If my previous came across as a Rustoleum recommendation on one of our trucks
I miscommunicated.
In a separate prep thread he detailed welding in a bit of rust repair, and then shot
the entire vehicle with rattle can high-build primer. All of which matches the normal
"prep is 90% of the success of a good paint job" theory.
But what I found eye-opening was his iterative approach on painting > wet-sanding >
painting again > wet-sanding ...and looping until he was satisfied with the uniformity
of the color coat combined with a 'better than showroom' lack of orange peel in the
paint. And then he buffed it out. In effect, he was using his (nonmetallic) paint as others
use a primer in order to take the final result well beyond a normal 'driveway paint job by a
hobbyist'.
If I had to shorten up his thread to 2 photos, I think that these tell the arc of his
story the best:
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Now, without taking any possible theoretical combo off of the table, what works for me is to follow a careful conventional
rattle can paint job, followed by a generous clear coat, and after that dries, I then go to town with wet-sanding
and buffing like this Corvair owner's example. (Especially over metallic, I learned the hard way that if you attempt
to color-sand that, the look is destroyed in the first few swipes. Wet-sanding & buffing the clear coat is what gave
me an opportunity to make my paint look better than it should.)
****
As a matter of fact, those of you who are a certain age, you might remember the guys that spent *all* of their money
under the hood, and then shot their car in primer...and then drove it that way? Yeah, I was one of those guys.
Not by choice, but by necessity. I was doing this well before it was considered cool. :0)
I just shared the above because the OP reminded me of some of the stuff I've done with 'too far gone' paint jobs,
and being way happier with them than I expected. Speaking of which, before I learned, I would have tried to figure
out a 'decent' upgrade for the failed paint on the horizontal surfaces
on the hood first, not like the results, and
go immediately from Hero to Zero by doing so.
Today? I would experiment on the (few will ever see)
roof first. It might take 2 or 3 attempts & some experimentation,
but if I could get that roof as black and smooth as the Corvair dude got his white ride, I would do just that. And
possibly stop there, knowing that I am protecting the metal up there from further rusting. And then hand off just
the hood to a real painter, because the hood is the hood, and that is seen by everyone.
Who knows? Maybe the roof turns out so good that the OP & the neighbor agree to subsequently go for the hood
as well, with some (to be determined) paint process? And if it turns out good enough, maybe they will post their
handiwork for others to see?
That's the true fun of this forum -- the exchange of ideas. Not to mention all the great photos of people fixing
stuff up & sharing them for us to study / get ideas from / enjoy. :0)
Cheers --