lavron wrote:Sometimes I move backwards trying to go forward
I was pretty much done with my hood priming and filling the hood ornament indent but had one little low spot on the front edge. In town today I bought some Bondo glazing putty that cures by UV in the sun, well that is what the tube says, I ended up with a sticky mess and had to sand/grind it off, took me forever to get everything smoothed back out.
Found out there is a world of difference between pro grade primer in a spray bomb and Rustoleum, I ran out of primer so I used some of the high build Rustoleum primer and it went on super dry"ash" and has horrible orange peel, if you can even call it that, now I will have to try and DA the primer back smooth and finish blocking it.
Thinking about ordering a gallon of the Eastwood Contour Polyester Primer for the rest of the car and one of their cheap big tip HPVL guns ($30) for primer, or seeing if HF has something similar.
See Ya,
Mike
You really want to have a plan with what system and products you want to use on your paint/bodywork and stick to it. The system doesn't have to be high end or even all one brand, (although I stick to one brand with my paint work and would suggest others do also)
My system is
1) get panel to bare metal
2) do metal work, cut out bad, weld in new, any hammer dolly work
3) 2 coats epoxy primer, IMHO this is a very important step and have seen big differences over the years epoxy vs not
4) filler work,
5) epoxy prime over filler work, don't do whole panel just over the filler area and beyond a few inches
6) primer surfacer
7) block sand with 180-220,and any finish putty if needed, if car needs blocked more repeat 6and 7 once car is straight go to 8
8 ) reapply primer surfacer and block with 400-600
9) paint
Be very careful with (or even better, stay away from) spray cans and using different brands as you go, find a decent/good brand and stick with it.
You want to use two part products, they will have a hardner's or activator. Single part products (found in spray cans) will melt?? Get funny when you put other products over them. They can also craze, lift, bubble, shrink, etc. I have a couple spray bombs of various primers in my shop and only use them for small, quick, cheap jobs. Have had people bring me cars they have used spray can primer and more than not have problems.
Now you do not have to go big with the high end paint. I have done many jobs with cheaper/mid grade paint systems and they look great. And they are a lot cheaper than the high end stuff. But I use the epoxy, primer, paint all from the same system. Although sometimes I will put the better clear over top for the better uv protection.
I have been using PPG for too long lol. But they have the cheaper grades such as Omni, Shopeline that work well.
IMO the most important part is getting the epoxy down first.
There are many more steps like you could have 1a) 1b) etc. but these basics will get you in the right direction and eliminate many of the problems people have doing body/paint work.
Lou
Of course you know it means now I want to do more and I am not really sure it fits in my schedule, maybe if I can do one small thing (bite) at a time I can get something accomplished and eventually I will have consumed my elephant.
