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Fri Aug 09, 2013 10:36 pm

My body work is being done out in the open, only covered by a portable garage that only has a tarp over the roof at the moment. The portable garage will eventually become my paint booth with fans, filters, clear plastic sheeting, etc.
I have almost the complete rear end stripped to bare metal (for body work/ metal replacement) and DO NOT plan to completely strip the front 2/3 of the car. The 1/3 that is stripped has developed a good coat of surface rust (despite soaking it a few times with 'Etch&Prep' phosphoric acid), tho that's expected being outside I guess. I see that Rustoleum and Eastwood both sell a "2K Epoxy" in a spray can http://www.rustoleum.com/product-catalog/industria...mer-spray/
and I was wondering if this might fit my needs. I'd like to sand down all the surface rust from the bare metal (w/ 80 grit ?) and spray this 2K epoxy aerosol primer over it to protect from further rusting until I get around to the paint. Does this sound like an acceptable method? This would keep me from having to create my temporary booth before I actually shoot my single stage Omni paint. Keeping me from doing it twice basically.. Thoughts, suggestions ? Thanks.

Sat Aug 10, 2013 12:52 am

I have used the spray-max and eastwood ones, and they work very well. Heck of a lot better than anything else in a spray can.
One thing I noticed is they don't cover anywhere near as much as you'd expect, seems like each can only has 6 ounces of paint in it. :shock:
Somewhat expensive, but handy

Sat Aug 10, 2013 8:59 am

yea three cans would have me at almost $90 at the prices I'm finding.. so forget that, I guess. Especially if they tend to be half empty cans. Thanks for the heads up.

SS Omni paint calls for MP170 epoxy primer - is there a better option I should look into at this price point? Or should I just stay with the Omni recommendation?

Also - since I'm not stripping down 2/3 of the car, only scuffing with 400 (as recommended by the Omni tech sheet), will I be shooting epoxy over the scuffed factory paint?

Sat Aug 10, 2013 4:13 pm

I bought a gallon of epoxy primer/sealer once, and it only took a pint to do the whole car, because it is very thin stuff. That gallon could have done three cars, or at least three full coats. Just saying the stuff in cans doesn't stretch like that. It's still great for doing small projects or one piece at a time, since I don't like cleanup or breathing the solvents.

There should be no problem shooting good urethane sanding primer over old paint, but bare metal should get the epoxy primer. The epoxy primer prevents rust from crawling under the paint at chips and seams.

I assume most of the problem areas have already got rusty and messed up, and so these are the areas you have taken to bare metal and will get the epoxy primer, but if not...... then think about doing so. You don't want bubbles crawling around your headlights and blinkers :shock:

Sat Aug 10, 2013 8:33 pm

I don't mind spraying epoxy primer over the entire car (even the 2/3 that are only factory paint, scuffed) and would prefer to do so I guess [for piece of mind] if it's not a no-no?. Yes the rear end of the car was where all the damage is/was and is the 1/3 of the car that is stripped to bare metal. If it's ok to do the epoxy primer over my entire car that would eliminate mixing the primers on the surface of the car.. it would be completely done with one product as opposed to mixed and matched. Can I then (after epoxy) use a high build primer over just the rear of the car (where the damage was, stripped sections), and feather it into the factory finish of the front of the car? No need to do high build on the front I don't think, as it seems kind of thick as it is. thanks again.

Sat Aug 10, 2013 11:57 pm

You can, but it may not be easier or better.

The epoxy primer/sealer instructions usually say you apply the next coat over it in...you know 6-18 hours (or so) OR you have to wait a week and sand ALL of it, and that's not cool because usually it sands like chewing gum.

So I'd do the bare metal in epoxy, and then spray the sanding primer over it in the "window" of time, then get the sanding primer sanded, and apply more of the sanding primer as needed.

Once the prep is really done.... then you do another seal coat over the whole car right before you start applying the color.

So yeah, go over the whole thing, but as a "sealer" and as the last step. The SEALER is used to give an even surface for the color coats to sit on without any bleed-through. I'm not up to speed enough to tell you the best product to use, but that's the general idea.

Sun Aug 11, 2013 6:56 am

Modoc, that's a big help - Thanks!
One last thing.. when you say "sanding primer", is that the same thing as the high build primer? These different terms are throwing me a little, sorry.

Sun Aug 11, 2013 2:46 pm

yeah, you got it