Hammerite & spray paint

Err.. don't put hammerite on it, put Jenolite on it, then spray it. Or hammerite it and don't overpaint it.

Hammerite and cellulose car paint don't play nicely. As you appeared to know already. So why did you do it?

spay over the hammerite with cheap car arosol can. wait untill it peals. scrape it off and repeat if needed. next sand the area untill smooth.

NEVER EVER PAINT OVER HAMMERITE FOR AT LEAST IIRC 6 WEEKS.

Sorry to shout but it is a biggie.....

Even if using 2coats of Hammerite either do it within IIRC 24hrs or after

6weeks as after 24hours a curing process starts that screws everything up if it is recoated..

See back of tin for more details and accurate times.

There was a story of some contractors who painted a fence at a Railway Station in Liverpool, the started at one end and after a couple of days went back to the beginning and started on the second coat. Result... The fence was taken down and replaced - needed dipping to strip it cheaper to replace. Perhaps an old wives tale but I was told it by the manager of a Akzo Nobel Trade Centre who allegedly sold the stuff to the guys.

Also don't forget Hammerite has been reformulated several times in the last few years owing to various bits of legislation.

Tom.

Thought it would come up a better colour match than it actually did. Also a gut feeling that Hammerite gives a better protective coating than Jenolite.

You're probably right..

However, it's a banger Metro... so why worry? I don't on my bangers, if they go well and are safe and legal, I don't care about the odd dent or scratch.

Vim Fuego ( snipped-for-privacy@fastmail.fm) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Hammerite struggles to give a better protective coating than sellotape.

Really? Obviously it won't stop rust which has built up a good head of steam (as it were), I don't think anything will short of physically cutting it out, but for surface rust which can be removed back to more or less solid metal, I've always found it pretty good.

Vim Fuego ( snipped-for-privacy@fastmail.fm) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Or alchemy...

There's far, far better paints for good clean metal. Hammerite is over-sold s**te.

Well I'm not worrying :-) but it's just that the damn thing looks in such top notch condition apart from the not-quite-the-right-colour Hammerite patches and I'd be feeling *seriously* chuffed with my 260 quid 45k miles old-gaffer-owned-it-for-years-kept-it-garaged-looked-after-it-scrupulously-did-a-few-thousand-a-year-then-pegged-it-and-now-his-daughter's-put-a-new-exhaust-on-had-the-suspension-pumped-up-and-flogged-it bargain if I could get the touched up patches to a good colour match as well. As it is I'm only feeling very, very chuffed. (You should see it inside, it's like new apart from a bit of wear on a rubber door seal that a quick visit to the scrappy will correct.)

Should I worry about the cambelt (if it's got one? - next stop eBay to pick up a Haynes for it).

What about waiting the 6 weeks till the Hammerite's cured then overspraying with a base coat of some kind which won't attack the Hammerite and which will take being oversprayed?

But I'm not thinking in terms of good clean metal, I'm thinking of got-all-the-flaky-bits-off, solid-but-still-surface-rusty metal. I ain't spending hours bringing the wheel arch of a 260 quid Metro back to bare clean metal, however nice it may be. I want to be painting what's left after ten minutes with a wire brush and a grinder wheel on a drill then a wire brush again then a quick wipedown with some Hammerite thinners.

Vim Fuego ( snipped-for-privacy@fastmail.fm) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Then you're wasting your time painting it.

Don't bother starting the job, then.

And that isn't bringing the metal up shiny? Angle grinder and MIG time.

I'm just trying to buy some time for it, not banish all the rust from it. That's not unreasonable, is it?

See above.

Well bits of it are shiny but there are bits of rust down in the 'dimples'. And whether you are advocating me welding it or blowing the shit out of it with a Russian fighter plane, I have neither. :-)

overspraying

Will ask technical and get back to you.

I'd wait until you can't dent the hammerite with your thumbnail (probalby a very long time if you've got any thick bits or runs - think months) and flat it, then try overspraying with a rattle can. You should get away with it.