Date: Mon, 20 Jul 2020 17:25:19 -0400
Reply-To: Jack R <jack007@COMCAST.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Jack R <jack007@COMCAST.NET>
Subject: Re: painting my Vanagon , need advise
In-Reply-To: <7e3e3952-685e-5e4b-b9b4-a7b4780aae62@picasso.ucsf.edu>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
In the past, self-etching primer was the go-to coating to apply over bare metal on a car. Metal requires little prep work to apply it, the primer flashes/dries quickly, and it came in 1K Aerosol cans for small jobs. However, in the past 5-10 years you’ve probably been hearing more people talk about epoxy primers and their use as opposed to self-etching primer.
But why use epoxy primer? And what is it, anyway? This non-porous, high-bonding sealer has several advantages when used for certain materials and situations. However, you must be careful about what you apply it to in order to get its full benefits. We decided to give you some insight on where and when epoxy primer works best.
1. Over Bare, Clean Metal – Epoxy primers are amazing at sealing up bare metal and from allowing moisture or corrosion to creep in. Epoxy primer actually seals out the oxygen from the metal, leaving no chance of rust or corrosion forming on the surface like some cheap spray bomb type primers. Etch primer included, epoxy primer is about the only bare metal primer you could leave a vehicle outside in without rust forming back under the primer quickly! Two-part epoxy primers go one step further by including zinc phosphate, which increases its corrosion-inhibiting properties. Simply put, epoxy is the best primer for bare metal, making it excellent for newly fabricated metal parts or ones that have been fully stripped.
2. Mixed Surfaces – Some primers and coatings need the entire surface to be uniform and all the same material. Epoxy primers have excellent adhesion properties and will stick to bare metal, paints, primers and fillers. This means you can hit an area with epoxy primer that’s been sanded down to bare metal, repaired with body filler, and then feathered into the original paint. We suggest blending these areas as well as possible before spraying epoxy primers as they doesn’t have filling/build qualities like a high-build primer and won’t hide imperfections as well. Alternatively, you can apply filler or primer surfacer over the epoxy to fill any minor imperfections and block flat before you paint.
3. Stacking Coatings – Since epoxy primers adhere mechanically, they will grab onto most anything that has a good texture to the surface. For this reason, it works well for stacking if you need to correct an area that you didn’t get perfectly flat and need a little more filler. Just abrade with sandpaper, apply your filler, sand flat and feather the edges. Then you can apply more epoxy primer over top and repeat as needed. This can’t be said for many primers!
4. Use it For a Final Sealer – A cool trick we’ve been doing for the past few years is using our epoxy primer as a final sealer before our base coat. Simply reduce it 50 percent and lay a coat or two down to seal up all of your work and have a nice surface to lay your base coat over top of. The primer has excellent adhesion to most topcoats and will help keep actual paint from flaking or peeling. This is great peace of mind for a lasting paint job.
5. Use it to protect a long-term project – Not all of us have huge, climate controlled shops our project vehicles can sit in until they’re painted. This means you may have to push the project outside overnight or while you do maintenance on the daily driver. Maybe you have a damp shop that flash rusts metal as soon as the temps change? I like to use epoxy primer to seal my work at the end of the day. This way, if I can’t get back to it right away, I won’t come back to a surface-rusted mess! Keep a handful of our 2K AeroSpray™ Epoxy Primer Aerosols on hand for sealing up small areas. They will save you time compared to getting out the spray gun, mixing up primer and then having to clean everything back up!
My body guy did this to my 84 Westy in 2006, almost no rust has made it back!
Good luck on your project!
Jack R.
-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of Christophe Guilbert
Sent: Monday, July 20, 2020 12:37 AM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: painting my Vanagon , need advise
Content preview: Hi guys, That's it, after years of procrastination , I finally
decided to repaint my Vanagon camper. Its a 1983 air-cool camper . The color
is Ivory - L567.
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Hi guys,
That's it, after years of procrastination , I finally decided to repaint
my Vanagon camper.
Its a 1983 air-cool camper . The color is Ivory - L567.
While I should be Okay painting it, I need advice about the paint itself .
Originally , the paint was a glasurit single-stage lacquer but I don't
know if the original paint is still there. From the sending , I can see
a gray primer + ivory coat + clear.
So far , I removed the clear coat, I did not sand to the metal because
the base coat is good for most part. I did sand however to the metal
around rusty area with a marge.
I guess my question is which kind of paint I should buy . I need a good
primer to stick on the previous base coat, 2 base coat and one of two
clear coat.
So far I am leaning toward urethane paint but I want to hear about your
experiences.
I also would like to know where to buy the paint (a place which knows
about Ivory - L567. color). which brand ?. somehow I would like the
primer, base and clear to be from the same manufacture for the sake of
compatibility .
Should I use a filler in the spot where I sand to the metal ?
Any tips is welcome.
Thanks
Chris
