Yes, inside a spray can. Top pick is Fusion All-In-One at $6 to $9, the one mainstream aerosol that grips rigid plastic, PVC, and bare metal with no sanding and no primer. COLORmaxx at $5 to $9 is the everyday color can. Krylon wins on flash time, tip control, and craft-grade pigment. It falls short on film thickness, sun resistance, and nozzles that clog on half-full cans. There is no gallon wall paint here at all.
- +Fusion All-In-One bonds to rigid plastic, PVC, metal, wood, and wicker with no sanding and no primer can, at $6 to $9
- +Flash times are the fastest on the aisle: Rust Protector is touch-dry in 8 minutes, COLORmaxx handles in an hour, so a small piece goes back in the room the same evening
- +The any-angle push-button tip sprays upside down and sideways without sputtering, which is why chair spindles and wicker weave go faster with Krylon
- +The CoverMax tint base keeps reds and blues saturated instead of grayed out by filler, which is the whole reason Michaels and Hobby Lobby stock Krylon first
- +The specialty bench has no real rival: Looking Glass covers about 7 square feet against Rust-Oleum Mirror Effect's 4, and Triple-Thick lays down roughly three coats of clear in one pass
- +Crystal Clear, the 1947 formula the company started with, is still the default art-school sealer for charcoal, prints, and acrylic paintings
- +The rust and ag bench is real and cheap: Rust Tough claims about 40 percent more corrosion protection than Rust Protector, and Farm & Implement runs about $7 a can at Lowe's and Tractor Supply
- −Clogged nozzles are the single most repeated complaint, and they strand cans that are still half full — Krylon's own fix is to invert and purge for 5 seconds after every use
- −The name says All-In-One, but flexible polyethylene and polypropylene still peel unless you scuff and degrease first, and the plastic-only Fusion for Plastic that people remember is gone
- −COLORmaxx cures thinner than Rust-Oleum Painter's Touch 2X and chips on handled edges inside a year
- −Sun is the weak point across the line: dark colors chalk and fade by the second summer, and Triple-Thick ambers in a bright window because it is not a UV-resistant formula
- −Four names collide on one shelf — COLORmaxx against the discontinued ColorMaster, Rust Protector against Rust Tough — and buyers pick wrong constantly
- −Longtime users on tractor and hot-rod forums say the cans run and cover worse than they remember, and the 1.6-star complaint pages back up that the QC is streaky
- −No gallon wall paint, no garage-floor kit, no tub refinish, no cabinet enamel — outside aerosol the brand does not compete
The Line Ladder: Which Krylon Can to Buy
This is the block most people came for. Prices are per 12-ounce can at Home Depot, Lowe's, Walmart, and Amazon in 2026, and they barely move across the year. Rows are ordered by the job the can solves, not by price.
There Is No Sale Calendar — Here Is What a Fair Price Looks Like
Stop waiting for a Krylon sale. There is no paint-brand promotional cycle here the way Sherwin-Williams runs 30 to 40 percent off every four to six weeks on gallons. Krylon sells through Home Depot, Lowe's, Walmart, Ace, Michaels, Hobby Lobby, Tractor Supply, and Amazon, and every one of them treats aerosol as a fixed-price shelf item. Lowe's starts Krylon cans around $7.48 and moves a color a dollar or two when it is a seasonal trend shade. That is the whole discount story.
The real lever is pack size. A single Fusion can runs $6 to $9; the same can in a six-pack drops to roughly $5. If you are doing a set of dining chairs, a fence run, or a room of decor, buy the multipack and stop cross-shopping. If you need one color for one lamp base, buy the single can and accept the per-can premium, because a six-pack of a shade you will never use again is not a saving.
Channel matters more than timing on this brand. Walmart is usually cheapest on Crystal Clear and the everyday cans. Michaels and Hobby Lobby carry the craft-specific colors and sheens the big boxes skip, and their store coupons are the closest thing to a Krylon discount that exists. Tractor Supply and Lowe's own Farm & Implement. Grainger and Fastenal own the Industrial line at case pricing. As a sanity check: over about $14 for any consumer 12-ounce Krylon can except High Heat means you are in the wrong store.
The Cons Only Forums Talk About
The Nozzle Clogs, and It Strands Full Cans
This is the loudest recurring complaint on the brand, across model rocketry forums, model railroad forums, and consumer complaint boards where Krylon sits at 1.6 stars. The pattern is always the same: a can sprays fine, gets set down, and never sprays again, with paint still sloshing inside. Krylon's own guidance is the fix — invert the can and hold the tip down for about 5 seconds until only clear gas comes out, every single time you finish a pass. Do it religiously or budget for dead cans.
All-In-One Does Not Mean All Plastics
The can that made the brand's reputation was Fusion for Plastic, and it is gone, folded into Fusion All-In-One with rust protection and a much wider surface claim. On rigid plastic, PVC, and resin the grip carried over. On the bendy, waxy-feeling polyethylene and polypropylene most people assume it covers — storage bins, cheap patio chairs, kayaks — forum reports of peeling, fisheye, and long tackiness are common, and prep is usually the culprit. Scuff it, wipe it with a degreaser, spray thin. Or accept it will not hold.
The Film Is Thin Where It Counts
COLORmaxx and ColorMaster both cure thinner than Rust-Oleum Painter's Touch 2X, and it shows on anything hands touch. Painted lamp bases and frames are fine. Painted drawer pulls, chair arms, tool handles, and toy boxes chip at the edges inside a year. Chalky Finish is worse until you seal it — the bare chalk surface scuffs with a fingernail and rings under a glass. Neither is a defect; both are the trade for how fast these cans flash off. Plan a clear topcoat on anything handled.
Four Names, One Shelf, Constant Wrong Purchases
Krylon has run near-identical products under names one letter apart for years. COLORmaxx against ColorMaster was bad enough that the company retired ColorMaster to clean up the shelf. Rust Protector against Rust Tough is the same trap running right now, and the two sit side by side at Lowe's at nearly the same price with meaningfully different corrosion claims. Add Fusion All-In-One inheriting a name from the discontinued plastic-only can, and a shopper reading the front of the can is guessing. Read the substrate line on the back.
Longtime Users Say It Is Not the Can It Was
On tractor, hot-rod, and general shop forums, the recurring line from people who bought Krylon for decades is that quality slipped. The specific complaints repeat: it does not cover in the passes it used to, and it runs easily on verticals. Rust-Oleum gets named as the safer pick for anything that takes real use, trailers and implements especially. Take it as a batch-consistency warning rather than a verdict — test a card before you commit a whole project, and spray thinner passes than the label suggests.
The Questions Between Two Cans
Krylon Fusion vs COLORmaxx
The most-asked Krylon question, and the answer is the surface, not the color. Fusion is built to grab: slick plastic, PVC, resin, bare metal, wicker, anything you would rather not sand. COLORmaxx is built to give you the exact shade across flat, satin, semi-gloss, and gloss for indoor decor. Plastic chair, Fusion. Lamp base, COLORmaxx. If the piece is both slick and needs a specific shade, Fusion first and accept the shallower deck.
Full comparison →Rust-Oleum Painter's Touch 2X vs Krylon Fusion
2X wins on film build, color depth, and shelf coverage at Home Depot. Fusion wins on adhesion to anything you cannot sand. For wood furniture, frames, terracotta, and primed metal, Painter's Touch is the better can and usually the cheaper one per project. For bare plastic, PVC, planters, and unprimed outdoor metal, Fusion is the one that is still on there next summer.
Full comparison →Krylon vs Rust-Oleum Overall
They split the aisle cleanly. Krylon owns craft, fine detail, and specialty effects: pigment tuning, Looking Glass, Triple-Thick, Crystal Clear, Camouflage. Rust-Oleum owns durability and specialty coatings: Stops Rust on scaled iron, EpoxyShield on garage floors, Tub & Tile. They overlap only on general-purpose color aerosol, and there Rust-Oleum has the thicker film and Krylon the truer color. Pick by substrate, not by loyalty.
Rust Protector vs Rust Tough
Rust Tough is the newer formula and the one Krylon points at, claiming roughly 40 percent more corrosion protection than Rust Protector for a dollar or two more per can. Both go direct to clean or wire-brushed metal with no primer. Neither converts rust, so flaking scale has to come off first either way. Buy Rust Tough unless the sheen or color you need only survives in the Rust Protector deck.
Chalky Finish vs Rust-Oleum Chalked
The format decides it. Krylon Chalky Finish is an aerosol, so spindles, wicker, and carved detail go three times faster and with no brush marks. Rust-Oleum Chalked is brush-on with a deeper deck and a buttery feel on flat panels. Small detailed pieces, spray Krylon. Dresser fronts and tabletops where you want a thicker film, brush Rust-Oleum. Both need a wax or matte poly before anything gets touched daily.
All Krylon Reviews
9 products reviewed in this brand.
Krylon Questions, Answered
Is Krylon spray paint any good?
Yes, inside a spray can. Krylon is the US aerosol specialist, and it is the strongest brand on the shelf for craft, fine detail, and specialty effects. Fusion All-In-One grips rigid plastic and PVC with no primer, the pigment reads truer than the hardware-store rivals, and the flash times are the fastest in the aisle. Outside aerosol it does not compete: no gallon wall paint, no floor kit, no cabinet enamel.
Is Krylon owned by Sherwin-Williams?
Yes. Sherwin-Williams bought Krylon Products Group in 2008 from Newell Rubbermaid for roughly $114 million and folded it into the consumer brands portfolio alongside Minwax, Dutch Boy, Pratt & Lambert, and Thompson's WaterSeal. SW runs it as a standalone retail brand, so the can face, the formulas, and the product names did not change. The parent shows up on the back-label legal text and on krylon.com, and Krylon aerosols cross-stock at Sherwin-Williams stores.
What is the difference between Krylon COLORmaxx and Fusion All-In-One?
Adhesion versus color. Fusion is the bonding can — it grips rigid plastic, PVC, resin, bare metal, and wicker with no sanding and no primer, and it adds rust protection. COLORmaxx is the color can — the widest Krylon deck across flat, satin, semi-gloss, and gloss, self-priming on clean wood and metal, and thinner in film. Both run $5 to $9. If the surface is slick, buy Fusion. If the shade matters more than the grip, buy COLORmaxx.
Is Krylon spray paint acrylic, enamel, or oil based?
Most consumer Krylon cans are solvent-borne acrylic enamels. The word acrylic on the label describes the resin, not a water base, so cleanup is mineral spirits or acetone and never water. Krylon also sells a true lacquer spray and, on the industrial side, an actual waterborne acrylic enamel. For model and craft compatibility, treat a standard Krylon can as an enamel: give it real cure time and do not spray a lacquer over it.
Is there a latex or water-based Krylon spray paint?
Not in the consumer aisle. Listings that say acrylic latex are describing the acrylic resin, not a latex wall paint, and the propellant carrier is still solvent. The one genuinely waterborne product is Krylon Industrial Waterborne Acrylic Enamel, which is an MRO product sold through Grainger and industrial distributors rather than Home Depot. If you specifically need low odor and water cleanup, a brush-on acrylic is the honest answer, not an aerosol.
What happened to Krylon ColorMaster?
It was discontinued and replaced by COLORmaxx. Krylon was running two near-identical all-purpose paint-and-primer cans with names one letter apart, buyers mixed them up constantly, and the company standardized on COLORmaxx. ColorMaster was not killed for performing badly — the fast dry, the CoverMax tint base, and the any-angle tip all carried over. Remaining stock at $5 to $8 is sell-through, not restock. To finish or match an old ColorMaster project, buy COLORmaxx.
Krylon or Rust-Oleum — which should I buy?
Buy by substrate. Krylon for bare plastic and PVC (Fusion), craft color and models (COLORmaxx), mercury glass (Looking Glass), heavy clear gloss (Triple-Thick), art sealing (Crystal Clear), and glare-killing flat (Camouflage). Rust-Oleum for scaled iron (Stops Rust), garage floors (EpoxyShield), tubs (Tub & Tile), and anything outdoors that takes hard use. On plain color aerosol, Rust-Oleum lays a thicker film and Krylon reads truer color.
Does Hobby Lobby sell Krylon?
Yes, and so does Michaels. The craft channel is where Krylon outsells Rust-Oleum, and it carries specialty colors and sheens the big boxes skip — Chalky Finish, Crystal Clear, Looking Glass, and the metallics especially. Store coupons at the craft chains are the closest thing to a Krylon discount that exists. For Fusion, Rust Protector, Rust Tough, and High Heat, go to Home Depot, Lowe's, Walmart, or Ace instead.
How many Krylon colors are there and where do I browse them?
The count depends on the line, not the brand. COLORmaxx carries the widest deck at roughly 70 colors across flat, satin, semi-gloss, and gloss, plus separate metallic and primer ranges. Fusion All-In-One is shallower at around 40. Specialty lines like Camouflage carry six earth tones and High Heat is essentially black or aluminum. Browse by line on krylon.com, then check stock at Lowe's or Home Depot, because shelf availability decides more than the deck does.
What is Krylon Farm & Implement paint for?
Repainting tractors, trailers, mowers, and implements in factory equipment colors. It is a high-gloss direct-to-metal enamel with rust protection, sold as a 12-ounce aerosol at around $7 at Lowe's and Tractor Supply, and also in quarts and gallons for brush and spray-gun work. The aerosol dries to touch in about 15 minutes and to handle in an hour. A catalyst hardener and a reducer exist for the larger sizes when you want a harder, sprayable film.
What is Krylon Rust Tough and how is it different from Rust Protector?
Rust Tough is the newer rust-preventive line and Krylon's stated successor to Rust Protector, claiming roughly 40 percent stronger corrosion protection. Both go direct to clean or wire-brushed metal with no sanding and no primer, both come in flat through high-gloss, and Rust Tough runs a dollar or two more per can. Neither converts existing rust — flaking scale still has to come off, or you are just sealing the corrosion under a nice color.
Why will my Krylon can not spray anymore?
The tip is clogged with cured paint, which is the most common Krylon complaint and it happens on cans still half full. Pull the tip off, soak it in mineral spirits or acetone, and clear the hole with a fine wire. Prevent it next time by inverting the can after every pass and holding the button down about 5 seconds until only clear gas comes out. Storing cans upright and warm, not cold, also helps.
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