Tonneau cover

Z

zachs74Z

Hey guys. I'm new here and I hope I'm posting this in the right spot.
I'm going to try and paint a hard tonneau cover I picked up but I'm a newb and
need help with the process. I was kind of thinking :
1. Wax and Grease remover
2. Scuff ( what grit ? )
3. Epoxy Primer as sealer?
4. Basecoat
5. SPI Universal Clear (How many coats?)
Is this wrong? What do you guys think? Any help is greatly appreciated.
Thanks, Atwell
 
It's important to know the surface condition of this cover. Is it new paint of the wrong color, old weathered paint, gelcoat, or bare hard plastic?
 
It's an old Astro (ATC) cover. I'm not positive but I'm guessing its probably gelcoat? Definitly worn but no dings, deep scratches or anything. Just scuff marks and wear. It did have a piece of moulding about 3/16" - 1/4" around the bottom edge attached with adhesive, but it was coming lose so I pulled it off. Any advice on what to do with the adhesive that was left behind?
Thanks for the reply by the way,
Atwell
 
Well it's hard to tell from here what you have, if it's gelcoat the best thing to do is sand it down with 180 until all the scratches and chips are out of it and then spray a couple coats of unreduced epoxy on it. If you have urethane 2K you could put a couple of coats of that on the next day, otherwise two more coats of epoxy the next day would be OK too. If it has an old paint job over the gel coat, usually the best way to deal with that is by removing it with 80 grit, then smooth it out with 180 and prime with unreduced epoxy The paint on those covers is usually cheap and can cause problems. Once the lid is primed you can sand it for paint, grit depending on the type of sandpaper and type and color of the base. The reason I am recommending so much primer is because those covers tend to be very wavy, and you will sand through it very easily in the high spots if there isn't enough primer. You want an uninterrupted primer surface for a paint job that won't show rings or edge mapping.
 
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