cheap primer for a spray gun

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pishta

pishta

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Doing a primer coat on the beater mini truck. Body is as straight and prepped as Im going to get it and I want to give it a final coat of primer so its all the same color and wont rust before we actually get it painted its blue color. I have a spray gun (an older binks style craftsman and a new HF 'purple' gun. I want to use the gun so I can get used to how it sprays instead of just buying a case of $1.99 Walmart spray primer. $21 for 8 oz? That's alot of spray bombs.....No 2K paint just a super cheap first car DIY single stage acrylic spray job in the driveway.
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Are you going to use an epoxy primer first to seal it? Most primers will absorb moisture if not top coated so don’t wait too long.
 
Bed wont be painted, well get a bed liner for it, nor the engine bay. Well also be painting the inside doors...how much do you think Ill need? will be covering old paint about the same color in the jams.
 
TT5.9mag said:
Are you going to use an epoxy primer first to seal it? Most primers will absorb moisture if not top coated so don’t wait too long.
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I dont know. Im all ears....probably final paint within 2 months. We get incredible dew on our cars every morning here, like it rained on them. 6 of 7 days a week in the winter/spring.
 
Well I’m certainly not an auto body and paint guy, hopefully someone familiar will chime in, but I am familiar with priming very large quantities of steel. And most normal off the shelf primers need to be top coated soon after the primer goes down. If it’s down to bare metal, I would use an epoxy primer to seal it off. That’ll protect the metal for a while and give you some time to plan your attack for paint.
 
I’d advise against using cheap materials. It will just fail sooner. Use DP epoxy primer mixed as a sealer.

if you have that much dew then this is a bad sign for your paint job. Really needs to be undercover until it’s got real paint on it.

with your current plans it seems the value of your labor will be lost to both cheap primer and the heavy dew.
 
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Use a 2K epoxy primer. Unless your topcoating right away that single stage primer will not prevent rust. Check out TCP Global, they have good paint at a reasonable price.
DO NOT buy eastwood low voc epoxy primer....its crap.
 
I found some affordable epoxy primer a while back. When I did the cab corners, rockers and door skins on my ram. I didn't want to spend a fortune painting it but I wanted it to stick so I got this cheap epoxy primer I think it is called t rex or something ill find a photo but it was only 39 dollars a quart with the catalist from Amazon.
I found it in my orders its speedokote T rex. Its sprays nice I think it sprayed just as good as the more expensive epoxy primer.

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I can definitely testify to primer not holding rust. It's so humid here, primer starts spotting up quick. I've even seen epoxy primer oxidize. Cause it sat for a year or 2 before paint...
 
All lacquer and enamel primers act like a sponge to any liquid, including topcoats. All your efforts and money spent to date will be for nothing. Urethane or epoxy primers are the only way to go.
 
I like the best Southern Polyurethanes epoxy primer, and other stuff, look it up, great product at good price. There should be plenty of favorable comment on here about them.
It does need 24 hrs. of 60 degrees temp to cure.
 
Thanks for all the tips. Will now be able to make an informed decision.
 
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