Thanks. It's definitely better than my 1st couple of tries. Since then I've discovered the wonders of Self Etching primer. I'm under no illusions that it will last as long as Cerakote, but for a few bucks I can have a different color few months.
A Spray Max matte clear coat may help somewhat. It won't look shiny. If you want shiny, use gloss. Links further down.
I shot some old school 4 petal aluminum wheels in black with rattle can. Basically the spoke black and polished the aluminum rim. It held up good to heat and road use. Heavy heat actually because they were used in road racing for several years which is not friendly to wheels due to very hot brake temps and high ceramic dust. Brake temps were sustained over 12-24 hour periods as the races were endurance events. Brake temps are in the 1,200 degree plus range in the brake zones approximately 8-13 times per lap braking for each corner depending on the track. The temps are radically hot for a few seconds and cool down quick to high hundreds of degrees. Basically they can glow slightly at night if it's at the end of a long straight and the glow goes away a few seconds after exiting the turns.
Here's what I did:
1. Prepped the rim with hand sanding
2. Primed with etching primer
3. Applied several smooth coats of flat black base coat
4. Color sanded the black base coat lightly for clear coat
5. Applied several coats of clear allowing each to flash off.
6. Set it out in the very hot sun to dry and flow out smooth.
If you have an electric smoker grill that is large enough you can bake your wheels at a couple of hundred degrees for flow.
You must use compatible paints. Enamels with enamel primers or Lacquers with lacquer primers. Don't mix paint types or your asking for heartache and work.
If you have a shop (it looks like you don't due to the shower) you can use a cheap harbor freight regular gun, or a detail gun for all the steps. For primer out of a full-size gun, you will want to ream the tip to a 1.8 - 2mm orifice size if you are shooting it without reducers and just a catalyst. This is for a high build primer. Something that is not needed for gun parts, so you would reduce it down and could probably spray the primer okay with a standard gun which typically has a tip size around 1.4mm. I don't know if this will work because I have dedicated primer guns with larger tips and use them solely for thicker primers and use the other guns for topcoats.
Here is a cheap professional automotive clear coat that will lay down and shoot over enamel and acrylic urethane (automotive paints). So, this means you can top coat Rust Oleum with this stuff. Check the TDS sheet for how to reduce it because you can mix it up three ways from thick to thinner depending on the topcoat scenario.
1. High Build Primer/Filler
2. Primer Surfacer
3. Sealer.
It is worth using 2K automotive clears with rattle can topcoats. They are substantially more durable and heat resistant for battle scars. And you can color sand out scratches to the clear and re-coat if necessary, or just color sand and buff out the scratch if it's not too deep into the base coat.
Amazon product ASIN B00397NQ0C
View: https://www.amazon.com/U-Pol-2882-KIT-STD-URETHANE-CLEARCOAT-UNIVERSAL/dp/B00397NQ0C/
Here is a conventional size spray gun with a 1.4mm tip:
Amazing deals on this 20Oz Hvlp Gravity Air Spray Gun W/Regulator at Harbor Freight. Quality tools & low prices.
www.harborfreight.com
Here is a small detail gun with a 0.8 mm tip. I have never shot Cerakote yet, but I understand that this is the required tip size needed for the viscosity of Cerakote. If you shoot automotive topcoats with this like I've described above, you will need to mess with the gun settings with fan, paint flow and air pressure. Search Youtube for tutorials on how to do this and analyze the spray patterns before you topcoat your guns.
This small gun will allow you to do fine detail work for battleworn or camouflage free-hand style painting.
Amazing deals on this 120Cc Hvlp Touch-Up Air Spray Gun at Harbor Freight. Quality tools & low prices.
www.harborfreight.com
And here is a rattle can version of 2K clear coat. Once activated with the catalyst the pot life of the can is 24-48 hours. Michele has brought up this clear coat in other threads. This clear can also be used to fix spot areas of clear coat that are failing on a car, but it can be a little difficult to blend in with the old paint and clear coat unless you know what you're doing. Don't just sand and shoot. You need to blend an feather it in which requires appropriate sanding grits and prep to be used for each blend panel. But, it can work good for small gun parts.
Available online in a lot of automotive paint repair suppliers or Amazon:
www.spraymax.com