so which paint...

I'm planning on painting the frame and suspension stuff of the s10

i'm debating between these 2...

i've read the hammered is pretty strong stuff... but it obviously costs a small premium...

for ease i'm going to be brushing it on so the hammered may not get that neat hammered look... but i'm after durability and better then a dirt/rust color lol

so which is it?

hammered. It's tough as nails.

I love Hammered paint, though I have only used the spray.

Go with the hammered paint. It covers up minor flaws in the surface much better. I used it to paint the interior of my race car and it holds up much better then plain gloss paint.

thank ya gents... will def go hammered

You will still get some shimmmer but not as well as if it were sprayed. Good stuff.

Need to paint an old Snappy bench top tool box w/ a durable paint, it's going in an industrial facility. Multiple layers of paint already (not my doing there) but it looks like crap, will sand out the rough stuff but not to show prep quality.

Would hammered be recommended? Brush, roller, spray?

how well do you think the hammered would hold up on suspension parts? Next week I start prepping the 91 suspension pieces to go into my 87 saab.. and while the front A arms look every bit as tired as 300,000 miles suspension parts would.. the rear axle just has flaking paint and surface rust.

I would wire brush it all off and treat it.. but I still need a paint to protect it

This is relevant to my interests, as I have some rust slowing to do on the e30. Never tried the brush on Rustoleum, much less the hammered. I look forward to giving it a try now.

I use gold hammer on my dwarf supention parts it hold up well but needs 3 coats.

I usually sandblast and prime bare metal, but I've found that the primer creates too much "stick" for the Hammered paint to do its thing. Now I skip the primer and just spray it on.

would I be better off borrowing my dads old wagner... cutting it and spraying it on then brushing?

Rustoleum satin is holding up well on Mrs. Oldtin's wrangler - she didn't like the rusty driveline, so the front and rear diffs got satin brushed (2 coats) on a year and a half ago. It's been offroad, through a salty winter... brushed on rustoeum is tough. I did the hammered in the paint bomb cans on my old ford bronco's bumpers. It held up for a year - I suspect the hammered is just as tough as the other, but not out of the spray cans (probably ok if you spray it yourself).

I vote for whatever that thick green flake stuff is that Bridgeport used on the cast iron parts of milling machines.

good to know. If I am going through all the trouble to swap the suspension, do new bushings, and install new brake lines.. it makes no sense to put the suspension in rusty

I've used Eastwood Chassis Black over U-pol or Mar-Hyde self-etching primer for years and years very successfully. There are people who swear by either POR 15 or Al Hirsch chassis paint as well.

Al Hirsch chassis enamel

I use Rustoleum on patio furniture and steel beams in the basement, but I don't think it's got the tenacity and resilience needed to paint stuff under a car.

I am however, pretty anal-retentive about doing stuff the best possible way, and so I never have to go back and do it again. So anymore I powder coat.

i don't know about the stuff in the gallon cans, but i used regular semi gloss black Rustoleum rattle cans on the subframe and suspension pieces of my Nova when i redid all that stuff. i used their black primer under it..

it still cleaned up really nice and looked brand new after 2 years and close to 20,000 miles of driving in all weather conditions and at high speeds on gravel roads. the stuff just would not chip or flake off- and it was only about 40 degrees in my shop when i did the spraying.

i think i used maybe 4 cans of paint on the whole project, so the monetary investment was minimal.

I am going to put hammered Rustoleum on the steel posts holding up the house floor in my basement shop.

Next will be some sort of padding to protect car doors.

Forgive my ignorance, but what does a hammered finish look like?

Do a dozen shots and let me know.

This is what the finish looks like.

procainestart wrote: Forgive my ignorance, but what does a hammered finish look like?

Like you hit it all over with a peening hammer
peening

This is a hammered ring from boone rings
(which I have recommended here before as jewelry that is capable of surviving the hostile garage environment)

Hammered finishes are good for hiding wear, tear, and surface imperfections. That's true whether it is a real hammered finish, like the ring above, or a painted finish that simulates it.

those rings are cool!

Watching paint thread with intrest too. Need to do the engine comp. and suspension on my car. Looking toward satin black to be more factory like.

Just picked up a can today... now I gotta strip down the rear axle

On my Barracuda I shot the control arms and the rear axle housing with gloss black Rustoleum. That was in '99 or '00. They still look good. Granted it's a nice weather car but it's been caught in several thunderstorms over the years on some disgusting roads.

When I swapped out the torsion bars about a year and a half ago I painted them with the silver hammertone. They still look good and didn't chip or flake. Later I shot the finned rear brake drums and the hats on the front rotors with the black hammertone. It's more like a dark charcoal than black but turned out nice and has held up well.

I've found the gloss and hammer colors tend to clean up a bit easier than the flats too.

A buddy shot the shocks, springs, and aftermarket suspension arms on his 4x4 '01 Ram with the silver hammertone. It's held up very well and that truck gets run through all sorts of e36m3.

One thing I have noticed is the Rustoleum paints, especially the gloss black, tend to have a whole lot of overspray wen using the rattle cans. More than other spray bombs. Just something to keep in mind when doing the shake and spray.