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White Shed Speed - Now a Southern Polyurethanes Automotive Coatings dealer.

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bastarddsm

20+ Year Contributor
5,620
1,457
Aug 26, 2003
Mendota, Illinois
Hi everyone,

I'd like to announce that WSS is now a stocking dealer for Southern Polyurethanes Automotive Coatings! SPI for short manufactures a superior line of primers, clears, and a few select solid colors in base-coat and singe stage (Black, White, Orange, and several shades of Red.

I was a paint and body guy for nearly 10 years through high school and college working at one of the better shops in my area. Through my time I was able to learn the trade, and painted my own car a decade ago, along with a few other projects along the way. My father is also an expert body and paint guys, along with an expert metal sharper. Over the years he and I have used just about every paint system out there. He goes back to lacquer and metal-flake! He was there for the beginning of the catalyzed urethane bc/cc stuff too. Any way we both feel that most of the big name stuff (PPG, SW, Dupont) is all extremely expensive for the durability it offers. It also seems that if you look for the big names budget lines, it's even worse.

SPI materials are top tier materials, they use high quality components, and the price is great. They are used by many high end shops, on concours restorations, pebble beach winners, ect. It's not cheap parts store paint, it's the real deal.

We have a 63 ford wagon restoration project going on that we needed to make a decision on what materials. Times are tight so we've looked at some of the cheaper stuff. About 5 years ago, my dad found out about SPI at an event titled "Metal Meet". A group of the worlds best metal shapers get together and put on classes, work on stuff, ect, and the word was SPI. Remember these are the guys that build the best of the best stuff. So we looked into, and ordered some materials. So far we have used a bunch of epoxy, and he stuff is great, and I'll run down a bit on how we have used it and why it's great.

Keep in mind that this is a restoration project, meant to last forever. Not a wham-bam make it pretty again collision repair. Also there are a million ways to do this. This is how we do it, and we feel that it's the best way, but, it's an art, not a science, and YMMV.

So with a restoration project like our 63 wagon, typically the car gets completely stripped to bare metal. This is simply the best way for something that has some rust and well aged paint. This way there is no surprises, and you start from bare clean metal. Stripping it involves chemical paint stripper, acid to eat rust, sand blasting, and even 80 grit on a DA sander. At this point you would do whatever metalwork is needed, dent repair, rust repair, ect. And you would want to get the car as straight as you can, to keep the filler to a minimum. When your ready, you'd sand the whole roof with 80 grit on a DA, and then clean the metal with water-borne wax and grease removed to be ready to accept epoxy primer. We don't put filler on bare metal because filler has no corrosion preventative properties. We use an epoxy primer because epoxy can have an unmatched bond to properly prepared metal, and it also has a great re-coat window. Most epoxy remains porous for some time after it "dries to the touch", as time progresses these pores close up, as they close up they lock on to the topcoat, and provide a strong mechanical bond. This behavior allows us to have up to a 7 day window before we have to sand scratches in it to get sufficient adhesion. We use the water-borne wax and grease remover because solvent based cleaners can leave a film that prevents adhesion of paint. Never use lacquer thinner or reducer before epoxy primer. You can test is your panel is clean with a drop of water, if it beads up, epoxy won't stick, if it sheets it'll grab like no other.

Epoxy under filler is a common practice for restoration work. Here's why SPI epoxy is the best stuff for the job:
1. SPI epoxy has a shine to it, where most other epoxy is flat/eggshell, this allows you to see dents and dings much easier with SPI epoxy. - No more guide coat and missed dings!
2. SPI epoxy sets up quick and actually sands! Most other epoxy's are terrible to sand until way after the recoat window. With most other epoxies if you put filler on, the day after you sprayed epoxy, it is almost impossible to get a good feather edge. I used Eastwood Co. Epoxy on a project, and it was gummy to sand for weeks!!! My dad just sprayed SPI Epoxy on a set of inner fenders for the wagon that had some rust pits, an extra coat in
that area, and he was able to sand out the pits later that day. It honestly sets up as quick as a 2k surfacer, and many shops are using it as a medium build surfacer.

The epoxy is right at $200 for 2 sprayable gallons, and if you look, it's really close to the cost of some of the budget epoxies out there, and is much much easier to use!

I have also used the epoxy as a sealer before the basecoat, and again this is nice because it allows you to lightly "nib" it hours after spraying, not days, and it also really ties the basecoat down.

Their flagship clear "Universal Clear" sprays great and buff's easy at any time.

The black single stage and basecoat is B-L-A-C-K, and not brown/gray like some of the cheaper lines out there.

With my introduction of this, I'll do Free Shipping and 5% off an order $500, and 10% off $1000 for tuners members until sept 1.

I plan on attending the shootout, and can bring an order with me.

Please see the attached catalog for a product listing, as well as tech info, and the link below for current pricing.

https://www.southernpolyurethanes.com/pricing
 

Attachments

  • SPI P sheets.pdf
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Last edited:
Not sure if I am allowed to comment on this but ill be in touch. I need epoxy for my interior, exterior, and cage. Will probably PM with a few questions also before purchasing.
 
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