What? no K200 anymore? Primer discussion on primer

[SuperBuickGuy]

I think it's high time (pun intended) we had a discussion on paint, primers, etc.
The Corvette is going to get a Urethane paint job - I'm tempted to use enamel because fiberglass is harder then the enamel, but in the end if I ever need to fix it (if? when) I don't ever want to (again) try to buff the scratches out of hardened enamel.

So what do we like now? Apparently there's this thing called "an environment" and it's given us new paint. What say you? What have you experienced with primers, high build primers, etching primers? what about paint, who do you use (I guess they also found that Delron was bad.... heck, I could have told you that after it killed a yard in front of a garage where we painted an airplane.... the stuff was tough, though)

[anotheridiot]

Southern polyurethanes boast about their black epoxy primer and salt spray resistance, and adhesion. But they are the kind that want their black epoxy down and dont sand thru it because if you do you need to spot prime to make it all epoxy. Then you start loading up with polyurethane primers, and even those have a kind you use as a base, one as a filler, and one as a sealer, or back to epoxy to seal.

I have also used the coating store and like their primers better. We used their base black with metal flake from paint with pearl to spray the camaro the deepest blue we could get. Clears are completely different, but you got that right, how long can you buff it. We used the coating store clear and left the fan on after and it wrinkled really bad. Just let it cure too quickly. We also like their tinted primer, you can get the silver or gold flake mixed in for the sealer coat to really liven up metallics.

SPI has a really good clear called universal clear, but you need to spray it with a lot of pressure. its real heavy. Lately we have tried Kirker and their clear was a little easier to work with since you can add a shot of thinner to flow coat a little better, just never tried thinning SPI's stuff due to alot of getting reprimanded for not following their directions

Bottom line, you use what works for you. If you dont have a 2.5 or 3.0 tip gun then leave the real heavy filler primers out. Its just so hard to trust all the rebranding going on out there and never know which 4 are the same exact blend from Valspar.

[SuperBuickGuy]

heck, I have a gun that can shoot ceramic sound deadener. Do you have a favorite paint system?

[anotheridiot]

heck, I have a gun that can shoot ceramic sound deadener. Do you have a favorite paint system?

Not really, I can screw up any kind of paint job. I dont believe in buying the 300.00 a gallon basecoat since its hard to find a place to sell you enamel anymore and have sprayed better with a 60.00 finex gun as a 500.00 Tekna. I cant wait to find a favorite because that would mean the mistakes went away.

Mind you, we spend most of the time spraying CARC coating for the military in our shop and powdercoating, so its not the best environment to be trying to spray glass.

Its just so much basecoat clearcoat now. I have done touch up panel and door work with some 40 a quart generic and nason fast clear for non important stuff. That stuff just shoots like you are completing the color base coat with the clear, where the higher end clears that you can buff forever just dont go on the same way. We stay away from water so far, but its getting really good, you just have to accept you are painting the clearcoat as a white coat.

I would definitely stay with polyurethane on the vette though, so you have flexibility. Its whether you want to shoot the single stage or base clear, or single stage, color sand and clear. Just cant do any sanding on basecoat if its a metallic to fix any issues. Wherever you go, the best tip is buy 2 gallons, mix them together, then separate them back out so you stay consistent.