Well I confess its not a Ford truck, Its actually a jeep, please don't boo me off the site The jeep guys aren't too up and up on the whole painting thing.

The application is an 87 cherokee that is a driver/rockcrawler, and often gets dents and scratches from rocks so I am not looking for a show finish by any means. I just want some paint that is reasonably easy to apply, fix and cheap to boot. I am talking about a budget of $150 or so in materials. I have a compressor DA, and HVLP gun allready. I would like to paint it silver and probably a solid black flame job.

Could you steer me to a product that would be good for my application?

I am pretty tempted by this on ebay would it be a good product?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...category=42611

Heres a pic, it looks strait in this pic but its not, all the doors and rear hatch are getting replaced.

 

As for the paint that you inquiring about on ebay.

It has been asked abount many times here in the forum. Not to much for replies though since alot of people haven't heard of it or hasn't used it.

I have personally thought about using that paint. I have even went and emailed that selleres previous buyers & they all recommended the paint to me & said it was the real deal. I haven't used it though so I can't really recommend anything.

As for your application, I think the paint will work for what you want to do with it. I personally don't think it will give a show room finish. If you do use it then please come back & post your experiences with it.

 

<cr>
Can't really recommend or reject it since I've never used it but you can be sure of one thing. You get paint worth $35. Considering the fact that someone is selling it for $35 and making a profit, the paint is made for less than that. Bottom line? You get what you paid for.

Don't expect the shine or color to stay stable after it was been exposed to the sun for awhile.

 

I'm with Aekisu on this one, you get what you pay for. But who knows for sure until you try it right? I've found a product called U-tech that I use all the time, it's an automotive paint and I pay 125 dollars Canadian for a gallon with hardener. It's made by Akzo Nobel, and if anyone remembers the old Sikkens Autocryl system, it's the same paint. This stuff is very user friendly and the shine and durability is comparable to Dupont Centari. I'm convinced on this stuff but I'm not sure of the availability in your area but it's worth a check.

Chris
Alberta

 

I bought a whole paint kit at NAPA a few years ago for about $130. It had everything needed: 1 gal. of paint, reducer, and catalyst. It was good quality Dupont Fulthane 1 stage paint, and the truck still looks good.

 

Ok,first I am not a painter,but what I have learned from painter friends is white is the cheapest color to buy,the easiest to apply,the easiest to touch up,silver on the other hand,is a pain,hard to get even close when touching up,not so easy to apply and get an even color,and just an all around pain.Just some food for thought.

 

If you want a paint thats easy to fix and keeps a gloss, Endura polyurethane is the only way to go. I've tried em all and Endura is the answer. Its not cheap but comparable in price with U-tech. About $155 a gallon Canadian. It's the ONLY paint I will use on anything. Once you try it I swear you won't go back.If you clearcoat it, it only needs a 400 wet sand in the area and give it another shot if you scratch it. You can get from Acklands-Grainger.
Matt

 

Well I called a local U-tech place but they were trying to steer me the crossfire way. But quoted me in the $250-$350 range which sounded a little expensive for crossfire.

Then I called another U-tech distributor, I just told him my needs and he suggested dupont, Mason line, and quoted me about $140 for everything. Thats sounding more reasonable, it was a urethane base. The guy was also very helpfull and told me to apply coats both in Vertical and Horizontal to help get away without tiger stripes in the silver. I am leaning this route just cause the price seems reasonable and the guy seemed pretty helpful. Have you guys heard of this mason line?

 

Yes, I think you mean Nason, not Mason. Nason is Dupont's budget brand. Around here, (probably everywhere) there's no quarts, no separate pricing on the products. You get a gallon of paint, gallon of thinner, and a pint of hardener, for roughly between $100 and $150. I've used it - good stuff for the price I think. Limited number of colors, clear is optional.

 

Gary
Yeah it's Nason and it is good stuff the only reason I haven't used it much is cause I can't seem to buy it a consistent price from my distributor. Pretty much anything that is urethane based is gonna be good paint. When it come time to spray your truck, I would take off the hood and the tailgate and valance and spray them seperately. Do the tailgate first maybe by itself. When you've applied the final coat(usually two is good with U-tech and Nason) tip your gun 45degrees to your work and spray a mist coat, this helps those metallics lay down and eliminate tiger stripes. By 45 degrees I mean if you are spraying flat tip the nozzle up to 45 and then apply a mist coat. Just try and remember your air pressures each time you spray and keep it the same that way your silver won't lighten or darken on different panels. If you up your pressure just a little when doing the mist coat it also helps, just remember don't let the last coat flash off mist it while it's still very wet or else you'll get dry spray and it'll look like crap.

Chris
Alberta

 

How long should I wait to applythis mist coat? I can paint the hood, doors and rear hatch off the vehicle easilly enough (I am swapping all those anyway along with one front fender) Do I want to lay both coats down thick, like just before they run, or should the first be more of a dry coat? What ballpark air pressure should I use? I am using a harbor freight gun, I am sure its not a great quality gun but any advice how to set it up is appreciated
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=43430

 

Back the tip control **** (the one at the rear of the gun) all the way off (counter-clockwise). Pull and hold the trigger. Now turn the **** clockwise until you feel the trigger moving your finger. Turn the **** a 1/2 turn further. The tip control **** is now set and should not be adjusted during your painting session. BTW, do this setting without any paint in your gun and you do not need the air attached.

Although I do not know the actual name of the ****, I will refer it to as the fluid control ****. It is the **** at the bottom of the gun, where the air attaches. Most of your higher quality guns do not have this adjustment. I just play with it until paint sprays. Come to think of it, I don't think I have adjusted it for the last couple of years. Apparently it can't be too critical.

The fan control **** will be the only **** you might adjust during your paint session. It is the one on the side of the gun. Using this ****, you can adjust the spray pattern from pencil point to a wide fan pattern. You will want a 6"-8" fan when holding the gun at the required distance.

What's the required distance? Glad you asked. Better than being told the distance, you can confirm it for yourself.

With a dry (no fluids) gun and the air attached, point the tip towards your offhand (the hand without the gun). Close your eyes, pull the trigger and start moving your offhand towards the gun. You will reach a point where you feel a wall of air. Open your eyes. This is the correct distance to be holding your gun from the work. Of course, fan spread will have an affect on this distance.

Your pressure setting will depend on the gun. I have a HF gun I use for primer. There were no instructions for air adjustment. I did find a "43 psi max" stamped on the gun near the air inlet. I assume this inlet air pressure produces the 10 psi "at the tip". I set the inlet pressure to 43 psi and it seems to work correctly. Your gun may be different.

Mist coat
Unless you are spraying a metallic, you do not need a final mist coat. If you are using a metallic then...

Apply the final color coat.
Wait 5 minutes.
Mist on a coat.

When misting, I hold my gun 18"-24" away from the surface, applying the paint in a crisscross fashion. Some people say it helps to add some additional reducer to your misting paint.

 

Being silver, it's probably a metallic, and THE most difficult single stage color to paint IMO, because it's hard to get the metallic flake uniform, and still get a shine. Different painters have different methods of mist coating. When I mist coat, I spray the normal coat almost, but not quite, as heavy as I would a solid color, then follow behind the area that I just sprayed with a mist coat. For example, I would start with the hood, then one fender, then go back and mist the hood (quicker, dryer strokes in the opposite direction) then mist the fender, then paint the door, then the quarter, then drop back and mist the door, etc.

It takes a little time to figure out what works best for you, with all the variables of what paint you're using, gun & air pressure etc. Your first job may be less than perfect - mine sure was!!!

A suggestion would be to err on the side of orange peel - I think a little excess orange peel looks better than tiger stripes of black metallic flake!!

 

Ok I'm cheap, but I use the BPS "Truck and Trailer paint", I get from the local TSC store, and it's $19.99 a gallon, and another $8.00 for the hardener additive.
I've used this stuff on three different vehicles so far, and if thinned correctly(with cheap mineral spirits) and by using a HVLP gun, it actually looks real good. I use my vehicles in the woods, and for working, but this paint seems to hold up very well, and is easy to fix if necessary.
I highly recommend this stuff, for the price.
By the way, I have used the good stuff(expensive) base coat, clear coat stuff on my Vette, so I do have some limited experience. And you will never get the same results with the cheap stuff, but for the money, I think it looks good.

 

Another dumb question.

I'm going to try painting my 65 F100. I have a good compressor and a HVLP gun and had some questions on paint. I'm looking a getting a paint that's going to be easier to apply and the choises out there are mind boggling. I guess I'll just need to trust my local supplier to steer me in the right direction.

As to quantities needed, it looks like I'll need about a gallon of polyurethane base color paint, a gallon of thinner, and a pint of hardener.

How much clear coat will I need?

How long do I wait between color coats?

How long after color do I apply the clear coat?

After the clear drys, (give it a week or so??), I plan to wet sand with 1000 to 2000 grit to bring out the shine.

Thanks,
Keith