I am looking into painting my '77 f-250 4x4 which will be used for plowing and work. I am looking into the single stage paints, but were sure how to go about using it. Do i still use primer? I am really considering a sherwin-automotive mobile equipment paint or even rustoleum. How ever it might be to skimpy w/ rustoleum. Can anyone please write me a list of steps and whats required for me to buy. All help is greatly appreciated. by the way the paint now has alot of surface rust.

Thanks alot,
Brad

 

<cr>
I need a little more information. What are your expected results? Do you want it looking like a new paint job or will a hot rod primer look be okay? Do you have $100 or $500 to spend?

For about $75 you can have a hot rod primer look and the paint will last longer than the drive train.

 

Aekisu, This truck is going to be used as a daily driver/work horse so im looking for easy touch up, durability, and long lasting although i do want it to look decent but not "show quality". The cheaper the better, also i have to repaint the interior as well, should i use rattle cans for that. So to answer your question i guess id have to lean towards a hot rod primer look, but obviously not just primer. Thanks alot, i hope this is enough information.

Brad

 

use a single stage enamel with a hardener. The major paint companys like dupont and ppg have cheaper lines. You really don't want to use a rustoleum or unhardened enamel, wouldn't last long or be easy to touch up or blend in the future. The single stage enamel with hardener should give you 5 years of looking good. I painted one of my cars with omni single stage and still nice and shiny 3 yrs later, was 90 bucks for a gallon of solid white (hardener included). You would use a primer under the single stage enamel. If you want to save some money you could use a lacquer primer, but beware it isn't as good as a urethane hardened primer. Lacquer primer shrinks and can sink into sandscratches and form rings around areas you use bodyfiller. Also if you wouldn't mind a different color, go to an auto paint store and see what they have sitting on the shelf. Often colors aren't mixed right and may be a shade off or a customer never picked it up so they sell it cheaper. It wouldn't matter if the color is off if you are painting the whole truck, just have to have it color matched in the future if you need to buy more paint because the shade will be different then the mixing formula, unless the one mixing it was smart enough to put how much of each color was added on the can. Hopefully you would have enough paint left over for any fixing you had to do in the future. They say the hardener once opened is only good for a so many days, but i've used it later down the road and haven't run into problems yet.

 

<cr>
About the cheapest you can get by with and can be sure it will last, is Zero Rust. About $50/gallon. It is a single-stage, non-hardener (with means no isocyanates) product that stops rust dead. I've done one pickup with it and the paint was as good as the day it was put on, 4 years later when it was sold.

I also have some steel fence posts I used it on. They were new steel. Only prep was a wire brushing and degreasing. Two coat of ZR from a rattle can. They have been exposed to the Pacific Northwest rains (and an occassional marking by my dog) since 1997. No rust has appeared.

There is a limited assortment of colors available. They are all semi-gloss and will change to non-gloss over time, when exposed to UV. It will have the appearance of primer not it's not. I can't say enough good about this product and the price is right.

Kenseth is right about acrylic enamel (AE). It's old tech but was THE hot product until the urethanes came along. A hardener is highly recommended but then you should be worried about isocyanate exposure. It can be sprayed without a hardener but expect a longggg drying period and a shorter lifespan.

The urethanes are great. It have to be used with a hardener so you need to be concerned about the isocyanates. They run more money than ZR or AE.

I guess it gets down to what you expect and how much you want to spend. Once you make a choice, there is plenty of help available here to help you out.

 

Thanks alot these are some hard decisions. Now that i know what my options are ill decide when the time comes and perhaps take pictures and post them.

Thanks alot,
Brad