Reduce or not reduce epoxy

RosharonRooster

RosharonRooster

Promoted Users
Good evening I would like some feedback on my plan of attack for my cars paint job.

The car is a major project, it has a thread on this forum. Today I got the firewall in the last round of 2k primer. (Only 2 rounds).
My process for this was. Sand blast, epoxy, filler over epoxy....re epoxy full strength..2 days later, straight to 2k high build. Today I sanded that with 180 grit, and 2 coats of 2k high build again. And that's where it's at

I was thinking in sanding the 2k in 2 days, with 400 grit then spraying it with epoxy and leaving it until the rest of the car is up to speed. (Could be 3-6 months). I want to do this process to the entire car (in pieces) then come back and wet sand the epoxy with 600 grit , seal it with more epoxy (reduced) and base coat clearcoat.

So my question is first off, does this sound like a good idea....and 2nd...after 400 grit, should I reduce the epoxy or spray it 1:1. I feel it lays out better when it's reduced 10-20%.

I want to lock it down with epoxy because of its water proof/moisture proof capabilities.

Here is a picture of the firewall. I deleted the heater core wiper motor and arms, and dash speaker. molded it and relocated the bulk head fuse block. Also I used cage nuts for the body mounts and capped and molded those.

Thank you for any advice
 

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I don't feel you should ever reduce epoxy until you are ready to use it for sealer. Reducing it you don't get the full benefits of it like you do when it;s shot 1:1. So in this case no don't reduce it. If you are worried about texture/cratering spray your first coat a little lighter, call it light-medium, then on your second you can spray it a little wetter/heavier.
 
I was under the impression there was a recoat window and if passed, like a few months later, it was necessary to go 180, respray then move on to finer grits.
Am I misunderstanding something?
 
I leave the 2k on it as is since it already has several coats of epoxy below that protecting the metal. When it's time to epoxy I give the 2k another quick block and cleaning, and then unreduced epoxy. I don't reduce epoxy because I sand it 600 wet if it's my last coat before base.
 
I have always believed epoxy needs chemical adhesion. Any cured epoxy primer needs sanding and sealed before basecoat. Sanded ecoat or cured epoxy will cause poor basecoat adhesion, seen it many times. Sanded 400-600 grit, 2k adhesion would be better than a fully cured epoxy because of no chemical adhesion. Epoxy, within the window, will have much better chemical adhesion than 2K. 2K stays quite a bit softer than cured epoxy. Cured epoxy needs the mechanical adhesion. Mechanical works better than coarse grits, the finer the grit, the less adhesion.
 
Chris_Hamilton said:
Like TK stated it's marginal. If you have to do it, seal the cured epoxy first with more reduced epoxy. Then base. That will help a little but it's still not ideal.
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Sorry I meant to say sealed epoxy over 400-600 grit sanded epoxy won't work?

I'm trying to avoid going back to the 180 stage.

I could just leave it in the 2k primer and. When time comes , 600 grit that and seal it then basecoat, but I thought leaving it in epoxy would be better than leaving it in 2k primer
 
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