What paint brands?

[GarrettGmc]

Wanting to get some feedback on paint brands, quality, an recommendations. What have you used, would you use it agian? For paint, primer, spray guns. Gathering info for those of us who want to paint and are curious abt what to use rather. I'd rather not risk blowing money on crappy paint. Any feedback is great.

 

[michael hurd]

Keep in mind, good paint poorly applied over a rough / poor substrate is no better than an economy paint applied over a well prepared undercoat.

I have used lots of alkyds, acrylic and urethane enamels over the years, but pretty much all I spray now is urethane single stage or base/clear.

To prep for base/clear is not a lot more work than single stage.

I have sprayed mostly RM-BASF finishes, but a small amount of Dupont as well. Over the years, I have used Miracryl, Limco 123 ( 1 - alkyd 2 - acrylic 3 - urethane ) HS-Solo ( rebranded to UNO-HD ) and Dia-mont base/clear.

The sky is the limit when it comes to paint materials. To fully refinish an extended cab complete in my neck of the woods with base clear ( including a quart of primer surfacer for repair work ) will run you $1500+ including masking materials ( tape, paper, ) and all other sundries. ( solvents, hardeners, abrasives, etc )

As far as lifespan goes, better materials will typically last longer, however too thick or too thin a film will result in less than optimum lifespan.

 

[michael hurd]

My advice is to quit before you start... it's not as easy as it looks on TV. If you really want to learn, get an inexpensive Harbor Freight spray gun when it's on sale and start out painting small items outside with really inexpensive paint.

There is no substitute for experience spraying. Youtube will help you out, but if you haven't got it, you haven't invested much either.

 

[michael hurd]

I just checked, and you are in California, where getting paint materials is going to be troublesome for the DIY'er.

 

[GarrettGmc]

I appreciate the advice but quitting now ain't an option, I've already stripped sanded, in process of sandblasting certain things and areas. I've sprayed plenty of things for wood working so I feel cofindent in be able to do this. I'm in no hurry as this is a long project and i dnt plan on painting until spring when weather starts to pick up. As far as being in cali there's a good half dozen different paint stores with 30 miles then a couple more in town hour South, only problem is they each carry a different brand which is where I could use help. The truck is basically full resto.

 

[skylark]

I've used Martin Senior (Napa brand) and PPG with good results. I have another brand in the garage at the moment that I haven't tried but the price was reasonable and it was a "mid grade" paint. I will say that when I paint metallic paints I always do the final base coat (color) of the vehicle at once. No panel painting on the final! Temperature, humidity and pressure all have an effect the way paint lays and it can be quite obvious with metallics. A respray around here is $3-4k to start and add another $1k for a color change. I can screw up a lot of paint for those prices.

 

[Biggershaft96]

I would find a topper or something and get a couple pints of differnt paints and test to see which ones you like better.

 

[GarrettGmc]

I didn't kno napa even sold paint. I have a truck bed cap thank id like to change color as well but as far as practice I was gunna use a spare tailgate. Have anyone used products from eastwood? Or dupli color. I kno it would've been easier to not attempt this or have some shop do it but if I dnt attempt it I cnt fail an won't learn from my mistakes. Everyone starts somewhere.

 

[kennythewelder]

I was going to repaint my truck myself in 2013. There are several places around me where I can get paint, and I thought about ordering some from eastwood. My wife talked me into letting the cheapest place in town repaint the truck. The best decision I ever made was letting them do it for me. My truck still looks fantastic 4 years later. Best $850 I spent on the truck, and that included the strips. Also there was no body work, and my paint is single stage paint. I went down there and looked at there work before I let them paint my truck, and I was impressed. Here are a few pics. Just do a little research, and go look at there work before you chose a shop.

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[John B]

Best $850 I spent on the truck, and that included the strips.

Oh lord, that is some good work! I've never seen a price like that for that quality.