doing prep work for paint job- what color primer to use?

rossb · 08-23-2008, 01:32 PM

What color primer should I use? I bought black primer but I don't know if I should use it if the body color will be red. Need answer asap because I have bare metal.

Edit: I just put some gray primer on there, but my next job is the front and rear bumpers..anyone have any tips I could use when sanding/painting plastics?

mitsu2 · 08-23-2008, 02:56 PM

You can use any color primer. You need to get the sealer close though. For red, I would use a light grey sealer.

rossb · 08-23-2008, 03:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mitsu2

You can use any color primer. You need to get the sealer close though. For red, I would use a light grey sealer.

Should I even use sealer on it? it's getting a 1 step spray from maaco

mitsu2 · 08-23-2008, 05:00 PM

Whenever I paint a car, I always use a sealer when I go to paint. It gives you a a solid base to start with a color and helps the base color cover more easily, along with sealing over sand scratches and so forth

keat · 08-23-2008, 06:12 PM

Yes..definately use sealer. It gives you a better base coat..which helps build on everything.

EDM95 · 08-23-2008, 08:25 PM

Why did you sand it down to bare metal? Did you do alot of body work on the car?
I hope you used a sh!* load of primer because the paint is not going to stick on bare metal by it self.
I would go with the gray primer on a red car.

keat · 08-23-2008, 08:29 PM

Wow I didnt even read the part that he said bare metal. Jesus man...dont sand THAT much haha.

rossb · 08-23-2008, 09:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by keat

Wow I didnt even read the part that he said bare metal. Jesus man...dont sand THAT much haha.

I had to, the guy before my spray painted it black then red and it already had chips down to the metal, gotta do the same for the other front fender too.

p.s. already did 2 coats of primer gonna do another tomarrow

mitsu2 · 08-23-2008, 11:44 PM

Did you take the car completly down to metal?? If so, did you spray some Self etching primer first?

rossb · 08-24-2008, 07:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mitsu2

Did you take the car completly down to metal?? If so, did you spray some Self etching primer first?

the entire car isn't down the the metal(thats a lot of work) just that fender. Also when i sand the entire body, should i just get down past the clear coat and rough up the body paint so the new paint will stick?

mitsu2 · 08-24-2008, 09:41 AM

If you dont have to do any bodywork and the pant is'nt in bad shape then all you really need to do is sand with some 320grit. I like to go back over the 320 and wetsand with 600grit.

68442 · 08-24-2008, 10:57 AM

If you car is all one color after the primer skip the sealer, just another chance to get junk in your work. Check your tech sheets about the recoat time for your primer. If you wait too long you might have to scuff it all so another coat will stick.

I agree go over it with 600, are you using a guide coat? What are you expecting for this repaint? If its just a quick repaint which I suspect since your using macco you should be good.

rossb · 08-24-2008, 11:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 68442

If you car is all one color after the primer skip the sealer, just another chance to get junk in your work. Check your tech sheets about the recoat time for your primer. If you wait too long you might have to scuff it all so another coat will stick.

I agree go over it with 600, are you using a guide coat? What are you expecting for this repaint? If its just a quick repaint which I suspect since your using macco you should be good.

I'm gonna get it painted this week hopefully

. And I'll hit the rest of the car with 600grit. Should I just hit it quickly or get down past the clear(whats left of it)? And my local maaco does some nice jobs from what I've seen

.

p.s. I saw them actually sanding when I was there.

68442 · 08-24-2008, 11:40 AM

As long as the clear is not coming off you can/have to sand it for other paint to stick. The laser i'm doing now was peeling so I stripped it all off to base and undercoats. My whole car is in primer because I was also worried about all the red matching. I took it a step farther and put high build primer on it and am wet sanding with 600........overkill for this paint job.

rossb · 08-24-2008, 08:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 68442

As long as the clear is not coming off you can/have to sand it for other paint to stick. The laser i'm doing now was peeling so I stripped it all off to base and undercoats. My whole car is in primer because I was also worried about all the red matching. I took it a step farther and put high build primer on it and am wet sanding with 600........overkill for this paint job.

It's coming off in some places and not in some others. So what should I do? BTW, the maaco guy said to use 160grit on the places that didn't need complete stripping.

68442 · 08-24-2008, 10:13 PM

160 will show thru the paint. There are also 2 types of paper, the newer grade has a p in front like p600, which is close to 400(cami) and is what you want to use before base, metallic and black take finer usually. If a panel is peeling I'd take all the clear off that whole panel, water has probably started working its way under the rest. Its only a matter of time before it all starts peeling. To cut thru the bad clear I'd use 220 or the 160 or it'll take forever. I used 80 on a DA to cut thru mine.

rossb · 08-25-2008, 06:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 68442

160 will show thru the paint. There are also 2 types of paper, the newer grade has a p in front like p600, which is close to 400(cami) and is what you want to use before base, metallic and black take finer usually. If a panel is peeling I'd take all the clear off that whole panel, water has probably started working its way under the rest. Its only a matter of time before it all starts peeling. To cut thru the bad clear I'd use 220 or the 160 or it'll take forever. I used 80 on a DA to cut thru mine.

So use the 160 to cut through the clear and then a much higher grit(350+) to rough up the paint? Also the paint on my hood has some deep chips in the paint, should I sand those down and primer those parts?

vanilla gorilla · 08-25-2008, 08:06 AM

You wont need anything finer than 320 to rough up the paint before primer.
And on the hood just sand it down real good, again with 320. And for the deep scrathes/chips, fill them in with spot putty/glazing putty. Sand the spot putty smooth with the rest of the hood, and prime.

68442 · 08-25-2008, 10:34 AM

For me I sand the rock chips down to bare metal and blend them in, small rock chip will end up looking like a golf ball or bigger when blending. They are usually pits of rust if they go down past the primer. If theres no rust I'd do the spot puddy and blend like vanilla said.