Using epoxy as a sealer

drdan

drdan

Promoted Users
I’m going to be painting the roof on my son’s truck and it needs to be stripped and then epoxy primer. Being that we are on a major time constraint I was thinking of two coats of epoxy as a sealer letting it flash for 30 minutes or an hour, and then putting my single stage over it. am I on the right track? Or should I lay a couple of coats of epoxy, let sit overnight, and use the epoxy as a sealer or spray over what was put on the day before? Pardon me for all my rookie questions lately I’ve been doing this as a hobbyist for a long time but I want to make sure that I’m doing this the right way.
 
If it’s a single reduced coat you can go 2 hrs afterwards. Since you’re doing two coats I’d let it sit overnight and then spray with single stage the following day. You can reduce it 10% to make it flow out a little smoother if you’re spraying directly over it with no sanding but want still want to keep it as unreduced as possible.

No need to spray more epoxy again on day 2. Just clean it, denib, tack it, and spray it.
 
If it was taken to metal, it seems likely that imperfections from the stripping process will show through in the finish. I would recommend planning on 2 full coats on day 1, then at least some light sanding to identify defects on day 2. No sealer is necessary with "green" epoxy unless your sanding reveals more problems than you thought.
 
I have the Eastwood metal finishing tool, which I was reluctant to buy but after using it on several applications, I’ve had amazing results with it so after I sand the color off to the primer, then I’m going to use a finer grit to get through that to the metal. this isn’t a show truck or anything but the roof and hood have suffered severe sun damage and we’re just trying to make it not look so bad lol. But I do want to do it right.
 
My own recommendation stays the same. If you examine and at least denib the surface of the epoxy prior to refinishing, you will have a better chance at an excellent result without much more work or material.
 
crashtech said:
My own recommendation stays the same. If you examine and at least denib the surface of the epoxy prior to refinishing, you will have a better chance at an excellent result without much more work or material.
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excuse my ignorance crash, but when you guys say denib, do you mean a light sanding?
 
Treeslayer said:
excuse my ignorance crash, but when you guys say denib, do you mean a light sanding?
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Denib is a kind of very light sanding. It's a way to find imperfections in the surface, like dust stuck in the paint. Those spots will then get more attention. Denibbing can also alert you to more serious problems with the texture of the surface if you are watching closely, things like sand scratches, etc. It's a kind of last chance to fix any minor problems before paint.
 
I always forget that when I’ve gone straight to paint from epoxy it’s always been on blasted metal.

If you are sanding it then you’ll for sure see sanding scratches. You can “do it right” by putting down two coats of epoxy and then going straight to paint. But you’re going to see sand scratches. It depends if that’s acceptable to you for your situation. I understand not all situations require a perfect looking finish.

If you don’t want the sand scratches, then what I’ve done is spray several coats of 2k over the epoxy to block down and fill in sand scratches, seal it with epoxy, then paint. That will cost you more time and materials.

Alternatively you could spray down 3 or 4 coats of epoxy and then block that flat and it will fill in most of the scratches.

Or just stick to your two coats of you don’t care about the scratches. I’m guessing the rest of the truck isn’t perfect if you’ve got sun fade to the extent that you hate it.
 
I used to go from bare steel to sealer to paint all the time when the fleet was white and peeling. Sand scratches in bare steel are real shallow. There is nothing to shrink or swell under the sealer.

Have to be gentle when stripping. You can always sand anywhere that has something you see. I would finish with 180.
 
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