K5 Blazer repaint cap body color or white? How to remove fading paint on fiberglass.

[Zelph]

Just sayin that Softopper makes a tan top for the K5.

Head to a boat supply shop and get a product made for fiberglass.

 

[Grit dog]

^^^ This

For the amount of work you're putting into it any rattle can paint will end up doing the same thing as the old white paint or fading. Krylon rattle cans are also $8 each, you will burn through a lot of cans to get good coverage on a project that size.

Also, the odds that you can get Krylon in any shade close to the original body color are slim. I have no doubt they have several shades of tan but it's likely to clash with the tone of the existing paint. An advantage of white is it doesn't need to match anything.

Here's a breakdown of budget friendly quality paint materials that would be needed, I guess the epoxy could be skipped but it would ensure the paint adheres well and no colors would bleed through.

Summit epoxy primer (white) is $32 quart
Summit epoxy catalyst $24 per quart
Summit single stage "Flat white" acrylic urethane is $34 per quart
Summit Urethane activator $43 quart
Summit urethane reducer $19 quart

For about $150 or so bucks in materials you could spray it with quality automotive paint with an epoxy sealer underneath. I couldn't find urethane activator or reducer in half pint sizes so there would be almost $50 worth of material left over...

^This too, except you can skip the epoxy primer on the topper if you want because it’s not made of steel. So you could save $50. It’s a great base layer but on that, a good scotchbrite job and an extra coat of basecoat would be fine.

 

[Jawzjeep]

Keep in mind the original color may actually be gelcoat, not paint. A lot of fiberglass products (my primary experience being boats) use a colored gelcoat for the smooth shiny surface. If thats the case, some of the polish/finish products used by boat owners might be the way to go.

Was going to recommend gelcoat but thought it would be considered too labor intensive for most here.

OP, be careful with that oven cleaner around aluminum

 

[TDoc]

Was going to recommend gelcoat but thought it would be considered too labor intensive for most here.

OP, be careful with that oven cleaner around aluminum

I actually used the oven cleaner to restore some eagle alloy wheels that were terribly neglected for 10+ years. It worked great to get all the corrosion off along with steel wool. Then polished with mothers and they still had a great shine. Oven cleaner certainly dulled the aluminum but they were so pitted and corroded I needed something to eat through all that crap. I did notice the aluminum / tin trim around my brake lights got striped but those were ultra cheap eBay special tail lights.

 

[TDoc]

I used my orbital buffer with wool pad on the gel coat after the 205 polish. It certainly helped give it some gloss.

After

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Before

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Happy I don’t have to see the old white spray paint streak off down the side of the truck every time it rained or morning dew.

 

[Grit dog]

Keep in mind the original color may actually be gelcoat, not paint. A lot of fiberglass products (my primary experience being boats) use a colored gelcoat for the smooth shiny surface. If thats the case, some of the polish/finish products used by boat owners might be the way to go.

Prep for gel, wet sanding and polishing are 99% the same as paint.
The big differences is you need a different setup to spray it, you have to cure it and you fix gouges by squaring up a deep repair and filling with gel vs feathering smooth with paint.

 

[Grit dog]

Was going to recommend gelcoat but thought it would be considered too labor intensive for most here.

OP, be careful with that oven cleaner around aluminum

And yield no real world benefits of re-gel coating vs painting, either single stage or base/clear. But much harder to apply, imo. Unless you’re set up to do gel.

 

[YakkoWarner]

I may not have been clear in what I meant:

I don't think recoating with gelcoat would be a good idea (its hard to work with, has to be sealed from outside air while curing, etc). But if the existing color is gelcoat from the manufacturer, it might be possible to bring it back around. Gelcoat is frequently much thicker than paint (it is applied to the inner surfaces of the mold before any of the glass and resin layup) so there may be more material to work with in terms of wet-sanding and buffing. If it was already mosly burned through by whoever did the recoating to make it white, than scuffing and repainting is definately the way to go. I've done a small gelcoat recoating once, it swore me off doing it ever again.

 

[Grit dog]

I may not have been clear in what I meant:

I don't think recoating with gelcoat would be a good idea (it’s hard to work with, has to be sealed from outside air while curing, etc). But if the existing color is gelcoat from the manufacturer, it might be possible to bring it back around. Gelcoat is frequently much thicker than paint (it is applied to the inner surfaces of the mold before any of the glass and resin layup) so there may be more material to work with in terms of wet-sanding and buffing. If it was already mosly burned through by whoever did the recoating to make it white, than scuffing and repainting is definately the way to go. I've done a small gelcoat recoating once, it swore me off doing it ever again.

Ya I misunderstood.
Oh yes, if he gets all the white off and hits it with a polisher he might be able to totally refinish what’s there just by cuttting and polishing. Can’t sand because it’s it smooth as I recall on them toppers.

 

[TotalyHucked]

Overspray Ray (previous owner) had painted the door mirrors white so there is already some white I need to get off the doors but it’s pretty baked on and not too noticeable so leaving that for now. I might try one of those wipe on clear coats on the fiberglass cap. It would at least leave a gloss finish.

I'd highly...HIGHLY recommend against that. I've seen several instances of that wipe on clear coat starting to fail and when it fails, it brings up everything underneath with it. Stick to something like Sweet Patina's Patina Sauce. It'll give it a good shine but it's not permanent

 

[TDoc]

Ya I misunderstood.
Oh yes, if he gets all the white off and hits it with a polisher he might be able to totally refinish what’s there just by cuttting and polishing. Can’t sand because it’s it smooth as I recall on them toppers.

Most of the original gel coat has either baked off or was sanded off before the white was sprayed on. I’m going to let it be for a summer and see what happens. It’s already brightened up a little bit hitting it with the polisher but it’s seen better days. If the blotches would clear up, it would be fine as most of it is a uniform color. I might try some light wet sanding on those problem blotchy areas.