Tips on my plan/question about sealer

S

SPG

Hello, I'm looking to paint my camaro yellow with black yenko stripes, nothing too crazy, solid color, no metallics.
I'm in north California and will be using HOK base and clear (not asking for opinions on that, and you're not changing my mind)

I've done a lot of research on this and a lot of people have conflicting opinions on what to do so I just want to make sure what I've researched is an acceptable method. (I'm going to leave out sanding in my steps as they obviously need to be done)

  1. strip to bare metal (1975, old car, lots of paint layers, bad rattle can job)
  2. SPI epoxy
  3. metal work and body filler where needed
  4. epoxy over body filler
  5. feather fill on high body work areas
  6. SPI 2k primer
  7. Mask off for black stripes
  8. Sealer
  9. HOK Black Base
  10. Mask stripes
  11. Sealer
  12. HOK Yellow Base
  13. Clear
So I know some people do stripes over the base, clear, sand and then flow clear to get rid of the different thickness, I don't want to do that.

But my main question is sealer, some people say to use SPI epoxy reduced as a sealer, others say use dedicated products. I'm not really sure what to do. Right now I plan on using KD3000 made by HOK as I can tint it black and yellow so it's close to my base color, with SPI epoxy I basically just have black and grey/white. I know these are SPI forums so you'll be more inclined to say use SPI but a lot of stuff says to stay in the same product line, pretty sure that's just so they get more of your money, but I think it's also for warranty stuff.
Is it ok if I use KD3000 as a sealer only or should I be using the SPI epoxy, is there a big advantage? or am I at the point where it doesn't matter as epoxy is best for bare metal/body work and I'm over thinking it a bit.
 
I'd personally just seal the car with epoxy, paint it yellow, toss on a few coats of intercoat, let it sit over night and then mask it all off for the black stripes, untape and clear.

The intercoat is not necessarily needed, but if you miss a spot with your taping and some black gets through then you can just wetsand it off without effecting the yellow.

My process for your job would be the following: Now on higher end jobs I will always final prime in epoxy instead of 2K. Mainly because of the shine you get from even the cured epoxy, it allows me to be able to see the car and see the shape its in, if that makes any sense. But after that I may spot prime with some 2k if I have to touch up a few areas.
  1. strip to bare metal (1975, old car, lots of paint layers, bad rattle can job)
  2. SPI epoxy
  3. metal work and body filler where needed
  4. epoxy over body filler
  5. Poly Primer for heavy blocking
  6. SPI 2k primer
  7. Spi Epoxy - reduced 25% for sealer
  8. HOK Yellow Base
  9. Intercoat clear if you just want the insurance from any black overspray
  10. Mask off for black stripes
  11. HOK Black Base
  12. Clear
 
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i have been using hok with spi for 20 years doing nothing but custom work on a daily basis so there are no compatibility issues you need to worry about. one thing about your stripe process though. never mask and spray one color then mask the other way and spray the next unless you plan on pinstriping the paint edges later by hand. you will never get sharp and clean edges that way. one color shouldnt butt up to the other. spray one color without masking then mask away what you want to keep then spray the next. normally you would spray the stipe color, mask it then spray the background color but in this case being yellow you need to spray the whole car yellow, which will go over a white sealer, let it sit a couple hrs then mask for the black and spray the stripes. unmask and clear it. if you are hand pinstriping the paint seams then this doesnt matter and you can do it the way you had planed. you can use hok sealer or spi epoxy. you will get better adhesion and chip resistance with epoxy. it is a better sealer but with the hok sealer you will get better coverage and its easier to denib if you get trash in it because it dries much faster.
 
Thanks for the advice, it's very helpful and reassuring that I was pretty on the nose with my steps. I knew stripes was going to bring up conversation.

The way I wanted to do it was to mirror this video
it's a long video, notable time stamps
30:00 masking stripes on primer
34:45 painting black sealer
37:15 painting black base
42:35 unmasking stripes/re-masking stripes (most important part)
45:20 Spraying base

the rest of the video is doing candy and stuff which is irrelevant to what I'm doing
Anyways, how he masked up is how I planned on doing it as it seems like a very smart method, would you still suggest doing it the way that was posted in this thread already? or is that video a pretty good way to go about it. (also helps he is doing a car thats like mine with the same stripe layout)

I'll use SPI epoxy reduced as my sealer instead of KD3000
 
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I'm curious, why would you want to paint those stripes when a stripe kit is available? I'm assuming as I don't know the year of your Camaro.
 
I'm not putting z28 stripes on my car, they don't come in a stencil.
 
Yes, I know. I read you wanted Yenko stripes. Yenko stripes for the 69 are available, last I looked. Been some time though. You've probably checked that out already.
 
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