Painting tips.

[William]

I have a large amount of bare metal (pipe) to paint. Having never done any "real" painting other than touch up skids, I'd like anyone's advice on painting.

More over:

Metal prep, sand, or buff any surface rust, but are solvents a good idea, if so what kind?

What type of primer to use?

Any recommendations on specific paint?

Any tips on painting pipe?

How long to wait after applying primer - besides the obivious "when it's dry" - to apply regular paint.

This will be for a roll cage ~ and I'd like it to come out looking somewhat decent.

Thanks for any advice.

[sethmark]

Powder coat it! I hate painting the cage and have to do it regularly.
If not, then shoot it with a good metal primer and let it dry per the recommendation on the can.. Then squirt with your favorite brand and color of enamel (drys hard).

S.

[TObject]

It looks like a very big job. You can speed up a little if you use Hammerite. But still, lot's of work.

The professional painters will laugh at my advice, but here is what I usually do when painting bare metal:

- Go over the surface with a scratch pad
- Spray the surface with break cleaner, let it dry
- Tape over anything you don't want painted in the proximity to the area
- Spray up to four thin layers of Hammerite with 10..15 minutes intervals (I usually adjust timing so that when I finish painting one part, it is time to go back to some other part to put another layer)
- If not happy with the results, let it dry for 24 hours, and put up to 4 more layers. Or if you screw up a lot, you can let it dry for a couple of weeks, and then go over the nasty areas with an abrasive pad, and paint over

The last thing you need to do, is this: take a step back, admire your job, scratch your head and say, "I better let a professional do it next time".

[speaceman]

Well, there are two ways to go:

My sister's way, which was find a cheap paint place to do it for you. She paid around $150 for a body paint matched job including clear coat. Not a bad deal and it looks pretty good.

The spray can way: I recently helped Michael paint his rover's roll bar which he put in. It's not as big as yours, but all he did was sand down the roll bar (rust removal and smoothing) and then we both hit the thing with as many cans of hammerite as it took to put a nice even coat on things. (It took about 4-5 cans to cover a rollbar smaller than the old CJ5 roll bars. So I'd plan for at least 10-12 cans if I were you).

It came out pretty nice also.

I'd recommend using the hammerite though. That way you don't have to worry about primer and such. Plus it goes on fairly even, so long as you are careful.

[TJRON]

I'd clean it with 220 wet dry sand paper. Clean with laquer thinner. Primer and paint with Rustoleum. If your welds look like crap you can smooth them out with a little Bondo.
It's so easy to touch up with Rustoleum......

They are not kidding when they say several light coats are better than fewer heavy coats.

[Paradiddle]

YOU SHOULD CHROME IT WILLIAM!!!






Mark Hinkley has me hooked on Krylon. It dries fast and is very easy to put on. I use the semiflat black all the time.

I would also clean it with brake cleaner or acetone - something to get all the oils off the metal.

I, like Seth, also like powdercoating if you can afford it - it sure looks better than paint and is damn tough. I tough up my powdercoated stuff with Krylon as need be.

Have fun.

[Jeff Weston]

William,

My cage is done with Truck and Van paint by Duplicolor. I got it at Autozone for like $4/can. I was lucky, they have Chrysler Forest Green which matched my Jeep perfectly. I just brought the cans to the 4XDoctor when he made my cage. I think all he did was clean the tubing with some sort of solvent and then painted it with a few coats. It has held up really well except for scratches in areas that you would expect due to gear or the soft top bows scraping against it. At the time, powder coating seemed like more money than I wanted to spend.

[William]

(Jeff C) Chrome is for XJ's.. (just kidding).

Jeff, I went strait for the same thing. Only some how my green doesn't come in spray cans, only the scratch mender little bottle. Quick caculation said way to much @#$# work to paint the whole cage with it. I skipped the powder coating - I have the same idea as you on cost. I've got a few other things to pour money over on the jeep still.

So, ok, sand smooth, brake cleaner, and thin coats.

Betcha I'm stoned out of my goard by saturday mid noon.

Thanks for the advice everyone.

[TJRON]

Laquer thinner is probably cheaper than brake cleaner and gives a better buzz........

I woildn't take any advice from Ron on painting look what color his Jeep ended up.

[Robert J. Yates]

Originally posted by ghall
I woildn't take any advice from Ron on painting look what color his Jeep ended up.

I love it, the 2 resident geezers with the most body damage giving advice about the looks of a Jeep

Hay Garry, I know you just got back but are you scheduling another run back up to Champion any time soon?

[TJRON]

Originally posted by Robert J. Yates
I love it, the 2 resident geezers with the most body damage giving advice about the looks of a Jeep

Hay Garry, I know you just got back but are you scheduling another run back up to Champion any time soon?

With age, Grasshopper, you will learn what the really important things are......

[Robert J. Yates]

Originally posted by TJRON
With age

I already have that - just not quite as much