Moss Motors, Ltd

I am rebuilding the rack and pinion on my '71 Midget.  While it is apart I decided to paint it and make it look nice.  At the Recommendation of a co-worker at The Home Depot I tried Rust o lium's new Universal spray paint.  I am using the Hammered black.  I found this paint to work so well I was compelled to write about it. 

First the bad.  Rust o lium has decided that they needed to redesign the can.  I may have gotten a bad can but if not this new design is horrible.  It has a very ergonomically looking spray device, but don't let looks deceive you.  Pulling the trigger requires a lot of pull.  The Rust o lium website says it takes 60% less force, but I don't buy it.  It could also be my large hands just don't fit the can right.  Because of this hard pull the paint often cam out spotty.  The same as a traditional can that you don't press down hard enough.  I wrote to Rust o lium about it but have gotten no response.

Now the good.  The finish is incredible.  The can top has a very close representation of what the paint will look like.  I was quite surprised how close the look was and the paint is better than the can top.  The other thing I was surprised by was the spotty paint that came out just blended itself in.  I applied two coats, but only one would have been necessary.  Despite the hard trigger I will be using this paint for other under car parts. 

Norm,

Agreed. The hammertone Rustoleum is a good product. Also agreed: the spray handle deal is baloney. I think I found a way to get rid of it and substitue a real spray head. Frank, my fabricator guy (no, that doesn't mean he makes up stories!) did the entire engine bay of his BGT with the grey hammertone. It's tough as nails and looks great as well as being easy to clean. If you're not too terribly into stock appearance this is indeed a cool way to go.

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Motorbill
From Lola to Land Rover, If it's British and has wheels, it's likely I've bloodied me knuckles thereupon

Norm / Bill -- would you recommend this stuff for a-arms, shocks and the like as well?  Anything out of the ordinary on the prep side?  What primer did you use?  (wondering if one primer over another compliments this particular paint or not).

thanks!

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Lou
'76 MGB MKIII

Lou,

Actually, this stuff is kind of thick and textured. I'd not reccomend it for parts which have to be bolted closely together. For suspension parts, the best rattle can stuff I've ever used is Dupli-Color High Temp Engine Enamel with Ceramic. (there's a mouthful!) Clean everything down as well as you can. We usually blast down to bare metal in a cabinet. A primer isn't really needed, but it's nice. Wash everything down with Brakleen to remove residue and follow the directions on the can. Get plenty on. It stuff sticks like all get out and really wears well, unlike lots of general purpose spray can enamels which are watery and flake off leaving rust spots within a year. We have cars coming back to us five or more years later with this paint still looking great on suspension and axle parts.

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Motorbill
From Lola to Land Rover, If it's British and has wheels, it's likely I've bloodied me knuckles thereupon

The Universal paint has a primer in the paint.  It helps in that prep work is reduced.  One really big thing is to work clean.  Bill said it and I'll repeat it, get all dirt, oil and grease off.  When I paint I mask off all mating parts and threads.  If you needed to paint anything with threads, I would not recommend the Universal.