Technical question for painters...

Since the change in season here I'm facing the reality that I can't leave my project in primer or bare metal any longer. I've decided to get it covered for now with some Rustoleum rattle can...I know, I know, but it's temporary and will all be coming off. A buddy of mine said that I need to not start body work until the weather is consistently warm and dry and until I am preparred to follow through without any lag time for mositure to seep into the primer and bondo. So here's my question:

If I decide to do the car in segments, one fender or door or section at a time, can I get that one piece perfect, then prime it, and then shoot it with an inexpensive single stage product...bolt it back on, do the next, bolt it back on, etc... and then when it's all done and fit correctly, can't I just scuff the single stage, using it as a base, and shoot my final 2 stage over the top of it?

My thinking is that the single stage will protect my work from moisture and the elements while I do the work in stages. I'm also thinking that my single stage would be very close in color to my two stage so that I wouldn't need to use as much of the more expensive two stage product to get adequate coverage. Am I wrong in thinking this is a good way to tackle the job during the wet season while allowing myself time to work on each piece as I have time without rushing myself?

The two stage paint I'm using is Valspar (getting a good deal from a friend), so I figured that their single stage LIC product would be a good candidate for the single stage base color. I can get about a gallon sprayable for less than $100.

 

Are you working outside? Just say NO to RUSTOLEUM I wouldn't use that garbage on lawn chairs.

 

Make sure you get all the rustoleom off first like you said. Everything you said above will work but you won't get uniform color doing it in pieces spaced out over a long period of time.


Your better off just getting it in primer one piece at a time then spraying the whole thing

 

I get what you're saying about uniform color. My thinking is that I will get everything in single stage first. Once the bodywork is complete and everything is covered with the single stage color, I'd scuff it and paint it ll at once with the two stage color and clear.

 

You could just prime the panels after perfecting each one with an epoxy primer. I use Sikkens products, but any major company has good stuff that would hold up to the elements great,keeping moisture at bay and allow finishing later with more filler primer for perfection or even certain body fillers, and of course, more filler primer. I wouldn't waste the time to lay down a single stage paint, and then later sand/ scuff to paint over. Just my opinion. Been painting for 30 years now. Good luck however you do it.

 

You can’t paint over rustoleum so that would all have to come off. Doing the body work one panel at a time, painting it with single stage then painting over it again should work. However if you sand trough the single stage when prepping for finial paint you’ll have to prime any areas so you don’t have any wrinkling or shrinkage issues.

 

I was under the impression that any primer, including epoxy primer, can't withstand the elements. I'm not talking about keeping it garaged in the meantime, I'm talking about driving it while going through this process. I understand the desire to not paint at all prior to final paint, but it is really the only way I can see that I can do one piece at a time and allow 6 months of time between the first piece and the last piece before being ready for final paint.

 

Ya, most primers are not waterproof. Some people say that epoxy is OK out in the weather but others say it's not. The best thing to do is talk to the paint rep. or read the tech sheets on the products you will be using. The single stage paint is probably cheaper that epoxy and if your going to be spraying something anyway why not just use the paint?

 

Epoxy is fine and waterproof, my friend got his 50 ford to finish paint stage but fell on hard times, we epoxied it and its been sitting outside for 8 years now, it's still perfect just faded a bit as epoxy don't like the light.

 

How long has it been bare / primered ?

If you're able to match the color, why not just do the panels with $100 worth of the product you actually want? I don't know what you're planning as the final product, but I'm guessing the $150 or so I spent on a small can of a pearl metallic base with its clear/hardener/reducer over the summer for a single panel job can't be far off what you could have into doing a panel or two. They set me up with the (well known?) brand name base and house brand other cans so I wasn't at or over $200.

It's just way too easy to "save money" by working for yourself at a pittance per hour. Give yourself results.

 

what he said.

The locally produced epoxy primer I'm using (pretty sure it's rebranded Dupont) is actually rated as an industrial top coat for steelwork and concrete and can be tinted to almost any colour.

Personally I think paints, solvents and time are too expensive to be spraying them on only to have to strip them off later.

 

I'm not sure if your referring to Rustolem as a single stage. Pretty much any automotive paint that's used nowadays will have a hard time going over that,unless it's completely removed. Might a suggest getting an epoxy primer such as the Shop Line series JP 375 from PPG. It's durable and fairly inexpensive. The big thing is you won't have to remove it no matter what goes over it. It can be used as a bottom coat to go on clean raw metal or reduced to be used as a sealer over whatever you've already done. Put on the right material to do the job and use no more than you have too. This epoxy has nothing to do with film build just isolation.

 

The Rustoleum is completely temporary...it will ALL be coming off before any bodywork or priming is done.

The reason I was thinking about doing one panel at a time and then painting them with single stage as I go is because 1) I didn't know epoxy primer could withstand the elements and 2) the color I'm going to shoot is heavy on the pearl and everything needs to be shot at once to get uniform color. If I shot the pearl piece by piece nothing would match in the end. Also, the color is very expensive, and I can't afford to risk it all mismatching and having to re-purchase it and reshoot it again later.

I'll look into the epoxy primer...it may be the way I go, but I'll need to be re***ured by the paint rep that it will last through a wet season.

Thanks for all the advice guys.

 

So far it seems like this is going according to plan. I sand blasted my hood latch plate, radiator support and upper and lower grille support (with very fine white sand - gave them a nice texture...not too co****) and grille support spacer plate and then shot them with green self-etching primer. I bought and sprayed Valspar LIC (industrial epoxy) and it laid down pretty nice. I ended up with 1 gallon and 1 quart sprayable for $78...MUCH cheaper than epoxy primer, and after asking a few local painters, I was told that epoxy primer will not hold up in our climate. Many of them say they have seen rust freckling coming through the primer within a month or so. This LIC industrial epoxy is going to serve as a base for any filler and pre-paint primer when i get to that point, and it will last a few years at minimum if necessary. I also had the LIC tinted to match the color of the Crustoleum, just so it is all the same color. As soon as I have time I will strip the Rustoleum off a part, do body and paint prep and shoot it in the LIC. I'm going to do this one piece at a time until all the panels are ready to be scuffed and shot with the final 2 stage color I've picked. I'll let you allknow how things work out as my project progresses.