling thread. Hope I didn't screw up with the Rustoleum followed by Spraymax plan. Current plan is to let the tank sit for about 10 days in a 70 degree room for the Rustoleum to cure. I'd let it sit more, but the weather has gotten nice and I want to ride. Then wetsand with 1500. Then SprayMax. I found and read the Spraymax tech. data online--1 or 2 coats with a real short dry time. The tank will sit for awhile anyway--maybe another week (gets me to the next weekend).
 
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