Good Primer?

[Mike_G]

I'm stripping my truck to bear metal so I know exactly what needs to be done, but it will be awhile before I have the money to paint it. Does anyone make a decent aerosol primer that could stand up to Kansas weather for a while, or should I ante up and take it to a body shop to prime and seal after I get it all stripped? Any input would definitely be appreciated, I want to do this right the first time. I bought it in a primered state and it has started to show a lot of surface rust through the primer and at least two old layers of paint.
-Mike

[Fast68Chevy]

i think only epoxy primer will block moisture from the metal unlike other types of primers, i think tats the type anyways. forgot now, i need ot know too, because I wil hahve ot sand down the 71 and do that to keep it from rusting anymore now thats its up here in high humidity climate...

good luck

[ty1295]

PPG DP Epoxy primer is the best I have used. But doesn't come in aresol can. In fact good paints never do, as they are a 2 part, and must be mixed just before spraying.

But a small compressor, paint gun, and do it yourself. Primer is good to practice on anyways, and since it isn't paint, any errors can be sanded later.

DP comes in green, black, grey, and maybe a few others. I plan to do same, and as I work on my truck, paint each panel with black, since truck is black, should never look to ugly.

Filler and spay can paints are more like spongues, not a sealer.



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Jeff Scott
'70 GMC Stepside, Short box
'67 Camaro
'63 Nova
'92 GMC typhoon

[super72bb]

Mike I agree with ty, the good products are usually a 2 part. It sounds like you may have a little more trouble than what may appear at first glance. If you are getting surface rust now, you are on the right track by sripping it to bare metal. The "rust battle" wont end there though. You must get rid of all the rust (after you sand the paint off) you will see the surface corrosion it will show up as a dark black deposits on the metal. Now this is the difference between a quality job and a hack job. You must sand blast the rust deposits out so you have "white metal" showing, all of the black deposits must be gone. If not you will find yourself re-doing the paint again very soon. A word of caution though be careful what you blast with the sand blaster as the large flat panels will warp if not blasted correctly. It is a good idea not to wait to long with the panels sitting bare, try to get the epoxy primer on asap.

[Mike_G]

If I am going to have to take it to bare metal anyway, would it be in my best interest to take it to a professional sandblaster as is and let them take all of the old primer, paint, and rust off in one attempt? If so what is a fair price to have an entire truck sandblasted? I don't see myself coming up with the necessary equipment to do the sandblasting myself. Thanks for the input.
-Mike

[Stroker]

Mike first off don't have it sand blasted. Sand is to harsh and will heat up the metal and cause it to warp and distort. They usually use some type of plastic media to blast body panels and it does a good job stripping the paint without causing any problems to the body panels. This type of stripping is fairly expensive. I haven't had it done myself but someone I know had a cab and doors stripped inside and out. Ran them about $350. A complete truck probably in the $500-$700 range I would guess. I would agree with the others about using an epoxy primer, definately the way to go if your going to wait a while till painting. They can tint the primer just about any base color you want anymore. In fact a lot of painters use the primer as a base coat for candied paints.

[70cstguy]

Epoxy primer is the only way to go! It does not come in a good quality spray can, and it is expensive, but if you don't want to deal with rust, its the only way!

[67Blacksheep]

Mike-
I agree with the guys...stay away from the can! You will find that different quality primers offer different results. My father taught me, and swore by Red Oxide. He used to tell me that the gray primer would "dust off" to easy. Any how...canned paints can leave residue that can haunt you later. Paints are chemicals after all! Good luck. And by the way...Painting primer is easy and fun. Good practice for later, and flaws are easily sanded out. Just a thought.

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67 Chevy C20 LB Stepside,
350 4-bolt with goodies.

[super72bb]

Mike, I have had a few of my trucks Plasti-blasted. It is a very good way to strip a body. The cons however are, it does not remove the rust (the dark black deposits embedded) and most Bead blasters or Plastic-blasters dont get rid of any body filler to speak of.

My suggestion is. If you can afford it now take it to a Bead blaster/plasti-blaster and have all of the paint removed. What you do next really depends on where the rust is. As one of the other posts mentioned sand blasting is hard on the panels if you dont do it right. I have wrecked a few panels sand blasting. It is not advised to sand blast an area like the roof or the hood. Although sand blasting a rocker panel or a cab corner isnt likely going to hurt, because the metal has alot of strenght with every crease and bend. Another example is the window frame there is no harm sand blasting it beause of its structure.If you find that it is just spots of rust here and there just use a spot blaster to remove the black deposits. The only true way to fix a rust problem is to get rid of it all together, Plasti-blasting alone wont do this for you.

[Mike_G]

So the consensus is to strip it, sandblast the rust, and then epoxy prime it. Just a couple of follow up questions. How big a spot is too big to spot blast? How long does it take for rust to set up on bear metal? The reason for the second question is that my uncle has a decent paint setup, but he lives about 7 hrs. away, so I would have to drive the truck, bare metal, to his place for the weekend.
-Mike

[wild@work]

I agree with the plastic media, but I would check into getting your truck baking soda blasted. You don't have to mask anything, and clean up means washing it down the drain. As far as Primer, I am going with DP90. Really durable as I am planning on running it in Primer for up to a year.

Wild

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a.k.a. wild4wheels
'02 Subaru 2.5ts wagon
'67 Panel
'94 Nissan Altima-FS $2500
'88 Isuzu P/U-FS Long Bed-Needs Motor work-$400.
'79 Bonneville-FS w/15" Pontiac Rally II's-$200.
Parting Out:
'72 Burb
'85 BMW 528e
Want to Buy:
Used Car Trailer-Reasonable-in the Midwest
67-72 1 Ton Dually-Reasonable-in the Midwest
BURB QUARTER PANELS!

[eminentbass]

comming from an auto body tech I would definitly go with the epoxy but dupont makes a better quality primer than ppg so I would go with them and it will cost about $150 in primer if you are going to do it yourself.

[tim m]

What does everone think of having the trucked chemically dipped and stripped? I got a price to do the whole truck, and it was quite a bit cheaper than media blasting.

[ty1295]

I was able to learn a lot about body work from one of the few TRUE body people. He was able to lead, make parts from scratch, etc. In fact he built 8 black ferrari's for the show miami vice (on corvette chassis).

Anyways. He had a amphicar chemically dipped, and showed me it. Might have been the company that did it in particular, but the car had surface rust EVERYWHERE, very soon after. On flat panels wouldn't be bad, but on the hidden ones, rockers, behind doors, etc it was impossible to get to. He ended up blasting it to get rid of all the surface rust, then spraying with dp primer right after. After seeing that I wouldn't touch chemical myself. Have heard of other bad experiences also.



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Jeff Scott
'70 GMC Stepside, Short box
'67 Camaro
'63 Nova
'92 GMC typhoon

[HuggerCST]

Anybody ever used Dupont's epoxy DTM primer/sealer? I am reading about it and it sounds pretty good. Non-sanding too.

[eminentbass]

Dupont DTM epoxy is the only stuff we use. It covers really nice. You don't have to sand it(If you leave it for more than 24 h then you have to scuff it with skotch brite before you paint). It is one of the few primers that is completly water proof. if your serious about your truck go with it.

[HuggerCST]

How well does it fill? I've been using NAPA/martin senior urethane 5100, because it filled so well. (80 grit scratches in bondo no problem) I just bought a gallon of the DTM, and 2 qts activator. 175.00. It only comes in gallons, and in three shades.

[cdh67]

If you use PPG epoxy primer.Use their primer/surfacer.Its called NCT.It is pinkish in color but it fills extremely well.I used to use in on Ambulances after the welding shop welded the box's together. It will fill nicks and deep scatches in the metal. Sands very easy.

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Craig Hager
tech1@chevyduty.com
1-816-741-8029ext501

[seanu]

I have used the industrial primer we use at my work to prime my truck parts. It's Sherwin Williams, KEM-FLASH 500 Primer, and it works very well and you can even wet sand it and spray it over bare metal. It dries so fast it can be top coated in 30 minutes, and it is rated to resist Florida Exposure for 1 year.

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Sean
1971 SWB Frame up Project (going to be street truck)
83 C10 LWB (new daily driver)
Jacksonville, Florida