Good primer and paint for a geezer's project

[TomIn]

I'm a mid 70's geezer who recently bought a 50's Ford tractor for a puttering project to keep me away from daytime TV and
frequent runs to the refrigerator for snacks. The tractors has lot of what we used to call surface rust along with a
fair amount of peeling paint from some decades old poor paint job. I thought it might be nice to pretty it up some while I
am tinkering.

I realize what a proper restoration involves, and am not willing or able to deal with that much labor, expense, and
handling of hazardous materials that require respirators to use and have short windows in which to work. My thoughts are
to remove as much rust as possible with sanding and wire brushes, brush on some sort of primer and finish coat(s), and live
with the results.

Can someone recommend brands of primer and paint for me to use? I have a city home where I should be able to buy the paint
and supplies, but will be working at my farm in SW Indiana where the best paint store within a reasonable distance is
Dollar General.

 

[showcrop]

Pay no attention to brand. Brand means very little. Your needs would best be served with acrylic enamel. Make sure that it is not alkyd enamel.

 

[Stephen Newell]

I like Rustoleum's Farm and Implement paint. I painted a Kubota tractor in 2009 and it's still in great shape. If you are not going to completely remove the rust you might use a rusty metal primer. It has fish oil which helps bond to dirty metal.

If you have compressed air I would get a sprayer if you don't have one. It will do a better job with a lot less work. A cheap HF sprayer will spray Rustoleum paint just fine.

 

[TomIn]

Thanks for the advice. I like the idea of working with a (water based) acrylic enamel since I will be painting in an
attached garage which also serves as my shop and the mud room/laundry for our rural home. My painting process will be
spread out over several months, so ease of clean-up after every session is important.

I am not so sure about the importance of brand. After some research, it appears that many companies make alkyd enamels
that are marketed as tractor or agricultural paints. I have only found one acrylic enamel (Majic Diamond Hard) that is
marketed as a tractor paint---and it is not available in 1950's Ford red and grey colors. I found one other brand that was
labeled as spray only. How does a geezer like me find a place that sells acrylic enamel that is suitable for tractors
without knowing the brands that make such a product? I'm not very comfortable with the thought of walking into the paint
department of the local box store and asking to purchase a custom mixed gallon of whatever acrylic enamel they sell.

 

[TomIn]

Thanks for the suggestions. I've done some searches on Rust Oleum tractor paint. Several folks have suggested that the current formulation of the paint isn't as good as what you used in 2009. The good part is that the price is reasonable, and it is sold my Menards. The bad part is that Menards seems to avoid stocking Ford Red, Ford Grey, and red oxide primer in the same or close by stores.

Your statement that a sprayer will do a better job with a lot less work is somewhat subjective. I would completely agree with you if I was painting in some else's shop and they were doing the clean up. Dealing with overspray in my attached garage/shop/mudroom/laundry area and having to clean a spray gun (rather than wash a brush) complicates that matter---especially when the project is likely to be spread out over several months.

 

[showcrop]

(quoted from post at 03:26:33 06/24/22) Thanks for the suggestions. I've done some searches on Rust Oleum tractor paint. Several folks have suggested that the current formulation of the paint isn't as good as what you used in 2009. The good part is that the price is reasonable, and it is sold my Menards. The bad part is that Menards seems to avoid stocking Ford Red, Ford Grey, and red oxide primer in the same or close by stores.

Your statement that a sprayer will do a better job with a lot less work is somewhat subjective. I would completely agree with you if I was painting in some else's shop and they were doing the clean up. Dealing with overspray in my attached garage/shop/mudroom/laundry area and having to clean a spray gun (rather than wash a brush) complicates that matter---especially when the project is likely to be spread out over several months.

Probably 99.9% of hobby automotive/machinery enthusiasts who promote the use of spray guns used to feel the same about them as you do now. The HVLP guns put very little paint mist in the air. I put an old box fan in a window and open others a little to admit air. The smell of paint seems to clear out within twenty minutes. You can put up temporary drop cloths around your garage to cover your "stuff". Rustoleum was founded in 1921 by Robert Fergusson, a sea captain, after he noticed that fish oil spilled on rusty metal decks stopped corrosion from spreading. He soon incorporated whale oil into the formula, although many changes have been made over the years. Rust-Oleum products no longer contain whale oil, instead using resins derived from alkyds, polyurethanes, epoxies, latex, etc.

 

[TomIn]

Interesting story about the history of Rustoleum.

Do you still feel that I should search for an acrylic enamel in Ford colors, or should I just pick one of the alkyd enamels
like Rust Oleum or whatever is sold by this site?

I hadn't considered using one of the inexpensive HVLP guns, but still question whether it is worth the effort to convert an
1150 sq. ft. garage/shop without any windows (for security reasons) into a spray booth every time I want to paint a few
parts.

 

[tom upton]

do you have an outside space where a bit of drifting overspray wont tick off the nieghbors? I painted all but one of these tractors mostly outside with a cheap spray gun. On the lawn works well as very little dust. get stuff prepped and wait till it cools off in the early evening Just before the bugs come out! Used urethane on some and acrylic enamel on others. Urethane stands up better against fading. I dont thnk you will be very happy with a brushed on paint job, but even if you spray its all about the prep work.So after doing all that prep work you may as well do a decent job of painting.

 

[Stephen Newell]

I haven't noticed any lesser quality in the Rustoleum paint. Last year I got out the front loader for that Kubota tractor and painted it and put it on the tractor. Looking at it you would never know there was 12 years difference in the paint. I think the only way the color difference would show up is if you tried to do touch up painting on something like the hood that gets a lot of sun.

The oil based paints made today set up a great deal quicker than they used to. If you spray the paint on a day with little wind you could do the work outside where overspray isn't an issue. Most of the paint I spray is done outside because I don't have a spray booth. I've sprayed it inside before and just put down a cloth dropcloth and didn't have an issue with overspray.

 

[TomIn]

I appreciate all the information.

At my age and physical condition I'm tinkering with my new-to-me tractor as a motivation to get out of the recliner chair. I have no realistic expectations of restoring the tractor and realize that any painting I will do is just polishing a turd.

I want to work primarily inside because my garage/shop is where my tools and supplies are stored, has a concrete floor, and enough ceiling fans to stay comfortable in the hot Indiana summers, etc. Moving outside exposes me to heat from the summer sun, dust from the gravel road, biting flies, all sorts of flying and crawling insects, cottonwood tree fuzz, pollen, etc. I have foot and knee issues, so I can't stand on my feet long, and I'm more prone to trip and fall when I'm on a less than flat surface (like my bumpy yard and gravel drive.)

As a tinkering project to keep myself active, my work will be spread out over a summer or two. I envision painting various parts as I deal with them (rather than prepping everything over time and painting it all at once.) I've done some spray painting years ago and found that it was a real pain for a novice to deal with using a spray gun when you only wanted to paint few parts at at time.

There has been mention of Rust-oleum paints, and Stephen Newell suggested using a rust metal primer. Rust-oleum seems to offer a grey primer and red oxide primer in their farm and implement line. However, they offer quite a number of primers, rust converters, etc in their other lines. I realize that an epoxy primer of sorts would probably yield the best tractor paint job, but I'm not willing to deal with working with epoxy when I'm just painting a part or two. Does anyone have any recommendations for a tinkering project like mine?

 

[SDE]

I bought some Ford grey at Farm and Fleet. It wasn't what I expected. It was more of an off white color. Do a little research and be sure to get the color you want. I mixed it with other paint to get it darker.

 

[Stephen Newell]

The epoxy primer would be the best if you were willing to clean the rust off. The biggest problem with it is the recoat window. You would need to topcoat it within 8 hours for most of them. It could be as simple as a filler primer but would need to be coated with something. The epoxy primer done properly would prevent rust from coming back. Other primers the metal can rust underneath the paint.

If you don't want to use epoxy and want to use an automotive primer Advantage makes a high build primer #325 which works like primers used to. It applies thick and sands easy. It's a filler primer which doubles as a sealer. You would still need to get most of the rust off though. Going over rust you would be better off with a primer made for rust or use a rust converter.

Personally, I think it's a lot of work to paint a tractor and to take shortcuts with rust is asking to do the job again in a year or two. Then it would be a touch up and you wouldn't know if there was more spots poised to fail. It might end up being endless touch up work. It would probably be less work in the long run to take your time and do the work right.