Blending peeling paint

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aarolar

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So I have a truck with little to no body damage but has the standard issue white peeling paint from this era. I am thinking about repainting it myself one panel at a time starting with the hood, roof and tailgate. I am curious what the best way is to blend the peeling in so it doesn't show through the new paint I spray. Is it body filler or just a high build primer of some sort?
 

michael hurd

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The best way to blend it in is: don't.... no matter what you do it will come back to haunt you. Remove it all down to bare, re-prime with a quality 2 component primer surfacer. ( no good / safe way to do this at home unless you have very good ventilation and a respirator )

Painting one panel at a time by yourself may be manageable, but most paints are pretty toxic, and not designed to be sold to the general public. Not trying to rain on your parade... but be safe.
 

DR CHOP

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The best way to blend it in is: don't.... no matter what you do it will come back to haunt you. Remove it all down to bare, re-prime with a quality 2 component primer surfacer. ( no good / safe way to do this at home unless you have very good ventilation and a respirator )

Painting one panel at a time by yourself may be manageable, but most paints are pretty toxic, and not designed to be sold to the general public. Not trying to rain on your parade... but be safe.

X2 exactly
 

aarolar

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I have no problems wearing the proper PPE for the task at hand however y'all are reading into this a little too much. I'm not interested in a show quality paint job this is a DD and work truck that will see scratches and dents I am just looking to make it look uniform and keep from rusting up.
 

michael hurd

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I would like to say that there is a quick and easy method, but if the paint peels in one location and looks like it's decent in another, it will peel later on. If you would like to test that theory, get yourself some 2" wide masking tape.... and stick it down in spots that aren't peeled. When you pull up on the tape, the paint will come off with it.

You may be able to salvage some of the grey elpo primer instead of taking it to bare but I would suggest going to bare metal since you are most of the way there. The prep work shouldn't change from a daily driver to a show quality paint at all... there aren't many steps you can skimp.

If you decide to take it on yourself, beware that it is going to be time consuming, and it won't necessarily be cheap. I prefer chemical strippers to grinding away for hours on end with 80 grit on an orbital, however they contain some very nasty substances ( methylene chloride ) and will burn your skin in seconds if you get it on exposed flesh. You must have water nearby when using paint strippers, glasses or goggles, nitrile gloves, respirator.

Blasting to remove the paint creates a lot of heat and can lead to a lot of warped sheetmetal, as well as trapped abrasive grit in areas where it should never be... I don't care how good the masking job is it creeps in doors, inside double panels, etc.

The main difference in prep for a show paint and a daily driver is the grit that you finish sanding in, the quality of materials used, and the extra time blocking down / filling every panel to perfection, plus painting the vehicle apart and then very carefully assembling it. Wetsanding and polishing would be the next step to ensure a perfect finish.

There are some primer surfacers that can be used as a wet-on-wet sealer, IE: spray the primer, once the correct flash times have been observed, you can literally shoot the finish coat over it.


Have you got a budget in mind?
 

aarolar

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Being I am thinking about doing it one panel at a time I likely won't look at the final cost so not really.
 

michael hurd

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Do you have access to a decent compressor and an orbital sander, need to know what kind of tools you have access to.
 

AA13

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If your clear is peeling off you have to take it down to bare metal to get rid of it. All of the old clear is bad, if you try to just fix one area it will eventually peel again from the clear under it being bad.
 
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