Rustoleum Rant

It sucks. In a nutshell,  it sucks the sweat of a dead man's ass.  I've had more projects ruined by this company than I care to count.

Current issue: turquoise. I fell in love with this color the first time I saw it on the shelf. Years go by, and I finally decide to paint the tins on the Murdercycle. Spent 3 week of off and on sanding, filling and priming to get them smooth. Like glass. I'm stoked.

Now comes the rant. Warm the can to raise the internal pressure, and start spraying. After a few successful passes, I start hearing audible changes in the spray, like its running out of pressure. Then I notice my hand. Paint, dribbling down, covering my thankfully gloved hand in a sticky mess. Must have had my hand in front of the nozzle, right? Can seemed to empty quicker than I thought.

Second day, two new cans, from a different store.. can one has a busted nozzle that I didn't notice. Ok, my fault. Second can is warmed and I start again.  dribbles all over my fas tank. Stupid hand in the way-waymint...I look at the trigger (it's one of those stupid trigger cans) My fingers were never in the way. The paint is leaking out of the base of the trigger.

berkeley me. $33 for 3 cans and I get to sand this back because of defective cans. It ain't my technique. The wheels on the FR-S are were done the same way to perfection.  They are flawless. But the cans were Duplicolor.

I'm done with Rustoleum.  I kept using this junk because that's all there is. Walmart? Rustoleum. Menards? Rustoleum. Ace? Rustoleum.  Krylon might as well be a campfire story.

Man, I'm livid.

I have changed the clogged nozzles on paint cans before. Just have to be aware of where it's aimed when you push the new one on.

This is really a case of wrong application for the product.  Rustoleum is enamel, which not only sucks at flowing out flat, it's not made with a quality nozzle.  It's designed for slapping some new color on your patio furniture.

Blick sells all kinds of good paint cans with good nozzles for about $7 - $20 a can and it's pro stuff.

In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :

Dear God. Its spray paint Valhalla.

Was just coming here to say something very similar, Curtis.


When I was fighting the Rustoleum on my DogeVan, I had an artist/tagger friend recommend Montana and another brand, the name of which eludes me right now.

Appleseed said:

The wheels on the FR-S are were done the same way to perfection.  They are flawless. But the cans were Duplicolor.

I've always had good luck with Duplicolor.  If you need a real nice finish, many auto body supply stores can fill up aerosol cans with automotive grade paint.

stuart in mn said:

...Many auto body supply stores can fill up aerosol cans with automotive grade paint.

^^^ even catalyzed automotive paint.

There used to be a paint shop about 5 minutes away that could do that.  Their machine broke, and it's not worth it to fix. They said they fill 3 or 4 cans...a month.

The closest place I've found in in West Chicago, about an hour away. In retrospect, it would have been worth it to not have to deal with Rustoleum's bullE36 M3.

Just here to add that I also despise Rustoleum at this point. Even for half-assed hobby projects it sucks ass, can't ever get it to lay down well. Krylon all the way (mercifully carried by Lowe's here in the Bay Area).

We have a couple sources for Krylin locally. I've also even ordered it from Amazon. It's not a miracle product but it beats the pants off Rustoleum. They have an awesome color called Satin Sea Glass that I painted a project with and it looked fantastic. 

I must be the only person here who can't stand Krylon, and who has at least reasonable success with Rustoleum. Krylon never seems to dry for me, no matter what I do. The regular Rustoleum is OK, though I have had issues with the nozzles/cans refusing to spray. The Hammered and Appliance paints, which I tend to use most, seem to be better than the basic stuff. Also had good experiences with VHT and Duplicolor, and recently with the Ace Hardware stuff.

Painted with Rust-Oleum. No issues. Many in the modeling community hate the stuff but I've never had an issue. Maybe I'm lucky? This also place first in class at the last show it was in.

I used to love Rustoleum, but gave up on them several years ago because their nozzles suck.

02Pilot said:

I must be the only person here who can't stand Krylon, and who has at least reasonable success with Rustoleum. Krylon never seems to dry for me, no matter what I do. The regular Rustoleum is OK, though I have had issues with the nozzles/cans refusing to spray. The Hammered and Appliance paints, which I tend to use most, seem to be better than the basic stuff. Also had good experiences with VHT and Duplicolor, and recently with the Ace Hardware stuff.

I used to worship at the can of Krylon, but their quality seemed to take a dump in the last decade. That, or their nozzles also suck.

RustOleum works fine for me, though I have had nozzles clog. I bought a bag-o-nozzles on Amazon and just swap them out now.

Duplicolor has consistently been good stuff, but the price is high for the can content unless you absolutely want that exact color.

I use Rustoleum at work(surfboard repair) because it's available locally and it's "fine" but not great. The nozzels suck and I've been learning how to clean them myself. Also it seems to never fully dry. I painted the racecar with it and a year later it was still gummy and was a bitch to sand off.

Ordering replacement nozzles is a great idea. Any suggestions for brands?

I've been known to save nozzles from cans that worked well.

If you contact Rust-Oleum and complain about the nozzles they'll send you a bag.

At the local art supply store I can get Montana gold spray paint in any one of like 200 colors. Super high solids, amazing coverage, multiple nozzle patterns available.  

https://www.montana-cans.com/

Rust-oleum has a huge variety of products. In general I've had satisfactory to better than satisfactory results. Their garage floor coating for one, has held up amazingly well for the price. 

I like the Rust-oleum (Tremclad up here) Professional series, it covers nicely and dries quickly. I just wish we could get more of the colours up here but it's something to look for next time I cross the border. Rust-Oleum Regal Red is a better match to my Zinnoberot BMW than anything a local body shop has mixed in a can for me.

Appleseed said:

In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :

Dear God. Its spray paint Valhalla.

Worse, the Blick retail store is only two exits west...

Appleseed said:

In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :

Dear God. Its spray paint Valhalla.

Worse, the Blick retail store is only two exits west for me...

In reply to TurnerX19 :

I have relatively easy access to 2 stores in Evanston and Schaumburg. Yiss.

Some really good advice here I didn't know I needed.

I don't forsee any spray painting projects in the future, but I'll be ready if that changes.