I am seriously looking into painting my truck my self. I just want to see which system you would use. I don't know much about the different systems would like to go the base/clear coat style.

As for the plans I need to take it all the way down to the metal and start over. I know i will need the conditioners and such but i am looking more for a primer/color/clear system type deal

thanks
nick

 

Hey Nick- Welcome to FTE and the Bodywork Forum.

Hate to tell you this, but what you're asking is no easy task. In order for someone to give you directions from soup to nuts, it would take more pages of typing than this system allows.

The answers to anything you could possibly want to know have most likely been asked and answered within this forum. We're talking about from sandblasting, to welding, to metal prep, to filler, to primer, to paint, to color sanding, to finish sanding, to buffing.

The best thing you can do is like I did and begin by reading the pages of posts of interest. There's a lot of useful information on this site and most of your questions have already been answered.

Bottom line is, there is no 1,2,3 and you're done. Patience, time, trial & error, practice and then more of the same and you'll be done.

 

carlene,
i have read lots and lots on body work and and preping that isn't what i am having trouble with. what i want to know is which actual paint to use like PPG Superpaint XXX or Dupont PureBlend RES just that. not the directions on use or the steps to take. just which primer/base/clear you or they would use
nick

 

I know you want 2 stage but i had pretty decent results from the PPG Omni line which is one stage. I did my bronco in dandelion yellow (Viper yellow) It didnt come out too bad for being the first car i ever painted. The omni primer mixed 50/50 with thinner really came out nice. The color coat i mixed 8/2/1 i think with thinner and hardener. I had a few drips on some of the strangely angled panels but i used a high pressure sharpe gun that must be 40 years old. To be honest once you do a little buffing and waxing you can only tell that it is one stage up close because it dosnt really have that clear layer. From a few feet back it looks pretty good. But for the cost and it being my first time painting it was well worth it. Just figured id say something since nobody else is.

 

I have been very happy with NAPA paint. I did my truck in base-clear, and a buddies in Acrylic Enamel. For a first time painter, I would suggest Acrylic Enamel as it is much easier to work with, and you can add clearcoat if you want to. It is less expensive, too. But you are still going to spend $3-500 on supplies before it is over, and a LOT of time. It is not an easy task, and if the prep is not done right, you are throwing that money out the window.

 

Oh and I forgot - if you want to look at my gallery, I did that paint job myself. Wish I had a before picture... Anyway, my point is that I have about a year into doing just the body work. And I don't even want to think about total cost by the time I add in all the nickle and dime stuff along the way.

 

Nice job Mike.

We're doing BC/CC using PPG products but I haven't gotten to the point of painting anything but the primer yet.

 

i also just finished an 86 broncoII with the omni primers,seemed to be great for the money & local body shop supplier(not just a supplier,but also good freind) told me its a great paint for the price,any paint job you do,will last only as long as the owner takes care of the vehicle,i got a cheep "western/ express"medium grey metallic acrylic enamel before i even started the work at a local tool surplus store,made by sherwin williams actually because it was only 47$ a gallon & bought a hardner/gloss additive to go with it,buddy said it will make it more of a shine & the paint harder for a more durable paint,was only looking to get rid of the surface rust on it & have some paint on it,its a vehicle i use for driving to work mostly,but,i sprayed a clear coat on it too,freind said it will last a very long time as long as ya take care of it.
just make sure if you go to bare metal any where,treat any rust spot with a good treatment because your sander will "never" reach all the rust in the pits its caused& use a good "etch" primer on it too

 

well from the looks of things i think that i am going to try and go with the PPG Omni line. the prep work is going to begin soon so i still have time to think about it

BTT

 

Just thought I would echo what Matt already said. You can get great results with single stage paints. It can be color sanded and buffed until it looks like glass as long as you use gloss hardner additive. I used 1200 and 1500 grit paper with a machine buff and a hand glaze. It's a lot like work for sure.

I wanted to avoid the two stage just to keep things simple when I started upgrading some body panels on my 53 F100 down the road. I am not a pro here though. I have painted less than 50 cars for sure and haven't really kept up with the modern products. My paint was going to cost $700 in a base clear system. Too much pressure on me to not screw up and waste my money was taking the fun out of that option.

 

Just to cause a little more confusion, I'll throw in my 2 cents worth.

1) Any paint (enamel, urethanes, etc.) that uses a hardener will contain isocyanates. Without going into a whole lot of details, isocyanates are not something you want in your lungs or on your body. People have been known to suffer life-changing affects by one-time exposure. Plan on buying a fresh air respirator if you are spraying paints with hardeners in them.

2) Forget about Acrylic Enamel (ae). It's old technology. On the plus side, it can be applied without a hardener. That means you can spray it with a simple carbon respirator. Of course, there are downsides to not using a hardener. It takes forever to dry and get hard so you have to wait forever before you can sand and buff. Of course the lifespan of ae is no where close to a modern urethane.

3) Everyone recommends that for a first-time painter, a basecoat/clearcoat (bc/cc) job is the way to go. It's much easier to apply & fix goofs than a single stage (ss) paint job. On the downside, there is more expense and more painting to do.

4) Considered by some to be a normal part of the process, just plan on sanding and buffing the paint job. On a bc/cc job, it's normal to spray 3 or 4 coats of clear and then sanding the nibs & orange peel until the surface is flat. With a ss job, there is only a thin coating of clear so you are limited on what you can do to correct mistakes.

5) If you planning on doing something fancy like a tri-coat pearl, get some professional help.

 

:-staun :-staun Thought I'd give alittle advice about using acrylic enamel. Have you ever seen what it looks like after color sanding and buffing a single stage metallic paint job? It will look like a cluster of UFO's landed allover it. every where you hav colorsanded for buffing will leave a metallic ring ,where you've sanded from one coat of color to the next.You won't see the rings until shes allbuffed out and hand glazed. then when you roll her out in the sun ,there you have it alot of time out the window,and quite a chunk of change to. The main point I'm makin is If your going solid color cool! if going with metallic you might consider staying with a BC/CC system. Your going to spend about the same if go enamel with clear over it. just some thing to tink about.....