So this may be a stupid question but since a fiero is fiberglass do i need to prime it before painting? Or can i just spray the paint on the fiberglass and have no problems. I am just doing a cheap 20 dollar paint job. Rustoleum oil based paint mixed with paint thinner.

Sand, prime, sand, paint, color sand and buff.

Alright. Thank you very much!

Good luck! Post pictures when your done!

Rustoleum oil based paint, thinned ? you better put some kind of "hardener" in it or you will be waiting a Looong Time before you can color sand or anything else.

No need to prime for rustoleum. Primers do very little today in the form of adhesion.

A Fiero is SMC, a type of fiberglass. It needs to be covered by something...primer or topcoat....or you will see the SMC fibers through your new paint.

quote Originally posted by Lou6t4gto: Rustoleum oil based paint, thinned ? you better put some kind of "hardener" in it or you will be waiting a Looong Time before you can color sand or anything else.

I painted my festiva a few years back the same way and it was dry to the touch in about 24 hrs. What do you suggest for a hardener? If I could put some sort of hardener in the paint rather than mineral spirits I would much prefer to do that.

24 hours seems like a long time to me to allow dust, bugs, etc, to ruin the paint job.

Yeah but its a 20 dollar paint job on a crappy daily driver and it'll look way better than mismatched body panel colors and half the clear coat peeled off.

Hope im not hijacking the thread here. While on the subject of Primers, if you are doing a few small chip repairs would you recommend priming just the area around the repair, or give the entire piece a shot? Secondly, if you are planning giving yourself a "Decent" paintjob, (using actual automotive paint as a first timer) is rattle can primer okay for priming small areas but painting entire car?

You are right on topic here....you want a 'decent' paint job...but the OP wants all his body panels to be the same color and that's about it. (is that 'indecent'?)
If you have bare spots on your panels, they will slowly decompose in the sun and freezing rain, so at minimum you should paint it with latex house paint and a brush. The problem with that, is the panel is wrecked for anything better in the future....and rattle can paint is usually the same problem. It might help in the short run, but if you ever try to paint it right later, there will be trouble. If you want a 'factory' type paint job or better (the original paint jobs were not so good), you should avoid rattle cans. You can re-paint panels that have the original paint on them, but you must be careful to cover all the bare spots with primer and 'feather' the edges with 220-280 sandpaper, making sure everything has been sanded and feels smooth.

I think that is what you mean by 'decent'.... but it's open to a lot of interpretation.

Thanks for the reply.

To be honest I do not know what I mean by decent. All I know is it will be my first attempt to paint a car. I am fixing a lot of minor imperfections such as paint chips, peeling clearcoat, and some weird textured black paint used on the rockers and hood. I am expecting runs, overspray, and all sorts of newbies mistakes.

I saw an article about rustolium and rolling it on...
If you want, there is the bug bombs with primer and paint in one.
Krylon is what I am using for plastic, rustolium semi flat for the black parts.

Red scotchbrite the whole car so the paint will have something to stick to
degrease
tack cloth
paint( some have used a paint roller to apply the rustolum)

quote Originally posted by crashyoung: I saw an article about rustolium and rolling it on... If you want, there is the bug bombs with primer and paint in one. Krylon is what I am using for plastic, rustolium semi flat for the black parts.

I used the Krylon for plastic on my car in Patriot Blue and all my trim in gloss black and it came out fine so far.Just need to fine sand and clear now.Maybe only $20 to $30 spent so far.Being this paintjob is only temporary till I do Dupli-Color paint shop paint job later this year.

[This message has been edited by fierogtlt1 (edited 06-04-2013).]

quote Originally posted by revin: Red scotchbrite the whole car so the paint will have something to stick to degrease tack cloth paint( some have used a paint roller to apply the rustolum)

This will work fine for a cheap Rustoleum paint job. As for primering fiberglass parts, if you sand off ALL the gloss on the gelcoat, paint will stick to it without primer. I did LOTS of work on RVs , custom vans (flares, running bds, hi-tops), and boat hulls and painted the bare, sanded fiberglass. Lots of the aftermarket and manufacturers parts I get for cars like Corvettes, Mercedes, Jag, BMW, etc...also just give instructions to sand, wash and paint (no primer). I painted the hull on my own jet boat I raced, candy orange directly on the sanded bare fiberglass and never had any peeling or cracking. I do recommend primering any spots you repair or apply filler...mostly to fill minor defects...not to give adhesion.

Crazy question about all these Rustoleum jobs. Aren't you causing a huge issue with a mineral based paint on SMC? Unless I'm mistaken, the next guy that wants to paint that car using real automotive grade paint may have to replace the SMC parts due to the oil absorbing into the material which will ruin a real paint job.

I hope I am wrong, but for all of the painting and airbrushing I do, I know that oil based paint on certain materials can be a fatal combination for future paint jobs.

Ive never heard of that. You will however have to remove ALL of it to do any future 'real' paint job. I dont think it affects the panel material.

quote Originally posted by indygrandprix: So this may be a stupid question but since a fiero is fiberglass do i need to prime it before painting? Or can i just spray the paint on the fiberglass and have no problems. I am just doing a cheap 20 dollar paint job. Rustoleum oil based paint mixed with paint thinner.

I dont think it is really the fact that a car is metal that means it should be primed.

I have sprayed Rustoleum black directly on metal and had no problem. Also did that with Acrylic Enamel.

Which Rustoleum is "oil based"?
Is it enamel?

[This message has been edited by 2.5 (edited 06-05-2013).]

Maroon scotchbrites are prob equal to 1000 grit paper or finer. They scratch the painted surface well enough for good adhesion if you get all the gloss off the panel. I do prefer sanding with 400/320 rather than scotchbrites on a bare fiberglass panels.

quote Originally posted by revin: Red scotchbrite the whole car so the paint will have something to stick to degrease tack cloth paint( some have used a paint roller to apply the rustolum)

You should WASH and DEGREASE before sanding or you run the risk of grinding the old dirt and grease
into your panels, making them harder to degrease after sanding.

True, Im assuming you clean before you do anything. Whatever you do dont use any PPG stuff.... ...unless you have money to burn.

quote Originally posted by rogergarrison: True, Im assuming you clean before you do anything. Whatever you do dont use any PPG stuff.... ...unless you have money to burn.

Funny, Roger...
~ Paul
aka "Tha Driver"

Custom Fiberglass Parts

Then why do all my new OEM replacement parts of all kinds of plastic tell me not to primer them. No fiberglass RV has any kind of primer under the paint from the factory. My Astro van conversion has a fiberglass hi top. Its painted from the factory with no primer of any kind on it. Take say a new Charger with its plastic bumper covers...there is NO primer under the paint...scratch some off and check for yourself. Its over 15 years old without a single chip, crack or peeling paint anywhere on it. I guess they use magic because I cant recall EVER seeing primer under the paint of a factory painted bumper. Id have to see in writing somewhere that maroon scotchbrite is equal to 400. I use them and 400 sandpaper all the time and they dont appear close to the same result to me. I dont know, so I could be wrong. Its nearly impossible to buff out 400 sand scratches, but I can easily buff out scotchbrite marks. Since you say price makes quality, Ill guess its also best to buy a $1200 Coach bag over a $150 one from a handmade leather goods store. Does your $1000 a bottle wine taste any better than the liquor stores $20 one ? I stand by my statement that price dont necessarily equate to quality. I suppose you also wear $250 jeans. It just proves to me that there are lots of dumb people with too much money.

quote Originally posted by rogergarrison: Then why do all my new OEM replacement parts of all kinds of plastic tell me not to primer them. No fiberglass RV has any kind of primer under the paint from the factory. My Astro van conversion has a fiberglass hi top. Its painted from the factory with no primer of any kind on it. Take say a new Charger with its plastic bumper covers...there is NO primer under the paint...scratch some off and check for yourself. Its over 15 years old without a single chip, crack or peeling paint anywhere on it. I guess they use magic because I cant recall EVER seeing primer under the paint of a factory painted bumper. Id have to see in writing somewhere that maroon scotchbrite is equal to 400. I use them and 400 sandpaper all the time and they dont appear close to the same result to me. I dont know, so I could be wrong. Its nearly impossible to buff out 400 sand scratches, but I can easily buff out scotchbrite marks. Since you say price makes quality, Ill guess its also best to buy a $1200 Coach bag over a $150 one from a handmade leather goods store. Does your $1000 a bottle wine taste any better than the liquor stores $20 one ? I stand by my statement that price dont necessarily equate to quality. I suppose you also wear $250 jeans. It just proves to me that there are lots of dumb people with too much money.

I'm not going to waste my time with you on yet another pissing match. I will say this: If you sand too much on new plastic parts you'll find that they DO have a very thin coat of primer. They tell you not to sand through it. The factory uses the same; a very thin coat because they don't care if the paintjob lasts past the warranty - in fact there have been a lot of cars repainted under warranty because the paint fails (I know I've repainted a few of them myself back when I worked at dealerships). The conversion shops cheap out on their fiberglass parts too, because they don't care if their paint peels in a few years. They don't have to pay to repaint them. I've also seen folks hit bare metal in spots when prepping for paint & paint right over them. It'll last long enough to get by, because most folks don't keep their cars more than three years. When someone pays me to paint their car, I expect them to want a quality job that will last. If they want a cheap crap job just to sell it, I usually tell them to take it somewhere else. I never paint over bare metal or fiberglass/gelcoat.
Comparing paint to handbags or jeans is just stupid. I wear $12 jeans made in swaziland. Do they last as long as Levis? No, but I can't afford Levis.
Also, did you know there's a difference between the grit on 400 wet & 400 dry? Most folks don't.
IF YOU WANT A PAINTJOB TO LAST, PRIME THE BARE SPOTS AT THE VERY LEAST.
~ Paul
aka "Tha Driver"

Custom Fiberglass Parts

[This message has been edited by Tha Driver (edited 06-08-2013).]

Your the waste of time. I dont have anything but time being retired, so I can always outpiss you. When are you ever going to figure out people generally dont put $4000 paint jobs on $700 cars. The handbag thing is my answer to your statement saying anything more expensive is better. I say, more times than not, you dont get what you pay for. You pay extra for a more visible name brand only because of the name whether its Guess, Coach, Jordasch, Sony, Goodyear (ya junk tires that have never lasted me more than 15K), etc. PPG falls right into that. Is anything worth double the price just because its got an important name. I have a Rolex Mariner watch. I hate it, have to reset everything every time I want to wear it...time, date, day...because it stops after a day not wearing it. Its a PITA, but its good for the snobbery things I go to occasionally. I prefer a $25 quartz/battery Timex most of the time.

quote Originally posted by rogergarrison: I dont have anything but time being retired, so I can always outpiss you.

Well stated.

quote Originally posted by rogergarrison: When are you ever going to figure out people generally dont put $4000 paint jobs on $700 cars.

With quality PPG epoxy primer, & Nason base/clear, you can do a quality paintjob for about $800 in materials. It's up to the owner to decide if he wants to spend that much money after all the work he's put into his car prepping it.

quote Originally posted by rogergarrison: The handbag thing is my answer to your statement saying anything more expensive is better. I say, more times than not, you dont get what you pay for. You pay extra for a more visible name brand only because of the name whether its Guess, Coach, Jordasch, Sony, Goodyear (ya junk tires that have never lasted me more than 15K), etc. PPG falls right into that. Is anything worth double the price just because its got an important name.

No, it's not. A brand name means very little to me. It's quality I look for. It's worth double the money if, after all the work involved prepping a car for paint, you want it to look good & last.

quote Originally posted by rogergarrison: I have a Rolex Mariner watch. I hate it, have to reset everything every time I want to wear it...time, date, day...because it stops after a day not wearing it. Its a PITA, but its good for the snobbery things I go to occasionally. I prefer a $25 quartz/battery Timex most of the time.

I never wear anything just to impress people, even if I went to "snobbery" functions. I do occasionally wear a shirt instead of a T-shirt, because it looks nice.
~ Paul
aka "Tha Driver"

Custom Fiberglass Parts