Which Primer Hot Rodders?

Hey all,

Have been off the site and off the hot rod for a while, but feel an itch a comin'. One of the ideas I had to get me ambitionated, was to wire wheel a variety of parts and prime them so things are cleaner and easier to move around.

I have an old spay gun and a Craftsman compressor, and I was wondering what to use as a covering primer to seal, stop rust, and simply clean up many of my parts and body pieces, so I have a better and cleaner feel about the build. I am hoping that if the damn thing, as a whole, doesn't look so damn rattish it may help me to ***ess where I currently am and which path of action I need to take next.

Do I want acid/etching if I can't get to bare metal in all cases? Which primer is best for filling? I am looking for actual product names, whether they are two stages or not, what their benefits are and what their general costs are.

What about primer I saw while buying bolts at Tractor Supply? Is s that going to give me issues later considering compatibility or certain paints?

I really don't want to get slammed, but I had an idea of just buying the dollar (literally a buck) cans of flat black at Home depot or Lowes and just covering everything I wire wheel with a shake bomb (ten cans - 12 bucks); but will I run into problems with paint not sticking or popping in the long run because of some paint comparability?

Thanks ahead for all responses
Pork

 

priming over rust is not ideal. you are better off getting the rust off by sandblasting, grinding ,sanding or wire wheeling then prime with a epoxy primer/sealer. there are "rusty" metal primers and por products but i like to just get rid of the rust instead of covering it. PPG sells DPLF epoxy that is very good, although not a filler primer, so you would have to spray a filler primer over it.

 

I hang out a lot down at Squeeg's, and have seen them start to finish bare metal cars to paint. The best thing to do is talk to Doug down at their shop, and get the full scoop on their primer. Here's what I do know, they get a car back from the media blaster, and straight into the booth for 2 coats of their epoxy primer. Doug says they don't even touch the newly blasted metal because oil from their hands contaminate it, but I guess once it's sealed with two coats, it's protected from everything, and from what I've seen at the shop after the two coats have dried, they do all their body filler work on top of it, or, if the part doesn't need body work, they just spray like 4 or 5 coats, and then block sand it to straighten out any imperfections.
Everybody I've talked to says it's an excellent filler, and easy to sand. Oh by the way, they preach that it doesn't shrink or blister, and it's direct to metal primer. Hope this helps.
Doug's shop number is (480)834-0324

 

If you do not have access to blasters, I think you may get better results than using a wire wheel by cleaning the metal with a Clean n'Strip disc. 3M makes them in several ways, but start out with a couple from Home Depot, True Value, or similar. These stores sell, I think, a 6" mounted on a 1/4" mandrel, which you can chuck up in a drill, die grinder, etc. Try drill first, be careful with RPM in die grinder. The discs are 1/2" thick or so and are abrasives in a black binder stuff. They take everything off right down to metal, without taking metal, and without too much heat. I stripped a '47 Ford woodie with several once. They work great! They are available at industrial suppliers in larger quan***ies and diameters, usually NOT with the buy-it-separately arbor.

Now that's a good tip, I don't care who you are. (Cableguy)

 

Thanks guys. The cheapest and easiest way to cover is the black flat black rattle cans, but I fear having issues down the road with paint bonding.
I Like the clean and strip wheel idea. I remember buying something like that back in the Eighties and it didn't do squat; I don't think mine were 3m, though. I ***ume they have stepped it up a notch by now?

 

Who cares if the paint flakes off in a year or two. Your talking about using $12 worth of paint. If it starts to flake, scuff it up again, brake down and spend another $12 on paint.

 

Is the car/parts going to sit out in the weather for a while? If so, use a good epoxy primer.

Are you going to store it indoors while you work on it? Just shoot it with cheap rattle can paint....you'll be sanding it all off anyway.....save the money for something better.

 

If you are talking rattle cans, I guess you aren't building a show car but a driver (good for you).
Clean the parts up best you can, and rattle can with Rustoleum or Ace Hardware red (rusty metal) primer, let dry for a week.

 

If you intend to spray bomb the car for final color, then go for it with your $12 "fix."

If you intend to use any "automotive" grade paint system, expect comparability issues.

But as someone said, it's $12 in paint, after all the effort of getting all the rust off, and the pieces straight, you should have no difficulties taking the spray paint off.

 

thanks all

 

The primers you are talking about are porous to water. You need some sort of a top coat to seal the metal.