I am going to paint my truck red and black (if I dont change my mind) and I would like to get some suggestions on where to get the best quality base clear paint.

 

Stay with PPG products all the way thru .

 

Sorry to butt in "butt" I send ya a pm about F3 fenders. I remember you said that you don't check your PM's that often!

 

I am not the best painter but I got decent results using the PPG Shopline base. I was paying about $160 a gallon for this base. The truck has taken two gallons of base. I priced the PPG top of the line base (I think it is called Deltron). They wanted $400 a gallon.

For the clear I went with the Universal Clear sold by Southern Polyurethanes (they are on the web). A gallon of their clear runs $89 a gallon and the activator (mixed 1:1) is $117 a gallon. All told this adds up to $206 for two gallons of product or right at $100 a gallon. I have gone through about 3 gallons of clear + 3 gallons of activator. What I liked so much about this clear is how easy it wet sand and buffs.

I know that sounds like a lot of clear, but as I started off saying, I am not the best painter. My process was to lay base, then 3 coats of clear. I would wait 24 hours and then wet sanded with 400 grit to cut the clear real smooth. The next day I would lay another 3 coats of clear and then wet sand (600, 1200, 1500, 2000) and then compound and buff. My panels are flat and smooth. No orange peel. I figure I ended up sanding off about half of the clear I laid down!!!

Also on a side note, Southern Polyurethanes has some great epoxy primer. I tried the PPG epoxy and really liked the SPI epoxy much better for being able to sand without gumming up so bad.

Good luck on the paint job.

Fred

PS - For giggles I thought I would throw in a couple of progress pics. I got the left fender painted today and the right one will be for next weekend!

 

Yeah that looks great! I have seen some shopline paint jobs and first time painters, they turned out real nice! depends on alot of things! You can shoot the most expensive paints and can end up with a mess..!
I wouldn't pay for all the advertising costs by buying the brand name stuff...

 

Summit is selling paint with their name on it, all stages. Haven't used it though.

 

The only thing I am wondering about is if the sands so easily then will it be easier to scratch? Also is this vermillion red?

 

Good point on the scratches... I have not had her out in the real world enough to tell! I will know soon as my goal is to drive her legally in about 2 months. I was expecting it to continue to cure out with time and be harder to "cut and buff".

And yes that is vermillion red. I researched with PPG and got their original color fomulations (at least that is what PPG told me)! If you are interested in the PPG paint code numbers for their base, let me know and I will post them.


Fred

 

On your profile you live in Indiana? I ask because local laws can sometimes restrict one's buying choices.

I've painted a couple trucks over the years in my shop using all PPG single stage acrylic urathane-its called DCC. Its not a base/clear. But just a single application.

They look good and have held up very well. In both cases they were sand blasted bodies etc, with PPG DP40 epoxy primer/PPG Prima K36 acrylic uarathane primer surfacer/ and the DCC acrylic urathane finish. I may have used some variations of the primer surfacer in that they make some thicker for more block sanding/filling imperfections etc. And sometimes I would use one or the other depending on the specific needs.

But where I live in the SF bay area of California--Napa county is included with some now very strict air quality control standards and these products cannot be purchased or used in this. Not even by professional shops.
Everything is going water based. And from what I read water base is not very practical for the home painter.

I never painted base coat clear coat/i thought single stage would be easier. Is it? I dont' know. My only complaint would be that as I only paint every so many years that gun setup/remembering how to do it/etc I'm clumsy and unskilled when I start and by the end I'm doing pretty good. But because of that I have more sags/runs etc or dried too fast/ rough surface--name it haha. All those things can be smoothed out with wet paper etc don't panic/lots of flexibility with these fast drying paints. But--once one gets to the finish single stage paint--I find that block sanding/color sanding is doable but the little fine scratches don't buff out as easily with the single stage paint. So that's an issue.

I haven't tried a 2 stage-base/clear etc. But its probably easier to sand and buff--that's my guess.

Goodluck

 

Sure looks like Vermillion to me . I should know !!

 

Spraying catalyzed (activated) clear coat absolutely requires a respirator with a clean air supply to the face mask, no ifs, ands, or buts. If you don't have that, don't even think about it.

The shop that sprayed my truck used Sherwin-Williams and it has proven to be very durable. It's a catalyzed single stage.

 

If you get 40 relays you will get 40 opinions.
I use Transtar clear. It mixed 1 part activator to 4 parts clear. I have sprayed several hundred vehicles with it. I rebuild totaled cars for a living. I have used about every brand on the market, from the most expensive to the cheapest. Transtar seems to spray well and as far as holding up I painted two semi tractors 4 years ago and they still look like new after many hundred thousand miles in all weather and hundreds of rain storms and truck washes.
Which ever you decide to get it can't be stated enough to get a outside air breathing device. A respirator type air filter will cause you to die with the modern paint. It is hard to invest 500 to 1000 dollars in a breathing system, but the Doctor bills and funeral expenses will be much more.
There are no Old painters unless they changed with the times. I have been painting cars for nearly 50 years and have been lucky enough to have been able to keep up with technology and as paint changed I was able to go to training classes and change with it.
I have a full air supplied hood and air moon suit I use no matter how small amount of paint I am going to do. At one time I was friends with about 50 or 60 different body men my age and younger and I am the only one left. They all died of lung illnesses. Not trying to scare anyone but don’t be trying to paint without a outside air supplied system.
No matter which clear you decide, on most of the shine will depend on your ability and how much time your willing to invest before you spray and after the clear has dried. It requires a lot of wet sanding and buffing to get the shine if you don't have a good paint booth and paint all the time.
It can be done just go after it.
Good luck
Larry

 

I've done both my prior projects in House of Kolor paints, love em.