Bodywork Painting

[Guest Mike G]

Hiya Guys

Anyone with good experience of painting fibreglass? During the winter lay-up, I have in mind to paint the fibreglass wings & nosecone of my Exmo. The existing finish is the original red Gel-coat ex.factory. Entrusting the job to my local body-shop, with all of the quirks of a Hood, preparation & masking could take forever and the cost could go into the stratosphere! Taking off the panels to give him could present me with a whole bunch of headaches I could do without.

 

Spraying it myself is another answer. I have done straightforward small repairs on Tin-tops with aerosols, but I believe fibre-glass is another ball-game altogether. Any good experiences out there on this area, please?

Cheers

Mike G

[Guest piddy]

I did spray my fibreglass parts when I built my car.

I rubbed the parts down with fine wet n dry to remove any shine on the surface.

I then washed them down with thinners.

Applied three coats of etching primer and one of standard primer, rubbing down inbetween coats.

I then sprayed three coats of top coat.

Several hours T-cutting to get the required finish.

The paint I used was cellulose. I used a Professional spraying set up.

I dont know if you can still buy cellulose paint in aerosols, And I dont think you can buy etching primer in aerosols.

 

I may be wrong but if I was going to spray mine with aerosols I would use Plastic primer if you cant get etching primer. And most aerosols are Acrylic which will give a better finish which is also more durable.

[Guest Ianz]

You should clean off any release agent with thinnners

BEFORE RUBBING DOWN!!!!!!!!!!!

otherwise you run the risk of pushing the release agent deeper into

the fiberglass ,you will end up with "Cod eyes" in the final paint finish..

My advice would be.....

Degrease,

rub down using 320 wet&dry paper,

3/4 coats Hibuild primer ,rubbed down dry between coats,...primer is porous

and will absorb moisture!!!!

then as many top coats as necessary,rubbed down wet in between each coat with some soap added,(use a bar of imperial leather in your bucket)

making sure you gradually increase the grade of paper ......320 then 400 then 600

upto 1200,then finally polish with farecle

If your doing this in an unheated garage at this time of year,I would'nt bother

your top coat finish will probably end up white,...with "Bloom"....a milky white haze

caused by moisture in the air.

Cheers and good luck

 

Ian

[Guest stevie b]

Mike

 

I also have an exmo (red) which I am having painted this winter. I have taken off the wings and nose, it wasn't such a bad job to do, it took me a couple of nights (I work slowly).

 

I was also tempted to paint it myself but I havent had a great deal of success in the past so I am leaving it to someone else this time.

 

Steve