Major Body overhaul

[corey]

Im doing a major body over haul on my firebird and wanna make sure I do things right. I bought new quartes and door skins. Theyre already shot with a sealer but of course when I grind on them to install them Ill hafta reseal them before starting my skim coats and such. What brand sealer do the pros recommend? Ill be using the same brand primers too.

[ABD]

i could be way off (been known to happen)...I was always under the impression a sealer is used after primer and filler to prevent the filler from bleeding threw into yer paint....A sealer before primer is something i've never heard.

Also when i worked for a body shop way back when..One of the first things i was told, Is when buying new parts (from anywhere), Never trust the primer they come with...We always sanded and reprimed all the new pieces 1st thing.

I'm far from a pro so take my opinions as they are...But it may be something to ponder i guess...Good luck

[Cowboy]

Corey, If Yer talking about NOS parts with the semi flat black primer I agree with Dell. I Remove as much as possible & Prime with a regular Uro Primer Before installing them .

If it was older metal I would use a Epoxy sandable primer first Then The Uro Primer, Once welded & check with Yer body shop supply place, They make a weldable Or weld Thru Waterproof sealer ( Hard to explain ) If there full Quarters its like a seam sealer That can be sealed Then I use a pinch welder comparable to the factory spot welds.

Then across the lower top seam I Always Wirefeed that solid & I still use lead for that seam, mainly bu request . I,m perty sure The sealer is made By 3M, but They should be able to tell You.

If You dont have acess to a pinch welder Than I would predrill the panel Yer installing As close the the factory spotwelds Than spot them with a wirefeed.

It,s Not necesarily the best or newest Way. But The way I,ve done it for Years. Hope this helps a Little. Cowboy

[corey]

They say sealer/primer but I figured to bead blast em anyway. Install em primer, skim coat with filler ,primer, guide coat, level, then seal.
Using ppg all the way. Not gonna put any deep graghics on it. I want a few tribals and thats it.

[Wyld Rydes]

corey, at my shop bead blasting is a big no-no as it can warp and distort the panels, like little hammers hammering away on it. this will lead to lots more work if you are going for a straight as glass finnish rather than wavey.

how we do it....
if the panels are new and coated with the black coating we first sand with 400 wet paper (water-dawn)and along jamb areas we red scotchbright. make shure you get it all universally dulled down. than wash down with dawn and water dry as soon as possible.
than wipe with wax and grease remover just before shooting.
next we give it a good coating of 2k primer/surfacer mixed as primer for the high build (less reduced)(2k primer/sealer can work as either depending on the reduction)
than yes you guessed it more sanding,start with 80 or 180 dry depending on your preferance and progress to 400 we use 400 wet and block the panel till it is perfectly strait, you can even use a guide coat to tell you when all is perfect. you may have to shoot more primer and repeat depending on your panel condition.( you can sand down to 600grit but no higher as it can lead to adhersion problems, we stop at 400 and than i give it all a good once over with red scotchbright, gets me a bit closer to the 600 grit mark)
when your final sanding is done wash down and dry again.
congrats you are ready to spray base coat......:pepper:

[Stang]

In the blasted areas always spray it with 1791/1792. That's the two part wash primer reduced 1:1. Don't put it under or over any bondo. I use Keystones 3in1 primer just cause cost, about half. I use DP sealer, they have like 4or5 colors depending on your top coat. The best thing to do is spray the 1792 down then grind your area for bondo.

[redanner]

I would remove the factory primmer and spray on a zinc chromate primmer! Then regular primer over that! You don't want to sand through the zinc chromate when sanding regular primmer!

[Annie]

i could be way off (been known to happen)...I was always under the impression a sealer is used after primer and filler to prevent the filler from bleeding threw into yer paint....A sealer before primer is something i've never heard.

Also when i worked for a body shop way back when..One of the first things i was told, Is when buying new parts (from anywhere), Never trust the primer they come with...We always sanded and reprimed all the new pieces 1st thing.

I'm far from a pro so take my opinions as they are...But it may be something to ponder i guess...Good luck

ABD, you are right, the product used after primer just before paint is called a sealer. It's made from the primer but mixed with different stuff. Ex: Instead of 4 part primer and 1 part harderner (Thats build up primer), I mix it 3 part primer, 1 part color, 1 part hardener (different one then primer) and 1 part reducer.
But we do use the same word for the silicone like tube to seal joints in car parts, motor compartment and stuff like that... it can be confusing! :)

For the joint sealer, I use Wurth. Work really well!

Annie

[versuspaint]

A little pricey, but at my shop were all Akzo Nobel, sikkens or lessonal. No problems and great warranty.
Andy

[tomcat]

I recently painted a front fender on a car, that came in that lovely black primer/basecoat. I just scuffed it up and then painted over it using primer colour etc.... Sadly it came back to haunt me a day or two later when I started getting little white dots coming up through the colour coat under the clear. Looked for all the world like a strawberry!, so after sanding right back to bare metal and re priming etc it's all fixed.

A lesson well learned I would say.

[corey]

this is what I generally use.

[colourshift]

I'm with Wyld Rides... Don't remove the catalyzed sealer coat, all you need to do is scuff it up like he said, prime away using a 2K filler primer, block sand it, base coat, and clear.
In the shop (collision) we would get panels like this all the time. We never ever took off that coating. Why? It's not hurting anything.

[ABD]

Sadly it came back to haunt me a day or two later when I started getting little white dots coming up through the colour coat under the clear.

A lesson well learned I would say.

Sounds like solvent pop from the explanation...Jumping the gun on flash times is the major cause of that....I dunno if that was the lesson you learned..LOL..Or something else..i didn't see mention of it though...But I'm on my 5th Beer so i coulda missed something right easy like..hahaha