Rustoleum Touch Up Job

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Eye Guy
Bongonaut
Posts: 73
Joined: Sun Aug 09, 2015 7:35 am
Location: Glasgow

Rustoleum Touch Up Job

Post by Eye Guy » Thu May 25, 2017 1:57 pm

Like many Bongo owners I have been suffering from the dreaded rusty arches and sills. I have had my van for about 18 months and with a combination of the Scottish weather and me not having a garage - it was definitely getting worse.

I didn't like that and didn't want to just watch her rust away. I took the van to four different paint shops all without success. All quotes were >1K and some wouldn't paint at all unless I had new sills and arches welded in.

It was at that stage I found all the info about people painting VW vans with Rustoleum. My appetite was suitably wetted. I have no experience of painting motors (bikes yes, motors no) but thought I'd give it a go.

Here's some 'before' pictures.

https://flic.kr/p/TR3Am3

First step was to get rid of the flaky rust. I used a wire brush attachment on my drill (and safety specs peeps 8) )

Second step was to treat rust with Vactan. That's what makes it go black in the pictures.

https://flic.kr/p/UVWAc6

Then I used some body filler to smooth it out. I used a two step mixture and a spreader. I had one hole in the near side sill which I patched with some aluminium mesh and filler.

https://flic.kr/p/V8yBdF

Next stage was to sand the filler down and try and get it reasonably smooth. It had been dry up until now and I thought I was progressing well.

My van has plastic wheel arch covers - I tried to take them off by they didn't want to and who knows what was underneath, so I decided to work around them. There have been rear arch repairs in the past - I could tell from the filler I uncovered when sanding those areas.

Before paint I had to mask off the rest of the bodywork. What a PITA! If you're doing multiple coats, over a few weeks, you need to remove the tape in between so this is a time consuming part of the process. I was also trying to 'save' my decals which took some crafting.

I prepped the surface using a pound shop Brillo pad and some soapy bubble.

https://flic.kr/p/TTW1SH

Then it was on to the paint. Long story short I struggled to get a matching paint colour in the Rustoleum. I knew my Bongo paint code and I knew that I wanted Silent Silver or as close as I could get but I didn't know what that meant in Rustoleum or in a RAL code which Rawlins used to supply it. I tried matching from an internet picture and failed miserably (you can see a tester patch of whiteish grey in one of the picture on the lower driver side!) At this point I phoned the Rawlins technical help line and they suggested I get an RAL paint chart and match the colour that way. It cost me a tenner or so but I think it was worth it.

https://flic.kr/p/V9wga2

There are only a few metallic choices to choose from. I went with RAL 9022 and I'm pretty pleased with it. There is a slightly darker one but who know if that's better?

I mixed the paint with white spirits as instructed on the internet. A mix of 80-20% is recommended but I probably went a bit thicker than that. There is lots of chat about mixing the paint until it drops off a spoon after 4 seconds but I could never get the metallic paint to drip.

First coat needed a real deep breath, as I knew there was no going back. You can't spray over Rustoleum as it forms a 'skin' so once I was in I was in. I painted the silk on one side. Waited. Thought about it. Waited some more and then thought f it and painted a door. The rest as they say, is history.

https://flic.kr/p/UVWCEn

One coat looked pretty good.

When you're putting on the paint you need to not get it too thick. I tried to get paint on the whole of the panel I was doing before it dried (say in vertical roller strokes) and then even it out in long, light strokes (say horizontal). This worked well apart from one patch on the passenger door that had it in for me!

I waited a week and did two more coats. I haven't flatted it back/ sanded or scrubbed it. It doesn't have an orange peel appearance at the moment and if this was as good as it got, I'd be happy. I am hoping to give it a t cut after three weeks of drying (recommended) and hopefully this will help 'blend' it a little.

From the side it looks ace, if you get it on an angle with the light in a certain direction, you can see some of the roller lines.

https://flic.kr/p/UVWCEn

https://flic.kr/p/TTW1JB

It's not an exact match for Silent Silver but it's good enough. It has a lovely sparkle in the sun which I like. I went all along the side in the end including the little triangle up to the middle of the front wheel. I think it looks better like that.

All in with the paint, filler, rollers etc I reckon about £100. It's not perfect but way better than before and hopefully more protected. I'll never get rid of all the rust but this can be touched up annually as needed for low cost.

Hope you like it. I'll post some pics in a few weeks once I've given her a polish 8)
Bob
Supreme Being
Posts: 15255
Joined: Wed Oct 17, 2007 12:54 pm
Location: North Somerset

Re: Rustoleum Touch Up Job

Post by Bob » Thu May 25, 2017 2:56 pm

Splendid job, and thanks for posting pics. =D> =D> =D>
BigPanzer
Tribal Elder
Posts: 584
Joined: Mon Oct 17, 2011 1:14 pm
Location: South West Britainistan

Re: Rustoleum Touch Up Job

Post by BigPanzer » Fri May 26, 2017 2:33 pm

Hi,

Many thanks for the heads up on this - I've been following your threads with interest because I have a paint problem too, but in my case it is a very faded, tatty AFT top.

The van is indigo blue over silent silver with the roof in blue and I was thinking of changing the roof colour to silver so it doesn't absorb so much heat. But I would also like to do a bit of detailing on the roof sides in blue to tie it in with the upper bodywork.

Therefore I have 3 questions:

1. How does Rustoleum fare when exposed to the weathering conditions likely to be encountered on a Bongo roof?
2. How well does Rustoleum cover when putting a light colour on top of a dark one?
3. Is there likely to be any reaction when putting aerosol indigo blue & lacquer on top of Rustoleum? Obviously I would let the Rustoleum go good and hard before I started the detailing.

Many Thanks again,

Peter
Eye Guy
Bongonaut
Posts: 73
Joined: Sun Aug 09, 2015 7:35 am
Location: Glasgow

Re: Rustoleum Touch Up Job

Post by Eye Guy » Fri May 26, 2017 3:11 pm

Hi Peter,

I am no expert, so take any 'advice' I give you with a pinch of salt.... :lol:

I think part of the reason for using Rustoleum is that it is hard wearing and weather proof. The hope also is that it will be relatively good in the rust protection stakes (not an issue with the AFT). If you want more info and the experts views, do a google for VW 80-20 Rustoleum or something similar. There are loads of old VW vans painted with Rustoleum.

I painted silver on silver, albeit a different shade. I would say three coats minimum, I may need a fourth. If you use dark on light it may be easier. Light on dark may need a lot of coverage.

Lastly, as far as I have read, you cannot paint 'real' paint on Rustoleum of any kind or at any time, so if you were going to spray details you'd need to get a rustoleum spray in as near a colour as you could match (there are billions of blues).

Hope this helps.
BigPanzer
Tribal Elder
Posts: 584
Joined: Mon Oct 17, 2011 1:14 pm
Location: South West Britainistan

Re: Rustoleum Touch Up Job

Post by BigPanzer » Mon May 29, 2017 2:22 am

Hi,

Thanks, there seems to be quite a bit of info out there

Peter
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