On Tuesday, April 16, 2013 11:44:01 AM UTC-7, Jasmine wrote:

My dryer is getting rust stains on my whites and I want to paint a small
area on the dryer drum. My problem is that I have been unable to find
the heat resistant enamel appliance paint to take care of this.

You don't need heat resistant paint, but it's available everywhere as
barbque paint, and car parts stores sell hi-temp paint for exhaust
systems. However they may not harden completely unless subjected
to heat, like over 150 degrees F. Even regular enamels, urethanes,
and 1-part epoxy paints won't harden for a long time unless you do
that, so you may want to follow Willshak's recommendation to use
2-part epoxy paint.

To make the paint stick well and prevent the rust from coming back,
you need to either remove 100% of the rust, use paint made for
rusty surfaces (Krylon sells it), or apply rust converter (POR-40
is best because it cures so hard). Naval Jelly is good for not only
removing rust (may have to apply it several times and sand or
scrape) but also makes paint stick better to bare steel, meaning
it should help prevent future rust. Enamel paints are a lot less
permeable to moisture than are lacquers (car touch-up paint).

Curing 1-part paint requires higher temps than hair dryers put
out, but if you use a heat gun, be sure it has at least 3-4
temperature settings or it will melt or burn the paint. Ace
Hardware has $36 heat gun with 10 temperature settings that
works well for this:

http://www.acehardware.com/product/i...ID=3 31924202

Nestork's diagnosis of rust being caused by a worn rear felt drum
seal letting in exhaust moisture was dead-on accurate in the case of
my parent's Whirlpool dryer. The replacement felt seal kit included
some special high temperature rubber glue that was a lot darker than
normal (but rated for the same temperature as regular paint -- that's
why I said you don't need special hi-temp paint). Another type of
rubber glue that will work is automotive disk brake anti-squeak. It
used to be sold under the Bendix brand but is now from CRC:

http://www.amazon.com/CRC-Disc-Brake.../dp/B000CINV88

I've seen it in orange, green, and blue. It can take even higher temps
than the glue included with dryer drum rear seal kits (I used it to glue
some rubber in the engine compartment of my Toyota). The only
downside of it is that it stains badly, so be careful not to spill it.

If you're going to go to the trouble of removing the dryer drum to
paint it or replace its rear felt seal, you may as well install a new
drive belt, drive belt tensioner, and rear support rollers (2) because
they don't cost that much more. I don't know if you need to
replace the front felt seal/bearing, but it doesn't cost much, either.

Parts prices can vary a lot, and sometimes Sears is cheaper than
other places.