Painting

[canadianregal]

I have been reading post about paint and it seems the regals were painted wit laquer paint. My question is I want to paint with base clear so do i have to strip to bare metal and then primer base for base clear or can it be sanded smooth and blocked straight then a sealer finish then base clear?

 

[canadianregal]

Just found it

Ive just found a post about sealing paint--seems its not a good idea--guess ill get stripping The car i mean

 

[UR50SLO]

The right way to do it is definatly down to bare metal.
The next step I take is to put a Epoxy Primer down before doing any body work or actual "filler primer"

Filler primer does not have good adheasion to bare metal.

Body fillers (aka bondo) have good adheasion to metal but when you put epoxy primer down first your filler has 15times the adheasion over bare meatal. Get a good 180G scratch down on the spot's your going to be filling (dents ect)

Epoxy priimer is also as close to the factory "E" coat as we can duplicate out here in the aftermarket paint world.

Once your done with Epoxy prime, body work, Filler primer and ALOT of block sanding 180G then 320G ...

your final prep would be wetsanding the panels with P600 or 800G then a final wash with 1000G in your hand almost like using a sponge.

It takes alot of time to final prep/tape a car up but it's worth it when there's only a few spec's of dust to nib out on a entire car after it's painted.

The quality of the products you use will determine the life of your paint job along with the prep work.

We use Sikkens Autobase Plus (not cheap) with Extreem clear or Lessonal clear. In a down draft booth with bake.

Good luck and have fun getting dusty!

~Scott

 

[canadianregal]

Thanks for the reply--very informative and sounds like you know your stuff
The local paint supplier i have deals in sikkens and i have used lesonal clear on our tractor trailer paint repairs. I have never used epoxy primer but shouldnt be too hard to learn it...I was wondering how far to take the sanding as i will be using black and we all know how tempermental black is to use, pretty much has to be perfect, time consuming to use black but wow what a color when your done :biggrin: -- got lots of work ahead but then again this is the fun stuff---oh well i can always tinker with the motor when i get bored sanding or frustrated--Thanks again for the reply , i will be saving that recipe on micro word for later reference...im gonna finish the underneath of the car with por 15 then paint first then on to the top...thanks again

 

[UR50SLO]

No problem... glad I can help!

If your supplier has Lessonal... .They have the "EP" or epoxy primer too. I actualy use that instead of the Autobase plus version in Sikkens (too much money)
In Lessonal the EP primer/sealer is around 125.00 and the hardner is 17.00. You'll need the Medium reducer (or fast) depending on where your doing the spraying.... (contaminates)

As for the sanding... I final sand with 600grit wet (or P800grit) same thing.
Then when I'm washing the car off with water I use 1000G lightly going over all the panels.

Use a water based degreaser for your final prep (autoclean) is the name I think... It does a much better job of cleaning off dust and wet/dry sanding dust ect than the chemical based cleaners.

On a solid color it's more important to have the body flat... black,white,yellow orange ect can actualy get away with a 320 scratch and not see it down below the clear just because the reflection of a solid color does not show the scratches. (Don't short cut just because you know that)

On a Metalic color you'll defiantly see a 320 or sometimes 600G scratch right away because the scratch makes the metallics flop different ways when they fall into the scratch .....you see it as lines.

Don't use any sealer!!! It'll take away the gloss ... It is not needed when you've got a good primer preped surface.
Don't let a car sit very long after final prep... the primer will close up and you'll have to go around and lightly sand it again. (day max)

If you run into specific questions fell free to e-mail me

It'd take me a month to describe all the little details!!!!!

~Scott

 

[canadianregal]

Thanks

lots more info to digest---ill take you up on the offer later when i get ready to paint for some more questions pbobably
Thanks again
Roger