Paint question for DIY'er.........
 

I'm going to attempt the old "garage spray booth" method this summer, and was wondering what you guy's think about acrylic enamel paints (good paint?, or go with the two-part stuff). There's a guy selling "Rayflex" brand paint in Burgundy and Rasberry Metallic (trying to get close to Arena Red Metallic) for $35.00 a gallon. I did a Google search, and didn't turn up much about this brand of paint which kind of worries me. Is this a good deal, or should I steer clear of this brand?

Any and all comments appreciated as always!

:confused:

I would recomend going with Urethane. Two stage system with a base coat and then clear is much more durable and forgiving tahn a single stage process. You should also be able to get the exact color of Arena red metallic.

I bought some replacement doors and I have to paint the jams before I hang the doors. The single stage paint I bought for the jams is PPG and one quart of it was $54 plus $12 for the catalyst.

I had the paint store give me a quote on paint for the entire car. Three quarts of paint, three quarts of clear, catalyst for both, primer, sealer, reducer, all add up to over $500.00.

Makes you wonder how Macco can paint a car for $199. They must use some very low quality paint.

Mark

73 2.0

K man, unless you have a positive pressure respirator that covers your entire face, with a separate fresh air supply, do not use any two stage system! They contain cyanide along with a number of other carcinogens. I have painted a number of cars with a "garage spray booth" using acrylic enamel. It goes on very shiny, unfortunately it takes about an hour to flash off and harden which leaves a lot of time for dust to settle on the finish. The good part is that after a couple of weeks you can color sand and buff out the finish just like lacquer. You still need a good respirator for paint fumes. In addition, what I do in the garage is make a paint booth out of plastic sheeting taping the sheeting to the floor. I cut a hole in the plastic and tape a furnace filter over it (cut as low to the floor as you can) to filter the air coming in. I also have a window in my garage. I place a fan in the window and then cut another hole in the plastic closest to the window and tape another furnace filter over that hole allowing the filter to catch as much as the overspray as I can. Acrylic enamel is really sticky and you don't want it all over your garage. Finally, if your compressor can support it, get an HVLP sprayer. You can now get a decent one for around $100 or so.

Sounds like there's a use for all that spare plastic sheeting and duct tape after all ;)

try these to get paint info. ditto on the catalyzed paints without a positive pressure system

www.autobodystore.com great BBS

www.autobodydepot.net has a sister site autocolor library that you can find most of the 914 colors for under VW for the same years

There is a guy w/ a sense of humor! LMAO !!

Mark

73 2.0

My best friend owns a body shop and I have seen the results of hundreds of finished paint jobs. In my personal opinion single stage metalics never turn out good, I guess bass boat is the best description I can give. The metalic media seems to be much larger in single stage paints and can easily take on a very uneven pattern finished.

I've painted two cars in my garage and would really recommend the base coat/clear coat system (2-stage). You can buy a filter for your mask that filters the Isocyanates out, I do recommend covering your entire body, buy the spray suit. 2-stage is more forgiving in my humble opinion, laying the base is a piece of cake, spraying the clear is the tougher job. I recommend you go to the junkyard and buy an old fender, dent it, fix it and paint it. This will give you a good idea of the process. Definitely use the forum mentioned above. I also built a plastic booth in my garage with a fan and filter, you have to get a very slight negative pressure in the booth or you pull in to many contaminants. This is getting to long, e-mail me offline if you want to discuss it more.

Randy

Well I guess that plastic sheeting and duct taping your garage could be called "Home Land Security", especially if the "Ole Lady" found any of the paint in the remodelled kitchen! http://www.pelicanparts.com/support/smileys/rlwhore.gif

I have to agree with KurtV. I used urethane on the race car and it took forever to dry to tack free. A bug got in the paint on the door and was able to make a path over 12 inches long trudging the sticky. Most acrrylic enamels tack free in less than a half hour. BTW, I used DuPont Centari 5000 (urethane), not some cheap stuff. Dupont Centari (original) is the acrylic. Costs $125 a gal. plus hardener. Everything Kurt says about polishing is very true. I recommend his method. I have done two stage as well. Great if you have the conditions, i.e. dust free booth. I'll never use urethane single stage again.

In '99 primed the whole car in the garage with the fan in the window deal. Worked fine because of the sanding to follow.

Priced the Guards Red paint and for the color/reducer/clear/ect was around $500. WHEW!!! Found a buddy to shoot the car in a downdraft booth (the best type IMHO) for $800 and he supplied the paint.

Baked the paint in between coats. Took him 3 hours start to finish (from driving the car off the trailer to driving the car back on the trailer). No bugs, no dirt. Still shines today and the car hasn't been waxed yet. Yes she's garaged.

Jim