This is my "Hey! I'm doing body work and ain't got a clue" thread...

ord.sgt.26NC

ord.sgt.26NC

Gott mit uns!
Joined
Mar 23, 2005
Location
Goldsboro
doing the body on this f250 is different than what I did with Nellie. I'm wanting this to be a better quality job since I'll be driving it quit often soooo...
I picked up a orbital sander and have started working on the bed sides. No rust to speak of on the skin but does have alot of chips in the paint from gravel roads. I haven't made up my mind yet if I'm keeping her the same color but am leaning that way.I'm spraying the places down with self etching primer where I have taken the paint to metal. Is it ok to spray this kind of primer over the scuffed up paint so whatever I decide to do paint wise,I'm covered? The original paint isn't peeling but is thin and scratched deep in places plus with lots of chips down low.
I'm thinking of taking the bottom one inch and the roll under of the bed and doing it with black bed liner just for protection from rocks being kicked up off the tires. I'm gonna do liquid bed liner in the bed also.
 
You may look into epoxy primer as well. There are some notable differences between what epoxy can do and what etching primer can do. Epoxy can usually go over or under filler, over scuffed paint, over bare metal, really whatever you want to do. Etching primer is often less clearcut, depending on the brand and product line, as far as whether it can go over/under filler, etc.

You could use paint-able undercoating for the bed area, like many cars come from the factory on the rockers, etc. It's a different look than raw bedliner, depending on what you're going for.
 
I would recommend epoxy primer as well for any of the bare metal areas. It is generally more stable on top of existing painted areas, some etch primers will react to existing paint and are only meant for bare metal. Some manufacturers also make DTM (Direct to metal) primers that are urethane based that will adhere well to bare metal and still have good build characteristics to fill your chips.
 
I'll check into the epoxy primers later this week.
is the paintable undercoating as hard as the bed liner stuff?
Now let's talk paint.I don't need a showcar shine paint job. Looking ofr a good quality paint that is easy to put on,readily available,not too terribly expensive, take a beating. The rustoleum industrial paints have been described as having a look similar to the automotive paints of the 60s and 70s in shine. That is all I need. The truck is painted a real lite tannishcolor...and you don't see yourself in it.If I was to paint it another color, it would be rocklobster red that wranglers came in in 2013 but don't see that happening.
20141012_175053.jpg

the f250 is the same color as Ole Unit 10 and as you see,it isn't mirror shine with clear coat. This is what I am looking for.
 
Paintable undercoating can be pretty hard, but ultimately the paint can chip over time as opposed to just unpainted bedliner. Having the paint over the undercoat makes the paint much less prone to chipping than just paint on a metal panel though. Like I said, it depends on the look you're going for. Both of my Subarus and my truck have painted undercoating, and I'm trying to think of what I've previously owned that didn't have it under the rocker area or somewhere else.

For paint, it sounds like you should look into PPG Delfleet Essential. It's a single stage paint that a lot of the hot rodders use because it's tough and low priced, but the target market is commercial vehicles and heavy equipment (hence the "fleet" in the name). It's supposed to be pretty forgiving to spray, which is why a lot of the paint-it-yourself guys like it (besides the good price). It's the single-stage-only version of the more expensive basecoat/clearcoat Delfleet Evolution line (I had to do some quick research to find out the difference).

Don't mistake me for a painter or anything; I just keep my ear to the ground and pay attention to what I'm seeing people use.
 
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X2 on using a single stage. You can always clear on top of it, if you want more shine.

I would make sure that all your paint materials are compatible with each other. Make sure they primer, base, clear, reducers, etc are all compatible with each other, or you could get fish eyes, solvent pop, bad peel, etc.

I prefer PPG. Know some folks that like Sherwin-Williams too. I typically make sure to use the same "level" product across the board to help keeping extra crazy from happening.

As said, don't leave in primer long, and watch close to cure and recoat times.
 
I have also used the industrial/farm paint, and it sprays fine. Ive only sprayed a trailer and some equipment, but it was cheap.

I have heard some good reviews in the past for the duplicolor single stage paint. It was too expensive last time I saw it.
 
thanks for all this good information. How much paint does it usually take for a vehicle that is a standard cab/long bed pick-em-up?
 
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