Which coating for a long waiting period?

[Sad Sack]

@PhotonFanatic
So, after bypassing the back and forth, you say you're letting the body shop do the body work? If so, then are they squirting the epoxy primer on it, highly recommend that you do this. Epoxy is EXTREMELY TOXIC and letting the pros lay that stuff on is highly recommended before you take it home. You'll be glad they did and it will last as long as you want it. Epoxy is one thing I won't paint in a home garage-maybe outdoors with a quality mask but still if able, let the pros handle epoxy. A good friend of my uncle had a massive coronary issue from spraying epoxy and not using proper ventilation, attire or mask. Good thing though about epoxy is that "filler" can still be applied on top of epoxy primer if needed just as if it was bare metal then rattle can regular primer on the repair. And old rule of thumb when laying paint down is thick over thin.

 

[fast 99]

Not to nit pick but there are products that are designed (for automotive finishes) to go straight over “rust”. Light flash rust. And they do seal the surface. Is it the best practice? I don’t believe it is, but rust (oxidation) needs air and moisture to propagate and if you remove both, oxidation doesn’t continue to occur.
However “can’t paint color over color” is wholly false. You can and there’s nothing wrong with doing it. Now you could paint (ie color coat base or single stage) over poor quality paint or paint that has bonding issues or paint that melts from the new coat (same for primer though) and have a multitude of issues either short term or long term. But those issues are not due to painting over paint or clear that is properly prepped.

Boy I could have saved a lot of money on sealers. Paint supplier told me on a molecular level color would not cross link to color and not to expect any durability doing it. Guess I learned something.

Did paint 3 or 4 demo cars outside in the dark [color over color] but only expected that job to last 12 hours. lol

 

[Grit dog]

Boy I could have saved a lot of money on sealers. Paint supplier told me on a molecular level color would not cross link to color and not to expect any durability doing it. Guess I learned something.

Did paint 3 or 4 demo cars outside in the dark [color over color] but only expected that job to last 12 hours. lol

Ya, obviously the latter doesn’t qualify as “painting”. No more than spraying the sides of my mower deck with a rattle can where the paint rubbed off. Haha my derby cars as a kid seemed to get painted the night before too….good times!
Aside from Murphys Law where 90% of what you slap on with basically no prep and/or cheap paint seems to bond like nuclear fusion and when you’re being careful and doing proper prep and quality materials there’s sometimes a problem….I honestly don’t know what your supplier was trying to sell you by saying g that.
I’m also admittedly just a shade tree auto body guy who has averaged painting something, a panel or a vehicle or a blend repair for a whiskey dent about once every 2-3 years on average for the last 35 years, but primer isn’t magic when it comes to bonding. And there may be or are instances where some old paints aren’t compatible with whatever the new stuff is. Hence the general recommendation to not paint over unknown previous stuff. But none of that is due to color over color. Whatever that means anyways.

 

[fast 99]

Ya, obviously the latter doesn’t qualify as “painting”. No more than spraying the sides of my mower deck with a rattle can where the paint rubbed off. Haha my derby cars as a kid seemed to get painted the night before too….good times!
Aside from Murphys Law where 90% of what you slap on with basically no prep and/or cheap paint seems to bond like nuclear fusion and when you’re being careful and doing proper prep and quality materials there’s sometimes a problem….I honestly don’t know what your supplier was trying to sell you by saying g that.
I’m also admittedly just a shade tree auto body guy who has averaged painting something, a panel or a vehicle or a blend repair for a whiskey dent about once every 2-3 years on average for the last 35 years, but primer isn’t magic when it comes to bonding. And there may be or are instances where some old paints aren’t compatible with whatever the new stuff is. Hence the general recommendation to not paint over unknown previous stuff. But none of that is due to color over color. Whatever that means anyways.

I did paint and body professionally until I got sick and tired of it. Painting everything from 10 vehicle transport trucks to snowmobiles, accident repairs, the odd rebuild, and our own fleet. Agree, seems when you spend a lot of time on a vehicle something goes sideways. The Q and D jobs turn out nice. I worked with one paint supplier that sold primarily Dupont and PPG and received most of my information from one representative. It's satisfying to turn out a decent job and a real kick in the gut when one has to be stripped and started over.

 

[PhotonFanatic]

I think he may have been insinuating that you asked questions and then got defensive or antagonistic over the responses, which were honest helpful responses.

Some of them were yes, but your initial insults which brought the whole thing on, were not.

Either way the question was answered in post #2, it's epoxy. Which may not be the best idea because then you'd have a bunch of stuff installed which now has to be masked for overspray when you finally do go to paint the vehicle. And it might hinder painting too much, like in the engine bay. So the general consensus seems to be "just paint it, and be damn careful not to scratch it during assembly".

 

[Grit dog]

Some of them were yes, but your initial insults which brought the whole thing on, were not.

Either way the question was answered in post #2, it's epoxy. Which may not be the best idea because then you'd have a bunch of stuff installed which now has to be masked for overspray when you finally do go to paint the vehicle. And it might hinder painting too much, like in the engine bay. So the general consensus seems to be "just paint it, and be damn careful not to scratch it during assembly".

Ya depends how detailed and complete you want to paint. Sure the pros on the car shows do a bunch of mechanical work after spraying the body in final paint. But I’d ideally do all the bodywork. Jamb out everything. Then do major mechanical work and then paint the body.
Bit more difficult and expensive if it’s adding trips to the body shop and cost for doing the body and paint in stages.

 

[mxer147]

I’ve probably broke every single body/paint rule with my truck project, it’s a 20 footer which didn’t cost me a ton $$ but a lot of time which is money. It really depends on what you want for an end result, time and money you are willing to spend. I’ve already scratched it, some minor over spray, and it didn’t bother me at all. I would be whining had I spent big $$. Whatever you budget for time and money, multiple it by at least 2.