He'll have plenty of competition. Big players including Sherwin-Williams Co. and Benjamin Moore & Co. are also debuting eco-friendly paints.
Still, Savin's product is winning a following. In addition to the Hilton and the roofs of dozens of homes, the rubberized undercoat now covers a large swath of pavement outside a Palm Desert Wal-Mart.
He also hopes to expand the use of the paint to other structures such as shipping cargo containers and dams to prevent rust.
Rancho Mirage resident David Baron credits Hyperseal paint with helping him cut his $2,500-a-month summer electricity bill by more than half. Living without air conditioning in 110-degree heat just wasn't an option.
"I gave it a shot because I was looking for anything to help," said Baron, who spent $10,000 to cover the roof of his 5,600-square-foot house. "We're talking huge energy savings. This will pay for itself in a year or two."
It's those kind of stories that keep the octogenarian Savin going. He claims to sometimes test new batches at 3 a.m. His house is beset with swipes of paint -- on the rusted gate, on labeled bricks by the pool. The mulch around an outdoor fountain consists of recycled rubber chunks.
His laundry room is a makeshift lab, where paint spackles the washer and dryer and rubber blackens the sink. Even the parking lot at the 15,000-square-foot factory is checkered with paint.
"He ran out of room at his own house," said Loch Jones, Hyperseal Inc.'s director of marketing. "If you're a friend of the colonel's, watch your driveway."
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