A note on Latex "house paints".

Awhile back I made the decision to paint my 54 GMC deuce with regular old latex house paint from my local home improvement store. I tried both Behr Ultra and Valspar Duramax. Both are exteriors, paint/primer in 1, flat. I had the colors matched using a NOS part off the truck. I painted less than half the truck with a brush and used almost a full gallon. It was looking very good and the paint has been very durable for me since applying it. I have been very happy with it until today. The weather here took a turn for the worst and it is currently raining. It's been pouring cats and dogs for several hours off and on and I thought I'd see if the cab was getting wet or not. This is when I noticed that a few small areas were lightly bubbling up. Sure enough, a gentle scratch with the thumbnail and the paint came right off. I was pretty shocked, disgusted would be a better word. I worked for over a month getting things prepped. Sanding, priming where needed, the paint was not put on over bare metal but it doesn't seem to have mattered. I did most of my painting about 2 or 3 weeks ago.


I'm not knocking these brands of paints, in fact I like them so much that I will be using them for future projects that are NON vehicle related. Normally something like this would get me madder than heck, especially after so much work. But, I believe in making mistakes and that it's important to learn from them. Everything has it's intended purpose and if you don't abide by that rule, things don't always work out to well. This is good paint, on a house. Not on a truck.

Just thought I'd share this with those who are considering painting their vehicle with house paint. Luckily the bubbled areas are coming off fairly easily with a scraper. I may just remove all of the paint and When it comes time to paint it again, I'll be saving a few extra bucks and just spraying the entire truck with good ol Gillespie 24087.

Thanks for the heads up!

Well now that the truck has fully dried from the rain squalls and I have had a chance to hit some areas with a scraper to get started I found the reason why a few areas bubbled up. Apparently latex paints need a long time to cure, the Behr says up to 2 weeks or more before it can get wet. A quick Wiki search about latex type paints explained it in detail for me. The most common carrier with latex paints is water. When the water and other chemicals in the paint finish fully curing this permanantly bonds the paint molecules together. If the paint gets wet before it has fully cured it simply wants to return to a softer liquid type state.

The problem I experienced today was caused by the paint getting wet before it had fully cured. Mind you, these areas were not much. Mostly the corners where the paint was put on thinner. I did paint the bumper well over a month ago which means it has had plenty of time to cure, it was unharmed by the rain.

Most of all though, my scraper cannot get much paint off. IT IS ON THERE like gorilla glue. I had no clue these latex paints adhered so darn well. My sharpest scraper doesn't even remove much at all and it would take me a very long time to remove it all. Looks like I will be stuck with a latex paint job. I'll finish scraping any water damaged areas, pickup a couple more gallons of the Behr (preferred over valspar) and finish spraying the entire truck when I know for sure the rain clouds are gone for good.

I still would not recommend using house paint for vehicles. When properly cured it's very durable though. I have only made 2 or 3 nicks on the bumpers paint since doing it. That includes weld splatter, tools and walking on it.

I used Behr exterior flat on the inside of my M105 bed over a year ago, held up well so far. I used rattle cans on the exterior since its Woodland camo, but the bed seemed so much easier to do with a roller

After having used both brands side by side, the Behr Premium Plus Ultra Exterior gets my vote over the Valspar Duramax Exterior.
The Behr has a nicer color, goes on MUCH smoother showing almost no brush or roll marks. It's cheaper, It thins very well and dried very hard. Compared to the Valspar, the Behr will actually "chip" when damaged instead of acting like half dried glue.

I don't remember where I read it but somebody said they were told that many Government Contractors are currently using the Behr for Military applications.

The only negative side I found with Behr is that it takes 3 good coats to fully cover what your painting over. It goes on pretty thin for being a house paint. Probably the reason why it dries so smoothly.

I like Gunfreak 25 used the new Behr paint/primer in one matching some rattle can painted parts to do my M971 trailer. Washed it real good with dish soap and a pressure washer first. I am happy whow well this big project came out. The paint has been on the trailer now for 8 months and is holding up real nice. It has been rained and snowed on hard and is still adhering well. I drew the pattern on the trailer with a pencil and then with a small brush outlined the pattern with paint (pain in the butt) then filled it in with a roller. The roller step went fast and easy. Used about 3/4 of a gallon of black and a quart of brown. The OD on the trailer is the original paint. and was in pretty good shape.

Awesome! What did you use to apply the paint? I was thinking of picking up a cheapo HVLP gun from Harbor Freight and just spraying the rest. Don't know if Behr can be sprayed or not though.

I should have checked with 70 deuce before I did my camo paint job. I used some rattle cans and tried to make the patterns by spraying one over the other. It was hard to get a sharp edge. On the bright side, the over spray sort of blends the colors, but the paint pattern does not match the fabric cover. I think I will just stop where I am, because it will likely get worse if I try to make changes.

You can spray most latex house paints fairly well. Paint sometimes has to be thinned depending on the sprayer. One thing about exterior flat house paints (particularly in lighter colors) is that they are chalking paints designed to chalk off over time giving a fresher look to the paint. I once had a customer who bought a car from me and brush painted it in a red enamel. It had brush marks that he buffed out with polish compound. When he was finished it looked like the had spent a fortune on Imron paint at a high dollar paint shop.

Awhile back I made the decision to paint my 54 GMC deuce with regular old latex house paint from my local home improvement store.

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Ok......I am not trying to be a dik here.......but it is called house paint for a reason.

Vehicles need tough paint ......I will go out on a limb here and say that if you ever get a bad fuel leak and diesel sprays all over the paint you are going to have some serious issues.

I see CARC peeling off MV's all the time and that crap will stick to just about anything.

What was the justification for using this type paint? Cost?

What am I missing?

I went to an auto paint shop and got PPG paint mixed for a M105 bed I was going to use for a bobber.......that paint is still looking good even though it has been in the weather for several years.

I don't know, ease of application, good looks, touches up way better than enamels, Home Depots everywhere, easy clean up, maybe a little cheaper, is working well for me and I like the stuff. I guess we'll see how well this stuff holds up but so far so good.

I have had very good results with the latex enamel paint on my deuce and trailers. I have found that prep is very important, and also thinning the paint slightly helps it flow and seal the surface. I also add isopropyl alcohol and warm water to spray it with an HVLP gun. The warm water mixes better with the paint, and the alcohol helps drying time. I use no mre than about 10% of either.

Compared to the precautions required for the CARC paint, I would rather work with a coating that is easy to apply, and also easy to clean up after. If I have to touch up my truck every year, that is fine with me. Paint is cheap.

I also found that diesel fuel and oil has no effect on the well cured paint. I also apply stenciling on the latex using solvent base paint with no problems.

I used to work in a commercial graphics shop and have applied all types of paint from Lacquer, to base coat clear coat and have found that for my health at this point in my life I avoid the high solvency paints if at all possible as I am sure in my past experiences I have been exposed to far more than most folks, with the exception of auto refinishers.
The new CARC is WATER BASED and is as tough as the Solvent based paint used previously. The vast majority of the new Automotive paints are non-solvent based. It is getting more and more difficult to buy any non-water based paint these days.


Like it or not, the future will be water based paint, be it a "latex' paint or some other type. No matter which type they are all manufactured without high solvency chemicals.

RL

I have spilled gasoline and diesel on my bumper, along with grease and brake fluid. The Behr has been extremely tough, in fact it BEATS the durability of some smoke gray Rustoleum enamel I sprayed on some engine components. The drawbacks are few, but it does have a long cure time.

Contrary to popular belief 95% of our so called "latex paints" that we are finding at home improvement stores contain no latex at all. The proper term would be Acrylic.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acrylic_paint

I hate to do this but......
I want my M109 back to it's original 24087 color. Pics of yours would help me decide which paint to use. Do you have the formula they used to mix the paint? Was it a good match?
My MC access door is still the 24087 underneath. I good use that for a color scan.

Not able to take pics right now, all I did was take the fording cap off the dash intake. It hadn't seen the light of day in over 57 years so it was factory fresh 24087 OD Semi Gloss. Just give it to your paint guy and he will get it 100% matched with the laser eye machine. You can get a small sample can for a couple bucks but it's available in flat only. Personally I would just go with a full gallon can and come back for more if you need it (you take the lid in).

I really do like the Behr "flat". It's not really super flat at all, just enough low luster to look perfect. It went on extremely smooth with a paint brush and showed almost no brush strokes. I would choose the Behr over the Valspar any day. This paint job will not fade nearly as bad in the Yuma sun compared to how fast enamel fades here.

Once I finish the rust repair that sounds like just what I'll do. Thanks and will be looking for pics of yours when you can get posted.

in Florida ...well it rains ...and rains and the only water-based paint i will use is all-grip (used in hospitals) and it works just like oil based paint gets just as hard and sticks better with half the price tag.

Just be sure to cover up any rusted areas with a rusty metal primer which the Behr will adhere to quite well. Otherwise the rust will stain through the paint. Also prime bare metal. For those of you with CARC on your trucks, the Behr should adhere like nobody's business.

jeep-Jeep said:

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Why?

I brush painted a 1972 Chevy C30 dump truck 10 years ago with high gloss latex house paint and it still looks good today. The cost is a fraction of "Automotive" paint.