Good questions for sure.....I too am twice as good the second time around. I was kind of embarrassed showing close up pics of my first run but I did it to help others. Let me see if I can answer all of your questions. I have tried to stipple texture in with a paint brush on wet rolled paint and even dabbing a micro fiber towel on wet paint.......it works to a degree but hard to get uniform with all of the angles of an end cap. Note......The Rustoleum naturally lays down quite a bit after being rolled...I have used a 1/2 nap roller many times for added texture and was shocked to see the paint just lay down....yet look really good. There are sooooooo many variables regarding painting though..........prep work......outside temp....humidity.....application type etc. If you want the best results you have to get your stuff sand blasted period. The only other way for best results is to have a grill with no paint chips or scratches which is rare but does occur.
Your question about the double Rustoleum trick has been discussed a couple of times here. Sayyyy roll on the brown stuff then top off with High Heat Ultra spray to darken up. Well I spoke w Rustoleum about that.....I had no confidence w the person I was talking to......but she said it would be ok....but u would have to let the roll on completely cure then start over for the second coat of spray.....meaning scuff up the rolled on paint wipe clean then apply spray. I havent tried it yet but there are a few here that have. That said I did recently try the spray flat followed by the spray gloss Ultra and it did not work.....for some reason the flat dominated the gloss spray.
Side note.......I have had varied results w Rustoleum........Some grills looked almost black...while several have turned out dark brown so I just do not trust it anymore....especially on a grill that I am charging $350 for.
The Krylon is definitely black and gloss......almost too glossy .....
Your question about the double Rustoleum trick has been discussed a couple of times here. Sayyyy roll on the brown stuff then top off with High Heat Ultra spray to darken up. Well I spoke w Rustoleum about that.....I had no confidence w the person I was talking to......but she said it would be ok....but u would have to let the roll on completely cure then start over for the second coat of spray.....meaning scuff up the rolled on paint wipe clean then apply spray. I havent tried it yet but there are a few here that have. That said I did recently try the spray flat followed by the spray gloss Ultra and it did not work.....for some reason the flat dominated the gloss spray.
Side note.......I have had varied results w Rustoleum........Some grills looked almost black...while several have turned out dark brown so I just do not trust it anymore....especially on a grill that I am charging $350 for.
The Krylon is definitely black and gloss......almost too glossy .....
.....I got 3 fans running to move some air.......then I did the shake and stir ( its a new dance ) poured the paint into a small roller trey and applied with the foam roller this time. Well............................................................night and day difference applying with the foam roller. Bottom line is if u had some end caps that were stripped to bare metal then two coats with a foam roller would look very nice.....maybe even too shiny. The only issue I had was getting into the hard to reach angles and around the thermometer holder. That problem is magnified by the fact that you only have 25 to say 40 seconds to apply the paint. So if you think your gunna sit there and tinker around w the roller filling the angles you are wrong.......you gotta move man!!! move move move.....be smart and methodical.....plan your moves before you even wet a roller. The end cap isnt a straight line so you roll once straight across but the second roll is kind of straight and down and if your a perfectionist like me that is a problem. Then on your third pass you try to roll just the little small angle of the end cap but the roller doesnt back all the way in blah blah blah.......so achieving a nice uniform roll on is a little tricky. Now this is all while you are holding the end cap in your hand and manipulating it every which way.....rolling the tops of the end caps then the flat side........and then finally the thin strip that lays against the hood its all a lil tricky to do in 40 seconds or less. The second coat using a foam roller didnt help mask or hide my bare patches on my cook box and again the high gloss didnt help. I dont know yet because I didnt try......but I think it might be possible to create a little texture on a bare end cap with a foam roller and two coats. There is no doubt that on my next grill I will be doing two coats with the foam roller with bare end caps.
