I vaguely recall reading somewhere in the archives that enamel paint will not work on a Fiero, is this true?

I can get a good deal on a gallon of "Spicy Orange Mica" (MazdaSpeed Orange) by Limco, I was wondering if other members have used enamel paint, or not. And if it did an acceptable job.

Thanks!!

Bump

Someone should be able to answer this

Paint is one thing that I know just a little about on the Fireo's, Hear is what I know. When GM first started making the Fiero's they had a thermal paint on the hood and front fenders but they had a slight attack of "dumbness," and didn't use this same paint on the rear deck lid of the car where most of the heat from the engine goes, this is the reason for most Fieros having faded deck lids. This is however a good way of telling how many miles that car really has on it.
Now as far as knowing someone with that paint I know a guy here in San Antonio TX that might have but can order that for you. I just don't know if your willing to ship or where your from.

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Jason Carpenter

quote Originally posted by Jason Carpenter: Oh sorry I totally forgot to try and answer your first question. I think your right in that enamil paints won't work. Hear is why if I'm correct. enamil paints are ionised meaning that they have one free valence electron and scavenge for negitive charge, due to the fact that the ions in the paint are positave charged. The negitave charge can be found in most metals, but as we all know you won't find much metal in fiero body pannels.

HUHHHHH ....................... ..........Ive painted cars for like 40 years, have my own shop. Painted everything from go carts to DC-3s. I never heard or even understand a thing you said. Not saying that its wrong, just I dont know what your talking about.

In answer to your question, of course you can use enamel paint on a Fiero. also synthetic enamel, acrylic enamel, laquer, acrylic laquer, Imron, polyurathane, epoxy or water bourne GM enamel (used a few years on a few select models, Oldsmobile for example). If you do it yourself, be aware than enamel takes days to dry hard, so you will get a high risk of bugs, dirt in the finish. It also cant be buffed out or waxed for months. Of course if you have an oven, those problems are moot. It does also runs very easy if your not experienced with it.

quote Originally posted by rogergarrison: water bourne GM enamel (used a few years on a few select models, Oldsmobile for example

AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Don't remind me!

You can use just about any type of paint on a Fiero, including Latex.

My suggestion? Acrylic urethane ( Imron....Deltron....). Buy a good resperator, and buy quality paint. Get good advice, and take your time and do it right. Enamel? I used to spray it, but I quit. I hate the stuff, but for quick cheap paint jobs, there probably is no better. Enamel is cheaper, but you get what you pay for.

Mark

quote enamil paints are ionised meaning that they have one free valence electron and scavenge for negitive charge, due to the fact that the ions in the paint are positave charged.

Fear not, the honors chem/ap physics student understood what you said

For the rest of you: he was just going into how the paint bonds to metals.

Rogergarrison is the man on paints bud. His advice to you is flawless. I would just add that you can remove as much of the old paint as possible, sand, and then paint it first with a quality high build primer. If you take your time and take this primer through a sanding sequence all the way up to 400-600 grit wet sanding, your paint will stick great and you will be very happy with the results.

I paint with 2 stage DuPont paint and am always very happy with the results, although other paints are good too. I especially like DuPont clear coats as they are very forgiving, flow exceptionally well, and can be reshot quickly after setting up with no orange peel.

Good Luck, Gary.

I can agree with rodgergarrison If that's what he does I'm positive that he is right, and im guessing that he's done a Fiero or two. and gumert thanks for the expla. I'm as well a chem honors, its hard to explane things sometimes, so I try to be as acurate as possiable, not always the best though I guess. I'm sorry guys.

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Jason Carpenter

No need to apologize. I dont follow much tech stuff, Im just a 'meat and totoes' man Im one of those who dont believe it when its written by techies, only believe what I see in results.

Wow, this thread came to life!!

Thanks for the replies, it is appreciated! I'm starting off sanding everything with a 180 grit sandpaper, and then I plan on going over it again with 400 grit. Then prime the whole car and go over it again with 400. Does this sound like a good plan?

Thanks Roger, that's some useful info on enamel paint. I don't plan on spraying myself, but I want all the prep done by myself. The car can be left inside for a few days post paint, so I don't think dirt and bugs will be a problem. If not, will parking it outside hurt? One more thing, you said that it can't be buffed or waxed for a few months, will washing it and shammying it dry hurt the paint at all?

Thanks guys!

Heads up, here's some +'s coming at ya!

Im assuming the painter doesnt have a bake booth. I wouldnt wash it for a week. If it sits outside, get bird droppings off soon as you can because they will spot the paint. If at all possible, towell dry any dew or rain for a few days so it dont water spot. Dont leave anything like towel, rags,leaves, etc sitting on the paint, it will leave an imprint. DO NOT put a car cover on it for at least a month. If he has a bake oven, its good to go except for car cover.

If you throw some hardener in the enamel before you spray it you won't have the slow dry problem and you will also be able to buff it in a couple of days rather then weeks. I never spray single stage enamel with out adding hardener...
It's kind of cool learning the "techie" stuff like Rodger said but single stage enamel paint relies on a mechanical bond, not a chemical bond. Free radicals and negative ions have no meaning when the paint needs a 400 grit scuffed surface to latch onto. Throw some hardener in the S/S and spray it...
Mark

[This message has been edited by astroracer (edited 03-24-2004).]

a mate of mine did a lovejob respray in enamel..no rubbing whatsoever....straight over dirt, birdshit ,crud...enamel sticks to anything ...im not suggesting you need to be that rough.lol

It's been almost a year since I completed my S/E's full body of paint job and I found the archived thread. There is alot of information in it that may help you. //www.fiero.nl/forum/Archives/Archive-000001/HTML/20031229-2-039117.html

Take a look. I'm going to go through it myself as I get ready to prep and paint my 86 GT. It was already painted once in bright yellow and it was an extremely poor paint job so this will also be a full "pull all panels" prep job but since I'm going to be painting it with a metallic paint I will have to put it back together before I paint it.

The biggest thing with a paint job is prep, prep, prep. My biggest lesson was before you even start to sand or take anything apart. Take Dawn dish soap and wash the car several times to help remove ANY silicone. After washing it, use DuPont Prep Sol or equivalent and wipe the car down following the directions exactly... Wipe it on with one cloth, wipe it off immediately with a different clean cloth. Change cloth's frequently. Wipe it down a couple times.

This will save many headaches with the clearcoat "cratering" or fisheyes. I had to re-do my hood a couple times because of this. It's very upsetting to have a beautiful basecoat with no defects on it and then as soon as you clear coat it all the silicone embedded in the fiberglass and old finish make all of your hard work look like the surface of the moon.

My Fiero was the first full paint job I ever did and if you check out the pics in the above thread you can see that diligence and patience has it's rewards.

Glenn

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Plastic's Fantastic...

Just to add. I dont use rags to wipe down the prep sol. Go buy a few rolls of heavy (ie Brawny) paper towels. A lot of rags, no matter how clean they are still may have residues that will affect your paint job. The paper towels will assure you have nothing on it.

Good point Rodger. I have used these blue shop towels (heavy paper towels) for years. Lint free and very heavy duty. Here's a link so you can see what they look like. They also come in a box.
http://www.rickly.com/sga/shoptowels.htm

Hmmm, did I just booger up my stuff? I used rattle can urethane 'bumper chrome' on my interior pieces after using a plastic primer on the sanded parts and coated after the 'flash' with a laquer (I think) Duplicolor clearcoat. I have buffed them up nice and shiny, the finish feels pretty hard and six months later theres no seperation of paint... Will I be okay?