My car has needed paint badly for years now. I'm starting to get some rust spots on the trunk and the quarters. My plan has always been to buy 2 new fenders and a cowl hood and then get it all painted at the same time. However I have never had enough money to get the new sheet metal.

Can I primer the car and leave it that way for a year or so till I get the money to buy the new sheet metal ? Or is there some other product I should put on it ? The car is stored outside and I drive it on the weekends.

While I do not know the answer first hand, I am interested in doing the same thing. I will end up having to do the body work a little at a time over an extended period (probably a year as well). Preliminary conversations with others lead me to believe that there are "sealers" that are applied over the top of a blocking primer that will leave it "paint-ready" for an extended period. I can only think this must be possible...many people like the look of a primered car (rat rods, etc.) and leave it that way for years. I can't imagine it needs to be sanded off and started over in the event they decide to go back and paint it.:confused:

You can do a search for more info, but in short, here's the answer:

Primer's job is to :
1. Adhere to bare metal after proper preparation
2. Provide an absorbing base for top coat paint.

The #2 is what gets you. Primer will absorb everything: Water; dirt; grease; oils; tree sap;

It will allow moisture to penetrate into the steel, rusting away while you drive. Primer is in no way good for a driving car. Epoxy is a little different because of it's hardness and ability to seal the metal subsurface better. If you have to use primer, use 2-3 coats of epoxy, but I still wouldn't drive it in the rain often.

Jim, #2 is why I never thought leaving it it primer would be a good idea. So what should I do ? Get a cheap macco paint job and then do it over again once I get all the sheet metal on it ?

I don't know if its an aceptable practice but I would shoot primer and then use some rattle can paint very lightly over the primer to seal it. Like stated above primer is not water proof but the light spary of paint does help protect it.

If you use a quality epoxy primer, such as SPI's, I would not worry about sealing it off with paint. I would worry about prolonged exposure to UV rays, though.

Jim, #2 is why I never thought leaving it it primer would be a good idea. So what should I do ? Get a cheap macco paint job and then do it over again once I get all the sheet metal on it ?

Use 2-3 coats of quality EPOXY over clean, 100& rust-free metal. You can tint Epoxy primer as well to get some color if you like. Looks a little better than primer grey or flat black.

NO Maaco! You'll just have to scrape, sand or blast it off later. The epoxy is the way to go.

Here's a good product: http://www.martinsenour-autopaint.com/pds/martin/8305.pdf

I know I'm showing some ignorance here, but let's assume that you've removed the old paint, patched any damaged/rotted areas with new metal, sanded, and applied filler as needed to level the surface. Is this panel still considered "100% rust free metal" as in the previous post? At this point would you apply the 2-3 coats of epoxy? At what point in this processs does a high-build, blockable primer come into play, assuming that the aforementioned repaired panel is not going to be painted for a while?

1. strip old paint to bare metal
2. remove rust
3. straighten metal damage / welding / etc.
4. use self-etch primer or metal etching solution (This is a debateble subject - I don't do this)
5. Epoxy prime
6. Plastic filler work/bondo
7. Re-apply epoxy over plastic filler
8. Urethane primer build
9. block sand
10. repeat # 8
11. block sand as needed
12. Wet sand with 600 (or repeat primer if needed)
13. paint.

I know I'm showing some ignorance here, but let's assume that you've removed the old paint, patched any damaged/rotted areas with new metal, sanded, and applied filler as needed to level the surface. Is this panel still considered "100% rust free metal" as in the previous post? At this point would you apply the 2-3 coats of epoxy? At what point in this processs does a high-build, blockable primer come into play, assuming that the aforementioned repaired panel is not going to be painted for a while?

Most hi-build primers are somewhat water soluble, although you could put another sealer coat of epoxy primer over it when finished. I don't think it is recommended that a car primered with hi-build be left outside.

Jimmy P - some epoxy primers such as SPI are not recommended to be applied over etching primers or metal etching solutions.

had mine in epoxy for 14 years.

Don't prime the car until you are ready to paint, unless you can store it inside. Primer is porous and the underlying metal will start to rust very quickly in the weather. You'll have a real mess if the primer that has started to show rust spots when you are ready to paint.

Tom

Ppg epoxy, and probably most of the others are like it in this respect. It can be used as a sealer, so as far as having a problem with it, you shouldn't.

I wouldn't be afraid to let the weather get at it for several years, but like latenight72 says, the uv's can get to it, like maybe bleach out and turn chalky looking.

After a few years when your ready to paint it, clean it good with some acryliclean dx-330, then sand it, reclean with dx-330, then respray it with one good wet coat for sure of epoxy, wait a good 24 hours with the temperature up there, then top coat it.

I sprayed a large boat trailer with it, it was sumerged underwater at least twice a year, never rinsed off, and set out in the summer sun, the epoxy hung in there for years until I sold it.

heres some information on epoxy http://custom-aerosol.com/pdf/PPG-DPLF-epoxy-primer-product-sheet.pdf

And heres spi http://www.southernpolyurethanes.com/SPI%20News.htm


Rob

1. strip old paint to bare metal
2. remove rust
3. straighten metal damage / welding / etc.
4. use self-etch primer or metal etching solution (This is a debateble subject - I don't do this)
5. Epoxy prime
6. Plastic filler work/bondo
7. Re-apply epoxy over plastic filler
8. Urethane primer build
9. block sand
10. repeat # 8
11. block sand as needed
12. Wet sand with 600 (or repeat primer if needed)
13. paint.
This is exactly the method I went with 17 years ago before I got married and never was able to complete my car. My car sat in an old building with a leaky roof for 15 years before I was finally able to rescue it last year. I'm 39 now, and 4 kids later and a with a little more flex in my my money I pulled the car out only to find very minimal damage (rust) to the years of neglect. The only rust repairs that need to be made are one dime-size hole in the passenger-side roof-rail and another the same size beneath the windshield on the same side. I've figured that these were only due to the inaccessability to the undersides of these of these pieces and the rust came from the underside. As far as the rear quarters and lower inner fenders (highly prone rust areas) the epoxy that I poured down from the inside sealed these up quite well.

1. strip old paint to bare metal
2. remove rust
3. straighten metal damage / welding / etc.
4. use self-etch primer or metal etching solution (This is a debateble subject - I don't do this)
5. Epoxy prime
6. Plastic filler work/bondo
7. Re-apply epoxy over plastic filler
8. Urethane primer build
9. block sand
10. repeat # 8
11. block sand as needed
12. Wet sand with 600 (or repeat primer if needed)
13. paint.

No doubt Jimmy has it right on the money,:thumbsup: so lets not disturb it, just fine tune it.

Lets start with 0
0. wash it with warm water and dawn dishwashing soap, get the wax off.
1. strip old paint to bare metal
2. remove rust
3. straighten metal damage / welding / etc.
3.5 clean it with acryliclean dx-330.
3.7. no self-etching
4. use self-etch primer or metal etching solution (This is a debateble subject - I don't do this)
5. Epoxy prime
5.5. two wet coats of epoxy.
5.7. wait 24 hours with the temperature at least 72 degees.
6. Plastic filler work/bondo
6.5. reclean with dx-330.
7. Re-apply epoxy over plastic filler
7.5 one good wet coat will probably do it.
8. Urethane primer build
9. block sand
9.5. reclean with dx-330.
10. repeat # 8
11. block sand as needed
12. Wet sand with 600 (or repeat primer if needed)
12.5. reclean with dx-330.
12.7. tack it off.
13. paint.[/quote]

Cleaning it first with dishwater soap, might not be a necessity, but you won't have a problem with any wax leeching through the stripper and getting into the metal. When your washing it your also getting inside the drip rails and around the windows where you might have a wax build up.

I use a cheap paint brush, cut half the bristles off, so its kind of stiff. Then use that with the warm soapy water around those hidden areas some of you guys that have experienced fish eyes in the paint, if you stop and look at it when your blowing a car off, you could have some wax in those areas and dislodge it.

On all this cleaning with dx-330, this stuff can give you a problem, by letting it soak in. I put it in something like a 409 bottle, its an industrial type, about $5, and they last forever. I mist it very lightly, with a clean rag in the other hand so it doesn't lay on there, when you wipe the dx-330 off, wipe one way only and don't scrub it, one way, then turn your rag over and go the other way, then when your done cleaning it, blow it off good.

Like I said earlier, Jimmy has it down right, I hope you don't mind me adding this to it.:)

Rob

Excellent information everyone! As always on TC...I very much appreciate it!


had mine in epoxy for 14 years.

A few final questions...after 14 years did you paint it, and if so what did you do in order to be paint-ready? What was this epoxy directly over top of? Metal or hi-build?