SO I DON'T WANT TO PAINT MY TRUCK BUT I DO.

[JACK34]

I have a 1994 and just got a Texas rust free box. The frame is good the cab mounts and cab floor is good but needs cab corners and rockers and one front fender. I can do the rockers and cab corners. My main question is I just want the truck matte black. I'm not a painter but need some advice on what products to use to achieve a sealed surface. I can pull that off but what do I use after sanding and prepping the body? In other words I want to spray the truck matte black and be able to drive it in the Illinois weather all year long.

 

[Hipster]

If you are going to do this over a couple months or something like that while you get around it you will want to prime the areas as you go with an epoxy primer. Eastwood epoxy primer is actually pretty decent. 2k urethane primers won't protect it. Most epoxy primers are not UV stable so they'll chalk up over the long term if not covered with a paint. In your case a "hot rod flat" enamel or urethane available from several different sources. Base with a matte clear if you want to spend the bucks. Most paint manufactures have tech sheets that will have tons of info from what primers to use under it to application guidelines. If the goal is to put half way decent paint materials on it stay away from from spray can primers or other crap or other non 2k type products under it.

About the only spray can stuff I use under paint is where I apply weld-thru primer in seams prior to fit up and welding.

 

[JACK34]

Ok I was at Napa today I asked about painting the box and epoxy primer etc. He said he has used epoxy primer they sell no hardener just reducer with a top coat the same just reducer. Not 2K. I have no idea what to do.

 

[Hipster]

Ok I was at Napa today I asked about painting the box and epoxy primer etc. He said he has used epoxy primer they sell no hardener just reducer with a top coat the same just reducer. Not 2K. I have no idea what to do.

I'm not sure what they are trying to sell you but a true automotive epoxy is going to be 2 component. The epoxy and a separate can of activator. Most mix at a ratio of 1 to 1. The topcoat is going to need a reducer as well as an activator/hardener. There are some products out there where the second can is both the activator and reducer in one.

Napa's Crossfire paint system is repackaged Sherwin-Williams products. I'm not totally familiar with that system as it's not that popular in bodyshops. The counter guy at Napa's are not usually all that familiar with the products either.

Eastwood and Summit sell a lot of repackaged Kirker paint products.

https://www.autobodytoolmart.com/pr...ime-dtm-epoxy-primer/automotive-epoxy-primers

https://www.autobodytoolmart.com/pr...poxy-primer-catalyst/automotive-epoxy-primers

Eastwood sells a quart kit of epoxy for $55 so do the math.

You can only cheap out on materials so much before you end up with stuff that doesn't really work or has chemical reactions with one another and if this truck is something you'd like to ultimately put a nice paint job on later down the road you gotta stay away from non-catalyzed 1k cheap stuff, alot of the spay can crap that's out there, and oil-based tractor/industrial paints.

It's really best to pick one paint brand and use their products from primers to paints and application guidelines throughout the repair process that way you don't run into any goofy reaction/incompatibility issues.

 

[Hipster]

On a second thought here. On the top coat they might be trying to sell you an Acrylic enamel which will dry without a hardener but it will have no resistance to chemicals when it dries. Gas, brake fluid, brake kleen, and most solvents will bite right into it and ruin the finish.

 

[Tomahawk 309]

Sherwin Williams is good quality auto paint. I have painted two cars with it and had very good results being an amateur.

 

[vr1967]

Got a paint shop buddy who has been using products from this place for years with good results

https://www.thecoatingstore.com/#sthash.kafVl2tO.dpbs

 

[Erik the Awful]

Honest opinion here, I don't like matte black on vehicles. It doesn't look good unless it's really well done, and then it's overplayed.

If the body of your truck looks like butt and you're trying to sell it, matte black does not help. If a truck has mismatched panels and some surface rust, I'll pay more for it than a truck that's been spray-bombed black. The spray bomb looks like the owner is trying to hide body work and is too cheap to get it done right.

If it's your daily and you want to clean it up a bit, consider - and I'm serious here - thinning out some Rustoleum and either using a sponge roller to lay it on or a Harbor Freight gun. It'll make a decent twenty-footer. Do your prep work, sand, tape off, etc. Afterwards color sand it. It won't look like a $2000 Earl Scheib job, but it'll look better than matte black. If you feel really froggy and do a good job of sanding it smooth, top it off with some 2K clear coat.

 

[JACK34]

Thank you Eric. First I'm not trying to sell the truck I'm trying to preserve it as long as I can in this salt infested area I live in. And I am not spraying it down with used grease and motor oil or rubber undercoating. I got some red oxide Rustoleum primer today and sprayed a test panel from LMC. Scuffed it up cleaned it and gave it 3 coats no thinner with a 1.4 tip went on great. Once that has cured I'm going to try Rustoleum flat back and a splash of Rustoleum gloss smoke gray. 5 parts paint 2 parts acetone and a third or a splash of hardener. We will find out and I'm using cheap hvlp guns nothing special. It's not a Corvette it's a truck. And automotive paint prices cost more than these trucks are worth.

 

[Hipster]

Honest opinion here, I don't like matte black on vehicles. It doesn't look good unless it's really well done, and then it's overplayed.

If the body of your truck looks like butt and you're trying to sell it, matte black does not help. If a truck has mismatched panels and some surface rust, I'll pay more for it than a truck that's been spray-bombed black. The spray bomb looks like the owner is trying to hide body work and is too cheap to get it done right.

If it's your daily and you want to clean it up a bit, consider - and I'm serious here - thinning out some Rustoleum and either using a sponge roller to lay it on or a Harbor Freight gun. It'll make a decent twenty-footer. Do your prep work, sand, tape off, etc. Afterwards color sand it. It won't look like a $2000 Earl Scheib job, but it'll look better than matte black. If you feel really froggy and do a good job of sanding it smooth, top it off with some 2K clear coat.

As long as the oil based paint is as far as you'll ever go it's fine but automotive paints and clearcoats are faster drying more aggressive products that are extremely susceptible to contamination. The clear because of it's more aggressive properties can attack the un-catalyzed oil-based paint and can wrinkle, blister, and lift it and you're putting a clear that is susceptible to contaminants and developing fisheyes over a product that no matter how many times you degrease it, it is still the product on the vehicle that is contaminated because it is oil based. Most times you need to strip the oil based disaster off to put better paint on.

The difference to step up to at the minimum to an acrylic enamel with a hardener and have something you can work with is miniscule to the amount of work you created if and when you decide you want better.

Next usually comes the comment "But, you can buy a different brand hardener for it" and at that point they're playing mad chemist with no guarantee's that a chemical reaction will take place and a hardener still doesn't solve the oil issue. Even un-catalyzed acrylic enamels can pose a lot of problems when trying to paint over them.