General Tech A paintjob meant to be scratched

[Hickey]

One of the rules I imposed on myself before I bought another Jeep, was a need to keep it looking nice from at least 20'. By having a 20' rule, I can still apply copious amounts of Rocky Mountain Pinstripes without cringing each time a new one is applied. I don't want a Jeep that is so pretty I will be afraid to wheel it.

The current paint on my YJ meets this standard well except that I want to Hi-line the front fenders, build tube flares, add corner guards, and switch out the full hard doors for half doors. This all requires matching paint at some time or another. My current paint is a custom color, applied by amateurs (Hicks Bros Paint). Matching this paint will never look right. So I need to repaint the whole Jeep with a durable single stage paint that responds well to a bi-annual buff job.

What type of paint will-

-Spray easily
-Resist fade
-Take well to buffing
-Inexpensive
-Single stage
-No clear coat

Am I looking for an epoxy? I really don't know. I basically want something a bit nicer than rattle can with a good durability. Color is up for discussion, except farm implement colors. John Deer Green does not look good on a Jeep, no matter the distance. Kubota orange is a little wild for my conservative haircut.



P.S. I should mention that my wife runs a Auto Collision center and won't be involved in this. I can't afford her. Think of this as more of a DIY Maaco paintjob.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

I was going to suggest you talked to your misses as she probably knows a thing or two about paint but can understand the budget situation.

I've seen some neat semi-gloss painted rigs at SEMA the last few rigs that were an epoxy based paint, the stuff looked tough as nails and given its lack of clearcoat and flatter finish it looked easier to touch up than an automotive enamel? I'm curious to see what others have in mind or know as I too would like to learn more about the different paint options out there.

 

[sixstringsteve]

I've heard of good results of people rolling the paint on their car. Supposedly it's easy to touch up and it can come out looking great.

http://www.meguiarsonline.com/forum...1-My-quot-rustoleum-50-roll-on-paint-job-quot
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgbxMYGaLlE

 

[Hickey]

The Little Lady's business is kind of a complex thing. Absolutely every detail is OE, stock, unmolested tech and nothing is more than 12 years old. Being exposed to people like me is an eye-opener for her. Talk of moving suspension points and shock mounts gives her really bad anxiety.

A semigloss would be cool. I really like the new tan color on the JK's, but my brother just bought one in that color. If Marc would have picked a different color, I would say silver for color, but no, stupid Marc had to pick my favorite freakin color and people would just look at my silver YJ and say "Gosh Marc, I thought you had bigger tires on your Jeep item" It would just confuse people more since Marc and I share the same barber. Practically twins. Fraternal.

 

[Hickey]

I've heard of good results of people rolling the paint on their car. Supposedly it's easy to touch up and it can come out looking great.

http://www.meguiarsonline.com/forum...1-My-quot-rustoleum-50-roll-on-paint-job-quot
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgbxMYGaLlE

I am familiar with that method, but it is far more labor intensive than spraying the paint. I can spray well enough. I have the equipment. And Rustoleum fades. Been there, blah, blah.

 

[Deleted member 12904]

Anything in a satin or flat you cannot cut or buff. But with a satin or flat paint its amazing how alittle son ofa gun makes it look as good as the day you sprayed it. The hot rodz flats are cheap and super easy to spray. They are a single stage with a catalyst so they are durable.

if you like the shine but want to stay cheap go with a nason (duponts low Line) acrylic enamel single stage. and lighter colors like white hide scratches well.

now if you want to go super cheap auto body supply on 33rd and I15 has a shop around back that does home and industrial paints. they have an industrial paint that can be mixed to color it uses catalyst and is about $65 a gallon with the catalyst. It sprays fine from a 1.5 tip but I have never tried to buff it so I don't know how it would work.

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[sixstringsteve]

I am familiar with that method, but it is far more labor intensive than spraying the paint. I can spray well enough. I have the equipment. And Rustoleum fades. Been there, blah, blah.

Very true. If you've got the skills and equipment to spray, no sense messing around with a roller and a million hours spent wet sanding.

 

[Deleted member 12904]

Hot rod flatz also has a desert tan that's bad ass. Kustomshop.com is the url I think.

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[Hickey]

White was the original color of this Jeep. Wish my bro would have left it white. White is also classic, but I do worry about it covering the "redneck red pearl" without bleeding through. I am definitely leaning white. I look up those you suggested, thanks.

Why is it you can't cut or buff satin? Does it just leave varying amounts of satin afterward?

 

[Hickey]

Very true. If you've got the skills and equipment to spray, no sense messing around with a roller and a million hours spent wet sanding.

Skill is relevant. My Jeep currently looks best with dust on it. When I wash it the sparkle shines just as good as the runs and orange peel. :greg:

 

[Deleted member 12904]

White was the original color of this Jeep. Wish my bro would have left it white. White is also classic, but I do worry about it covering the "redneck red pearl" without bleeding through. I am definitely leaning white. I look up those you suggested, thanks.

Why is it you can't cut or buff satin? Does it just leave varying amounts of satin afterward?

in order to get full even coverage you will need to use a sealer anyways. Nason makes a cheap sealer that works great and will let you go white without bleed through.

And yes buffing a satin or flat paint job will make a mess of it. You can wax them.

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[Hickey]

Googleness turned up this-


"I went with Hot Rod Flatz Gunsmoke Metallic. It's a single stage urethane, so you don't need to mess with base coat/clear. If you scratch it, just sand it and hit it again. Did the whole thing with a quart kit ($45++) It's very durable paint. "

 

[Deleted member 12904]

Googleness turned up this-


"I went with Hot Rod Flatz Gunsmoke Metallic. It's a single stage urethane, so you don't need to mess with base coat/clear. If you scratch it, just sand it and hit it again. Did the whole thing with a quart kit ($45++) It's very durable paint. "

Painted my friend dugfabs rhino with it and it has worked great. They use the spray for cleaning atv plastics to clean it after soap and water. I also used it on a Harley and love it. Again use a sealer and it will look great.

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[cruiseroutfit]

That is good looking!

 

[Hickey]

Going flat would probably require changing out all the current stainless hardware for painted hardware. I'll have to see how much of that I have laying around. I might have most of it. Going with a gloss would allow me to polish out my mistakes. But good golly I like that flat tan with matching steel wheels.

 

[mbryson]

The Little Lady's business is kind of a complex thing. Absolutely every detail is OE, stock, unmolested tech and nothing is more than 12 years old. Being exposed to people like me is an eye-opener for her. Talk of moving suspension points and shock mounts gives her really bad anxiety.

A semigloss would be cool. I really like the new tan color on the JK's, but my brother just bought one in that color. If Marc would have picked a different color, I would say silver for color, but no, stupid Marc had to pick my favorite freakin color and people would just look at my silver YJ and say "Gosh Marc, I thought you had bigger tires on your Jeep item" It would just confuse people more since Marc and I share the same barber. Practically twins. Fraternal.

I've heard Marc's an ass. I bought "industrial enamel" for about $40 a gallon. Finally went through my whole first gallon when I painted the MB hood and fenders. Had to go buy another one. The paint is a cheap enamel and does fade pretty badly, but for a garage kept Jeep like mine, it works fine. I bought a black gallon before the silver. I still haven't opened it if you want to try the black out?

They have white and all the safety colors. I was a little surprised to find out they had silver and went with that. I bet your wife could arrange for a booth to spray it in?

 

[Bart]

Maybe he's an ass, but he's rockin the "in" hair cut these days. Interested to see how this turns out.

 

[Hickey]

They have white and all the safety colors. I was a little surprised to find out they had silver and went with that. I bet your wife could arrange for a booth to spray it in?

My Jeep will mostly sit outside at work. It's inside a security zone so I don't worry about leaving it there for 5-6 days straight. But plenty of sunlight, it gets.

Spray booth and pro sprayer for beer have been offered, but with my schedule and planned mods I may have to prep and paint panels one or two at a time. That's another reason I want an easy to match paint. I'll need to replace the windshield this year and I want to paint the windshield frame while the glass is out.

How has that industrial enamel held up to trail scratching?

 

[Hickey]

Maybe he's an ass, but he's rockin the "in" hair cut these days. Interested to see how this turns out.

I read it on the interwebz. That alone confirms it.

As far as this turning out, I've always been a big talker so don't hold your breath. Also, you are not allowed within 20' since you know a thing or two about a thing or two about autobody. I heard Rhino liner covers everything, maybe I should go that way.

 

[mbryson]

My Jeep will mostly sit outside at work. It's inside a security zone so I don't worry about leaving it there for 5-6 days straight. But plenty of sunlight, it gets.

Spray booth and pro sprayer for beer have been offered, but with my schedule and planned mods I may have to prep and paint panels one or two at a time. That's another reason I want an easy to match paint. I'll need to replace the windshield this year and I want to paint the windshield frame while the glass is out.

How has that industrial enamel held up to trail scratching?

I think the only thing on my Jeep that hasn't been repainted is the cowl and the passenger side tub.

As far as trail scratching, it scratches just as well as any other paint. The thing about it is that I don't care that it gets scratched because there's nothing there I'm worried about getting scratched. It seems like any other cheap paint. It peels, scratches and fades just as fast as an Earl Scheib or Maaco paintjob (possibly faster?) but doesn't cost enough to worry about. I didn't do anything special at all to prep it. Tried to remove as much red from the tub as I could with 80 grit (you just can't get it all) and then DA'd over that with 220 grit heavily. Hit it quickly with some 320 DA (maybe used 4-5 discs on the whole Jeep) and used sealer and paint to cover the scratches that were left. Not really how I normally paint, but works for my rig.


I think the white would be a great way to go to avoid noticeable fading. I got it originally at Mt. West Paint, but noticed they are now some other name. (still same store and product lines, though) 33rd and about 150ish West or so? White's pretty easy to match, but there are tinting issues with "normal" white paint jobs. A couple of grams (I think that was our unit of measure when I worked body shop?--that was a few years ago now--1994) of blue or red toner will make a HUGE difference in color. I'd feel pretty good going with the "in the can" stuff rather than a custom mixed deal for matching. At the end of the day, it's a Jeep, and a trail Jeep at that. If it looks decent from 5', it's good enough, IMHO. You make it nicer than that, you won't want to have fun with it as you'll be worried about avoiding the trees or rocks or mud or whatever.

If your windshield frame is like other YJ frames, I'd just snag a new frame from Interstate for $75 or so and paint it rather than working with the rust issues that are caused by windshield replacement.