lead base epoxy

8

89obschevy

New Member
finally after almost 30 years my old project is out and getting some needed attention. i been looking into and reading a ton about what products are out there today and thats what lead me to this forum. going forward i plan to use spi epoxy and primers. my questions have to do with the older epoxy that is currently on my truck. front half of the truck has base/clear on it allready and bed is just epoxy primer. its the older ppg dp50 epoxy primer. when i spoke to the ppg rep he told me the whole truck should be stripped to bare metal before doing anything cause the dp50 is lead based. when i started this project it had the 80s chevy paint peal so i took it down to bare metal to start with with. not sure if i need to do that again or not. any advice is appreciated. heres how she sits as of now.
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89obschevy said:
when i spoke to the ppg rep he told me the whole truck should be stripped to bare metal before doing anything cause the dp50 is lead based.
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To strip something for that reason alone is stupid and erroneous, although it's to be expected coming from a PPG rep. The DP epoxy was a very good epoxy. It was the standard for many years. DPLF is a pale imitation and nothing like DP. If it was applied correctly and adhesion seems good, sand it with `180 and spray some SPI epoxy over it and continue from there. SPI is the modern equivalent (actually better) of PPG DP. Important that you sand it with 180 though and apply more epoxy over it so that you have no adhesion issues with subsequent topcoats.
 
Dp primer is what we were putting on sanded chrome and stainless back in the 90s when the mono look was in.
 
Chris_Hamilton said:
if it was applied correctly and adhesion seems good, sand it with `180 and spray some SPI epoxy over it and continue from there.
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thanks for the responses. the dp was applied in 1995. to this day theres no flaking or any rust except the spots where its been scratched down to bare metal and then its just surface rust. same with the base/clear parts of the truck. being able to spray over it will save me a lot of time and money.
 
89obschevy said:
being able to spray over it will save me a lot of time and money.
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Just make sure you put more epoxy over the old DP. Due to the chemical resistance of fully cured epoxy, you need to put fresh epoxy on there to ensure adhesion of the subsequent topcoats. 400 or 600 grit the topcoat on cured epoxy is not enough due to the solvent resistance of cured epoxy.
 
Well DPLF stands for DP lead free. AFAIK it did and other paints did well after 78. I believe what you are referring to was for homes and residential use. Automotive refinish paint was considered industrial and that did not apply. Early Imron I know had a lot of lead in it as did most all refinish paint well into the late 90's. I could still get DP in 97.
 
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There is a version of DP sold in various countries that is called DP40 Chromate Free but that is not the original DP formula. It had both lead and chromate in it. I'll try digging around and see if I can find a MSDS from around 1990 and post it here.
 
I stand corrected! Anyways, I never used DP50 but plenty of DP40 and some DP90 too. Good primers, imo. Presence of lead is a good reason to keep sanding minimal, just enough to fully scratch up the surface. Most stripping methods would just increase likelihood of exposure imo.
 
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