Have PPG Omni epoxy primer as a base for the hood. Then several coats of 2k filler primer. I have that blocked and then wet sanded with 600.
​At this point should I thin some epoxy and give the hood a final coat or go straight to paint? (Paint is a 1 stage urethane).
I've read it done both ways - sealer and no sealer. I don't want to screw things up at this point!
(I would have posted in the bodywork/ paint section but questions have gone unanswered there. Seems the people of this forum are pretty knowledgeable in a wide variety of topics!)

 

I used same brand paint on mine and sprayed the base coat/ clear coat over the high build..

 

If you have not sanded through you should be good to go as is .

 

You have to ask yourself the question, "what is the function of a sealer?". A sealer covers the surface of the panel to be painted with a layer of paint that holds out any/all of the various paints under it. For example...if you have bare metal, filler, OEM paint, primer, etc in a patchwork on the panel you may find that the basecoat you spray over it will interact with each material differently, not good. The 2K primer that you currently have on the panel IS a sealer and is the preferable material to spray your color coat onto. You are good to go...good luck!

 

Thanks for the input!
I found a tiny spot right at the side edge of the hood where I must have wet sanded through. I decided to hit it with some thinned epoxy (sealer) just to be sure.

I just sprayed it and will wait until tomorrow for paint. Do I wet sand the sealer too?

 

When you say "sealer" what product are you talking about? Any part of the surface that is to be painted must have some "tooth" for the paint to adhere to...if you sprayed something today and left it to dry til tomorrow then you will have to scuff it a bit prior to painting it.

 

I mean thinned epoxy as sealer.
I found some people that recommended painting it 1-2 hours after the epoxy. This PPG omni epoxy doesn't sand very well, but thought maybe wet sanding would help.

 

I thought by going back to epoxy you'd be starting over..

 

I've already done that once thus far! It wasn't fun.

 

Epoxy is really tough stuff to sand, the high build is a piece of cake in comparison ..

 

Absolutely! By thinning it a little, I think the epoxy went on pretty smooth. I'm hoping a little wet sanding will get rid of any surface imperfections/ peel before the paint.

Hood has taken a week longer and more materials than originally anticipated.

 

The wet sanding will give it the tooth Charlie mentioned you need..

 

Epoxy is for protection, 2K is for finish. Unless I am storing freshly sand blasted parts away for finishing at a later date, I don't use epoxy. I definitely wouldn't use it anywhere near the finish coat. If the 2K that you are using is a DTM then that is all you need. Lots of folks get crazy with the epoxy and, while it is more waterproof, how much waterproofing do you need once the color coat is applied?

 

Yikes. Sometimes google is not your friend.
I have epoxy on there now with the intent to topcoat tomorrow. What now?

 

I use Omni epoxy as a sealer all the time. Normally I spray the topcoat the same day, you will want to scuff it good after 24 hrs but otherwise no worries.