Does spray paint ever go bad?

[Action Jackson]

This thought never occured to me until today. I was painting parts for my 62 revell Impala, and remembered I needed some chevy orange for the engine. Instead of driving into town to purchase a can, I decided to see if I might have something that would come close to the color I needed. I was searching in my outdoor storage building, and to my surprise there was a rusty old can of chevy orange sittting on the shelf. I know for a fact that the can of paint is at leat 20yrs old, can is all rusty, plus it has been subjected to temperatures below 0 & above 100 for all those yrs. Believe it or not it sprayed and looked just as good as a brand new can!!!

[GoatGuy]

Wow. You're lucky. My experience is that the can will lose pressure over time, trapping any leftover paint. I have never tried to extract paint from a "dead" can, but I'd like to.

[Mark]

The can will lose pressure over time, but in many cases the paint inside may still be usable if decanted and applied with an airbrush. I have had paint settle and separate, namely AMT lacquer in solid colors.

[Action Jackson]

the can had full pressure after all those yrs, just in case you were wondering it was plasti-kote engine enamel.

[Jdurg]

Scientifically speaking, it shouldn't go "bad". The can is/was pressurized and devoid of oxygen. For most paints, they work by evaporation of the solvents and if the can is sufficiently sealed, the solvent can't evaporate out. Yes, the pressurization of the can can fail, but if the spray can was designed well it would retain the pressure. The paint itself really can't go bad unless it cures via a chemical reaction. For spray paint, that is very unlikely. So it's not all that shocking that it survived.

[cobraman]

You got the ball to rattle ?

[XJ6]

Interesting...What Brand of Paint do you speak of ? also was this a (unused) can paint ?

Thanks.......

[deja-view]

I've had a lot of my rattle cans go bad...and some that are not that old. Krylon, Rusto, even some Dupli-Color. I haven't used any of my Testor's or Tamiya in so long I'm afraid to try them. I always assumed they'd be good for years and years. Not so much.

[Ben]

Just used a can yesterday that had been sitting for about ten years. Had no problem at all.

[Dr. Cranky]

Yes, on rattle can, and so far no on all my HOK paints. As long as you keep them well sealed in their cans and jars, you will have paint for a good long time. Also my Vallejo Acrylics are holding up very well, and I've had some for five years or longer now.

[Jantrix]

I had a can of Krylon white primer, spontaneously rupture at the bottom seal. It sprayed paint all over the garage. I figure thats about as bad as it can go.

[Junkman]

So, so. I have some that must be something like 40 years old and work a treat, others don't. No correlation to age or anything. I think it's pure coincidence.

If they held the propellant, they should work. If it leaked (and subequently air got in) they have gone off.

[Danno]

I've had spray paint go bad just about every time I point it at a model.

[deja-view]

Danno; Now THAT is funny. Sorry.

Have any of you who have "survivor" cans, and they are working ok, were they used way back when, or is this the first time (like a virrrrrgin)?

[Junkman]

Both. I had used ones from way back when working like a treat, newer virrrrrrgins not working and pretty much everything in between.

[moparmagiclives]

I've had spray paint go bad just about every time I point it at a model.

...next thing you know, your change is missing off the dresser.

Edited April 16, 2012 by moparmagiclives

[espo]

I think it is unusual that the paint would still be good. Not so much from the age, if the pressure had held. From what I have heard, paint exsposed to very low temps will degrade over time. You were truely lucky.

[deja-view]

Geez, and I blamed my granddaughter for all those quarters being gone.

But how many of you have used a can of paint (big can like Krylon), set it away, and the next time it comes dribbling out from under of the nozzle like a oil well? This seems to be a recent thing for me, but it has rendered useless about half the cans I've bought in the past year. No amount of fiddling or resetting the nozzle helps so I end up throwing them away.

It's been the same with spray bottles of household cleaners. About halfway through the bottle the spray handle mechanism just quits pumping and nothing seems to get them going again. Some kind of cheap plastic revolution or Chinese plot to frustrate our simplest tasks I'm guessing.

Where are most of our spray cans and bottles filled and sealed, anyway??

[jamesG]

When I read "can of spray paint go bad" the image of a spraycan with a little black leather jacket with a cigarette sticking out of it's nozzle popped into my mind.

You should really wear a mask when painting lol.