best sealer process?

B

blazerman

I have my car prepped with 2K down to 600 grit wet but have some burn thrus that expose small areas of poly and bare metal in a couple of small spots.

I have been planning on doing a reduced epoxy sealer coat the night before I start base but have also been reading where a coat of reduced epoxy is sprayed, let set for a day or 2, wet sanded w/600, then base.

I am not spraying until mem day weekend, which way will give best results?
 
i spray a sealer like its my first coat of base. do one coat of reduced epoxy, let sit for 15 minutes and go right to base. no real need to make a whole extra step out of it. i would never wait a day or two. to me thats not a sealer, its another round of primer plus your adhesion wont be anywhere near as good.
 
Jim C;7801 said:
i spray a sealer like its my first coat of base. do one coat of reduced epoxy, let sit for 15 minutes and go right to base. no real need to make a whole extra step out of it. i would never wait a day or two. to me thats not a sealer, its another round of primer plus your adhesion wont be anywhere near as good.
Click to expand...

Now this is where I get confused. I've also read where you shouldn't put a fast drying material over a slow drying one so the slow drying one had better be cured (maybe I'm taking that out of context, but it stuck in my head). So evidently there is a sweet spot. Not questioning your proceedure Jim, just still a little confused about the time limits for using epoxy as a sealer (and i know it's been discussed a dozen times).

From the perfect paint job:

When all of the primer blocking and any necessary primer repairs are finished it’s always best to use the epoxy as a sealer. Mix up enough epoxy to go around the car with one wet coat and adding a double shot glass of SPI #885 Urethane Reducer per quart. Let the epoxy set for 30 minutes. Stir one more time and strain. Spray one full wet coat of epoxy over the entire car. The epoxy should set for 2 hours before spraying basecoat or the next option is let it set over night and wet sand the epoxy with 400-800 then spray the base.
 
Well that is true to a point. You wouldnt want to put a coat of fast clear over a. Couple wet coats of slow. The fast will skin over holding the solvents in on the first two coats. Basecoat is a bit different. Its not catalyzed and wont skin over and seal the surface. Another thing is you are talking a sealer coat of epoxy which is probably 1/2 a coat or less as far as film build goes. If your epoxy is thicker or more than 1 sealer coat then you need to let it sit much longer. Should be dry to the touch. Get the base on it right away then let that sit for a few hours before clear.
 
So it sounds like maybe I need to amend my process by doing my reduced epoxy the morning of my base instead of waiting overnight between??

I may still do some epoxy over the burn thrus and wet sand just to be sure none of them are visible thru the finish - opinions?
 
Do like Jim said.. Wait to spray anymore material until the day you are going to shoot.. Then first thing shoot epoxy reduced 50% after you have mixed it 1:1.. Shoot one coat over the whole vehicle, then 30 minutes later start spraying your base..

Nothing bites into epoxy as well as epoxy and nothing improves adhesion as much as epoxy.. The paper thin epoxy seal coat will bite into your sanded primer like no other product and your base adhesion will be greatly improved biting into the fresh epoxy..

Then you can wait till the next day to spray clear or several hours later if you want,.

You just dont want to wait too long to apply the base to that paper thin epoxy coat, or the increased adhesion is lost.. Notice I said increased adhesion, not adhesion itself
 
Ah, I get it. The "fresh on fresh" is where the adhesion comes from, I will seal then base with an hour or so between, temps should be in the mid 60s (hopefully, spring has not "sprung" in the pacific NW yet!)

Forgive my ignorance but in the old days with enamel you had to be pretty sure there weren't any burn thrus or you would get edge mapping (right term?) and the burn thrus would show thru the topcoat. Do I need to completely cover these up or will the epoxy sealer eliminate this possibility (there are a couple of dollar bill sized areas on the hood and some much smaller dots here and there).

Thanks for the replies, I would have made many mistakes without the helpful advice from both SPI and the great guys on this forum.
 
1:1 then 50% reduction??

I have reduced mine like 20%, Ill try 50% next time. It seeme to develop some orange peal in a few areas and totally affected the metallic laid down. Probably user error, lol
 
I usually induce sometimes over night and reduce 1:1:1 for instance 5 oz epoxy 5 oz act. 5 oz. reducer and i try to spray it the same way you would the first coat of base.
 
I mix the epoxy 1:1 as it is intended to be mixed.. I then reduce the activated epoxy 50%...
So as an example..


8 ounces of Epoxy
8 ounces of Activator
8 ounces of Reducer
^^^
This is 24ounces of ready to spray epoxy with a 50% reduction..

At this reduction rate guys, there is no need for an induction time.. If you cant spray this mix without texture, something is wrong with your gun or technique.. This will lay down just like base.
It only requires one thin coat..

Happy spraying
 
So a simple way to remember this is mix it 1:1:1 when using as a sealer. Does it matter if you are using a slow or very slow reducer?
 
I had used epoxy as a sealer before, but never with satisfactory results until mixing it as Bondoking laid out. 1:1:1, it will lay down super thin and flat. I used medium reducer last time, would use slow in the summer probably.
 
[QUOTE='68 Coronet R/T;8361]So a simple way to remember this is mix it 1:1:1 when using as a sealer. Does it matter if you are using a slow or very slow reducer?[/QUOTE]

Thanks 68 I was going to include the 1:1:1 at the end of my post, but had been up 3 or so days with only 4 hours sleep.. I probably should not have been giving advice with that little sleep lol
 
On the Honda Cub, I sprayed the 1:1:1 epoxy sealer with my lph400 1.3. Seemed to work well
 
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