Why no rattle can primers?

Fly

Promoted Users
I thought primers were just a sticking base for paint. Like most people I have used them for years for painting & don,t remember any problems.

Fly
 
Depends on what you are painting. Lawn Chair, fence rail, household or garage items, that's the type of stuff where it is useful. Automotive refinishing.....no. One issue is the delivery system, meaning the nozzle. Inconsistent at best. The other big issue is what is inside the can. Low grade material. Almost everything we use now is 2 component. The only place where I have ever used an aerosol was in collision repair when in the paint booth using a "high grade" aerosol etch primer to cover very small sand throughs, before sealing. And that was because I had no other choice and the car had to be painted then.
This forum is about quality. It's about doing quality, long lasting work. To do so you need to use high quality products. Aerosols are not that. Best advice I can give is to not use them. Forget they exist.
All primers are not the same. Some are for corrosion protection and adhesion. Some are for build (fill).

Here are some links for you to read. Should help with the learning curve.


SPI Technical Manual. (Read it and it will help you learn about the different products and their applications

How to adjust your gun

Perfect Paint Job

Read topics here on the Forum. Tons of good info here. No BS or false info. Search some of the various member's posts. "Barry" "Jim C" "Shine" "TexasKing" "Crashtech" "MP&C" and me "Chris Hamilton". (sorry to anyone I left out....doing this off the top of my head:)" You'll find a ton of real world info on every facet of body and refinishing . All of those I named are Pro's and know what works and what doesn't. Everything you need to know to do a nice job is here on the forum. Just take some time read around and ask questions if you have them.
 
I tried rattle can primer & gloss black paint as an experiment on some custom metal work years ago, just mean to be temporary. The rattle can paint sanded & buffed up to near match good real paint, but the primer under it was the first to give way.

Primers are a foundation. You wouldn't build a house on quicksand & expect it to last. Ain't no different with paint. Not rocket science to understand.

I've done SPI epoxy primer for a base for small touch ups where I had no choice but rattle can paint to match commercial products. If the foundation is great, then at least the metal will be properly coated when the crappy lacquer rattle can paint wears away----- which it will.
 
Saw an episode of that restoration guy in cali that restores everything for people. His air compressor quit and was gonna be three days to fix and on one piece they ran out and got like twenty spray cans to paint it with. He kept saying its the same paint, just in a spray can! looked good sanded and buffed but the customer never knew. About 1500 to restore that little piece too. I lost respect for him that night.
 
It could work 99 times, but that one time..................

Never forget needing some spot putty, out of icing, all they have at the auto parts store is red glazing. Put that final coat on, then everything down to bare metal ends up soft, needs to be scraped away, only positive is you dont need glazing compound right away and your ups package should be there by the time you need to use it three days later.

Hell, I used to use rattle can almost like guide coat thinking I am just sanding it off anyway. no more.
 
Absolutely no rattle can primer at all, never never never!!!! I can't stress this enough, please don't ask me how I know. It was a huge $$$$ lesson!!
 
But i seen Ant use it on Wheeler Dealers! Come to think of it he painted a door and a fender on the same car with rattle cans. Damn... :rolleyes:
 
Idiot, ive never used icing like you and everyone else, is it like polyester spot putty, and is dolphin glaze the same? Ive been using seal skin and some other crest product
 
The old spot putty (NitroStan was the best :) ) was lacquer primer less some solvent, no hardener just straight out of the tube. When I started painting, the first thing you did was skim the bondo with spot putty to fill the 36# scratches before lacquer primer! Everything was 1K back then except catalyzed acrylic enamel and the occasional Mercedes sprayed with base/clear Glasurit, long before American cars started using it. I remember thinking how awesome that stuff was! I also remember the first base coats from the American manufacturers being lacquer with a "urethane" clear that used the same catalyst as acrylic enamel! The Europeans had about a 20 year headstart on the bc/cc products similar to what we use today.
 
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The old spot putty (NitroStan was the best :) ) was lacquer primer less some solvent. When I started painting, the first thing you did was to skim the bondo with spot putty to fill the 36# scratches before lacquer primer! Everything was 1K back then except catalyzed acrylic enamel and the occasional Mercedes sprayed with base/clear Glasurit, long before American cars started using it. I remember thinking how awesome that stuff was! I also remember the first base coats from the American manufacturers being lacquer with a "urethane" clear that used the same catalyst as acrylic enamel! The Europeans had about a 20 year headstart on the bc/cc products similar to what we use today.
I remember all that stuff! We also used synthetic enamel (Dulux) with Redi-Car Hot Shot reducer (Spelling, not pos.)
Lacquer primer, Nitrostan - lots of it.
 
The first American base coats I used were PPG and R&M. I remember the PPG label was gold and white instead of green and white making it a base coat and not just "regular" lacquer:D The clear was DAU 75, catalyzed with DXR 80, the same catalyst used in Delstar acrylic enamel. That clear had an odd "grape" smell to it, and buffed like concrete. We also used it to reclear the Corvette wheels that were peeling under warranty. Sprayed some Miracryl also, Barry :)
 
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My first 2K was S-W with Polysol in about 1978. I was so impressed with it I told a local man, I did not know personally, the 2k paints would cut and buffed. He told me his black 56 T bird had been painted with a Dupont 2K and had a lot of OP. Could I color sand and buff it? I said sure and quoted him $100 to buff it. Turned out to be Imron. Anyone here ever cut and buff 2 rear old Imron? o_O

John
 
I am older and was raised in a european repair shop so my uncle had a Glasurit mixing system and repaired a few chevys with Ditzler ( PPG) lacquer and Nippion spelling? on asian cars those were the NOT so good old days........... We 600 and buffed every car. No john never buffed Imron
 
Idiot, ive never used icing like you and everyone else, is it like polyester spot putty, and is dolphin glaze the same? Ive been using seal skin and some other crest product
its polyester that seems to be someone de-aerated if it makes any sense. Dolphin glaze is about the same consistency, the icing just starts out whitish gray in stead of aqua blue green
 
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