streamlinecollision;37533 said:
Epoxy as a sealer before paint should not be required if surface is prepared correctly. In my opinion that is a band aid over poorly prepared surfaces. epoxy should be used for bare metal, fiberglass etc. On a restoration I could justify using it before paint but on everyday refinishing in my opinion it overkill and a waste.
This is pretty much what Im used too. epoxy over fiberglass or bare metal. Again Ive used the chromabase system for so long and they just have the chromasurfacer 2k primer, and 2k sealers. Obviously the primer over bodywork, block, prep, than urethane sealer, let flash 20 mins than you can start laying base. I don't always have the time to be able to spray epoxy as sealer and wait 3 hours before laying basecoat. I have another carerra coming in next week and will be trying the epoxy over bodywork, block, reapply 2k, block and reapply the high build if needed, prep then do my regular routine. 2k sealer, base, clear and see how it goes. Its going to be a darker color so I will probably be able to see if it has remedied the problem inside of a week. Ill let it sit out in the sun and see if it soaks up or not.
sidenote. I had some repairs to make on the wifes car, I had 4 spots that needed some bodywork and I applied 2 coats of epoxy. I waited 24 hours, blocked them down and then coated with 2 coats of 2k urethane primer. did my prep routine and my normal spray routine, its only been 3 days since fixing it so by the end of the weekend I'm going to go look at the spots that had bodywork and see if there is any soak up. Hopefully there isn't and all my issues are taken care of and the problem remedied.
Jim C;37556 said:
i agree with bob. the difference is night and day with epoxy as a sealer. even with everything prepped 100% you will see a huge difference. way less stone chips on bumpers, ect.
is this something you do on everything you paint as well ?
I can understand if you aren't in a rush to do something or what not, but a shop that needs to do 7/8 bumpers a day its just not very feasible considering the amount of time recommended to wait before applying basecoat. I don't run a very busy production shop where speed and quantity is the only thing that matters, but still if I can get a bumper sprayed and done in 2 hours as opposed to 5 its just much better time wise. Does everybody wait 3 hours like I have seen mentioned earlier, or is there a way to move the process along faster, by just laying a light ground coat of epoxy for adhesion as opposed to coverage and making up for it with the urethane sealer ?