Okay I dove right in this weekend. I brought home a 68 skylark convertible last weekend and started stripping down to bare metal today. Good news is that other than some minor dings the metal is all solid without rust. Bad news is stripping paint and a skim coat of bondo sucks. My game plan is to epoxy prime the whole car then filler then 2k high build and finally paint. Hate to admit it but I'm lost with all these brands out there. Can someone recommend a decent system/brand ? I know it's alot to ask but somebody has to have all the products that work together. Tried the local paint shop first but they knew less than I did.
I think there are quite a few good epoxy primers, but I'm most familiar with R-M. Both R-M and Glasurit (which are made by BASF) have chromated epoxy primer available. Bare metal primers with zinc chromate or zinc phosphate have the best adhesion. I would stay away from PPG DP epoxy primer, as they took the "good stuff" out long ago. So unless a person treats the bare metal it would not have real good adhesion and corrosion resistance.
House of Kolor I was watching one of those auto-shows and they did a great story on custom painting and the "House of Kolor" - I did a bit of searching and came acrossed their web site and it looks like they have the full line of products - from prime to clear coat. You might want to Google the "House of Kolor" and look into there products - I'm sure they are expensive but this is the time to put money where people are going to see the difference. Good Luck -
I'm pretty sure House of Color products are all "California friendly", which would mean chromate free on bare metal primers. If a person is after the ultimate finish for durability and appearance (provided the proper prep work is done) Glasurit is about as good as it gets.
House of Kolor can set you up with all you need. Yes it is expensive, but so is PPG and DuPont. The finished product will be great if you follow the instructions closely. Main thing to do is to stay with ONE brand all the way through, so you don't have any chemical interaction. Good luck. Mike
The thing with House of Color is they don't have OEM colors, so if that's what you're after you would be mixing brands anyway. DuPont and PPG have so many different products it's hard to keep up with. If you are after an affordable system that works, R-M is an excellent choice. We have been using it for 13 years and have had really good luck with it.
Appreciate it guys. Figured if I'm gonna go down to bare metal might as well put quality products on it while I'm at it.
I agree with Strato Blue about using R-M good quality product and not as complex as the big two. I have used R-M with good service. Sorry about leaving this one out.
