Epoxy primer for Raptor Lining

J

jjg

New Member
I was going to Raptor line the lip of my wheel wells and possibly wrap it slightly around face of the body. My wheel well lip gets hammered to death with rock chips. I'm not a paint guy just a DIYer so forgive me if I use wrong terminology. I know I need to clean, degrease, sand and clean my surfaces for the SPI epoxy primer. Do I need to take it down to bare metal or is just sanding with 80-180 grit enough? Raptor also makes and epoxy primer as well but I haven't found much info on that. This was going to be my setup just from watching other videos and forum notes. I'm going for a slightly smoother finish than what a typical raptor lining would look like, almost like an orange peel. Any input on the above or my below setup is greatly appreciated. I've included a pic of my disgusting fender lip :eek:.

Raptor 2k GM White RAL:8624
Harbor Freight "purple gun" set at around 28 psi, drilled to 2mm
SPI epoxy primer or Raptor??
Reduced 10-15% with urethane based reducer
 

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I think for longevity it would be best to remove all the rust from the surface. Can you mask off and media blast the lip? Then start with epoxy, wait 48 hrs, then apply Raptor. I think you'll need the Raptor spray gun to apply it. 2mm tip won't work, too small.
I've only used Raptor, but have heard from another guy who builds cars the SEM bedliner material gives a smoother surface, so you may want to try that instead.
 
I did this on the inside finders of my project. My process was strip to bare metal removing all rust with blasting. Clean with W&G remover. Three unreduced coats of epoxy. Coat with Raptor liner within the open window (7days) sooner would be better any time after 24 hrs.
2mm wont do for raptor liner. buy the kit with the shutz gun that fits right on the bottle.

Here is the texture I got after 3 coats of Raptor

And tape and cover anything you don't want Raptor on. You WILL get it places you do not intend to.

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ksungela said:
I think for longevity it would be best to remove all the rust from the surface. Can you mask off and media blast the lip? Then start with epoxy, wait 48 hrs, then apply Raptor. I think you'll need the Raptor spray gun to apply it. 2mm tip won't work, too small.
I've only used Raptor, but have heard from another guy who builds cars the SEM bedliner material gives a smoother surface, so you may want to try that instead.
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Thanks for the reply. I did look into the SEM product and they claim it is more comparable to the OEM rockguard applied from the factory. I may try a sample of this to see how durable it is compared to Raptor.
 
aviator8 said:
I did this on the inside finders of my project. My process was strip to bare metal removing all rust with blasting. Clean with W&G remover. Three unreduced coats of epoxy. Coat with Raptor liner within the open window (7days) sooner would be better any time after 24 hrs.
2mm wont do for raptor liner. buy the kit with the shutz gun that fits right on the bottle.

Here is the texture I got after 3 coats of Raptor

And tape and cover anything you don't want Raptor on. You WILL get it places you do not intend to.

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How long did you wait between your coats? 1hr?
 
I use SEM bediner. I started using it when SPI bedliner was discontinued. It is shinier than Raptor but can have more texture depending on how you spray it. If you like Raptor you probably won’t like the SEM. I spray it over three coats of SPI epoxy. My customers who drive their cars prefer the SEM. Raptor is sort of like beauty bedliner… :)

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You can reduce the raptor enough to get it to spray out of a 2.0 or even 1.8. Also beware of the guns they sell for raptor. Some of them have a really large tip and you go thru material very very fast. Ideally you want to get the official raptor gun. Not a knock off.
 
dhutton01 said:
I use SEM bediner. I started using it when SPI bedliner was discontinued. It is shinier than Raptor but can have more texture depending on how you spray it. If you like Raptor you probably won’t like the SEM. I spray it over three coats of SPI epoxy. My customers who drive their cars prefer the SEM. Raptor is sort of like beauty bedliner… :)

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Hey Don how does that sem smell? One thing I don't like about raptor is the smell. It's very strong to me. I think lizard skin or some other product is water based, ....spray it without a mask ...
 
RosharonRooster said:
Hey Don how does that sem smell? One thing I don't like about raptor is the smell. It's very strong to me. I think lizard skin or some other product is water based, ....spray it without a mask ...
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It’s urethane based and it smells. I spray it in the booth with the fan on wearing a respirator.

I use the Walcom gun SPI sold for its bedliner. It goes on heavy but it’s tough as nails.
 
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RosharonRooster said:
You can reduce the raptor enough to get it to spray out of a 2.0 or even 1.8. Also beware of the guns they sell for raptor. Some of them have a really large tip and you go thru material very very fast. Ideally you want to get the official raptor gun. Not a knock off.
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What are you using to reduce the raptor?
 
Raptor is activated and so would inherently, I would think, be more durable than Lizard skin which is just water based. Yes, certainly an odor to Raptor when spraying and curing, much more than Lizard. I've always used the Raptor supplied gun which is more of a spitting than a spray gun.
 
Good point on the durability factor, I didn't think of that. I bought a knock off gun on Amazon and went thru 1 jug of material in about 3 sq ft. I didn't realize it til I was thru 2 bottles, half of my supplies. Then went into panic mode. End up reducing it a bunch and can't really tell difference in the texture. So from now on I'm just going to stretch it everytime. Compared guns later on and noticed a big difference in size
 
RosharonRooster said:
You can reduce the raptor enough to get it to spray out of a 2.0 or even 1.8. Also beware of the guns they sell for raptor. Some of them have a really large tip and you go thru material very very fast. Ideally you want to get the official raptor gun. Not a knock off.
Click to expand...
2X on getting the Raptor gun.
The first Raptor kit I ordered was from TPC Global and included thier gun. It was junk.
 
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