Well I wanna dive in and paint my car. It's about time! I have read and read on paint, etc. I do have a couple questions though. Went to the paint store, they sell Dupont Chromaclear. Just getting an idea of pricing, they told me about $450.00 for metallic medium red, I wanna keep the original color. That includes a gallon clear and 2 quarts base. Do these quantities sound right? Also, I don't think I am ready to spend $450 on paint. I read in another thread that R-M Diamont paint is good for the money. Where is best to purchase their paint? I found a selection at Ketone.com. I couldn't find a homepage for Diamont to look up retailers. I was going to try and find it locally.

Thanks
Chris

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'87 2.8v6 5spd

well it took a little less then a gallon to paint our entire 88 GT and we have some left over to fix chips and stuff like that.

J Sokol III

Try looking into Deltron paint also. It's an excellent price for a great product.

I definitely wanna have some left over incase of future mods or accidents. BTW I think I do want to use base/clear, instead of urethane. Anyone have the colorcode for the 1987 medium red?

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'87 2.8v6 5spd

I use Diamont almost exclusively. Colors run fron $18-$40 a quart with reds being the highest of course. 2 quarts of basecoat should be right with HVLP Gravity gun. I use Limco 4000 Clear myself (by R&M). A gallon is $26 and a quart (its a 1=4 mix) of the hardener is $35 I think. Total for all over would be less than $150-$200. I put 2 coats of clear on a spray and drive job, 3 on a sand and buff job. The base is thinned 1=1 with reducer, clear is only mixed with hardener.

87 medium red metallic is WA9077

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What do you guys recommend for a good quality high-build primer?

I can't seem to find a web retailer for Deltron PPG paints. Looks like they are pretty strict on where their products go. Thanks for the paint code.
Yeah $150-$200 is more of the price I was expecting. Does the base coat include the metallics or are they added separately?Good question MinnGreenGT.

Chris

quote Originally posted by rogergarrison: IThe base is thinned 1=1 with reducer, clear is only mixed with hardener.

Do you use any FLEX additive, and if so, does it go in the primer, base, clear, all, none?

Thanks

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Jim
www.jkfiero.com

[This message has been edited by JKFIERO (edited 01-16-2004).]

quote Originally posted by MinnGreenGT: What do you guys recommend for a good quality high-build primer?

You don't want to have too thick of a primer coat because primer will shrink over time. Most of the time I use epoxy primer to eliminate that shrinkage factor. Why the high build? Scratches? waves? I use a very smooth version of body filler for my sanding scratch filler which is very much like glazing putty, but there too, glazing putty shrinks over time and I don't want those scratches showing up 6 months down the road with the car on display. Makes the paint job/body work look like hell. If you have waves, a skim coat of body filler and either hand sand or air file until you have a surface you like. You'll get much better results and nothing will show up down the road.

As for paint, the 2 quarts for base coat is probably sufficient. As for the clear, I don't know where you are going to blow a gallon of clear on a Fiero. I use only PPG Deltron and I will most likely use a quart of clear paint on a Fiero......maybe a quart and a half, but that's it. The clear that I use is DCU 2042, which is a high build/low VOC clear, which is very thick as clear goes. Two coats....no more, even for buff jobs. You put three coats, it runs onto the floor. It's thick enough to wetsand and buff the hell out of, and it looks beautiful. It's dealership quality, because it's the paint that I used at the GM dealership I worked at.

Base colors have the metallic in them. You do not need to apply metallics seperately.

PPG Deltron has enough flexability in the paint/clear that a flex agent isn't necessary. I haven't sprayed any flex agent in years, and never with Deltron. I've sprayed the rubber fillers on the older GM cars....Cutlass, Regal, Grand Prix....and they have never cracked, and they bend and twist more than anything the Fiero has. I painted GMGW3's white chop top and didn't use any flex on the car, and nothing, including the bumper covers, has cracked at all.

Hope I've offered a little help.

Mark

[This message has been edited by Firefox (edited 01-17-2004).]

What firefox said. Using flex is now an 'urban myth' They still even add it into insurance estimates and no one uses it anymore that I know of. The only times you need a 3rd stage paint is for most pearls. One other is like some Caddys and Mustangs have a red tinted clear that goes on over the color basecoat and before the regular clear. It gives it a little more depth so it looks a little more like a 'custom candy color'. In another words if your painting a stock metallic color, there will only be a color and clear coat (2 stage).

Thanks for the great info.
I've been reading and asking questions on painting for about a year now.
I think I'm about ready to tackle it.

Paint for the car.......$250
First Spray Gun.......$200
Information gained on this forum......Priceless!

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Jim
www.jkfiero.com

It never ceases to amaze me how much knowledge we are lucky to have here at PFF...and FAST too! Great stuff from Roger and Foxfire. No wonder I love this place!

quote Originally posted by XRacer Pro: It never ceases to amaze me how much knowledge we are lucky to have here at PFF...and FAST too! Great stuff from Roger and Foxfire. No wonder I love this place!

I agree........ i have been reading all the paint threads as well..... firefox what did you mean by "You put three coats, it runs onto the floor" is the third coat more likely to run? I wouldn't see why. could you explain? Thanks!

quote Originally posted by LS1swap: I agree........ i have been reading all the paint threads as well..... firefox what did you mean by "You put three coats, it runs onto the floor" is the third coat more likely to run? I wouldn't see why. could you explain? Thanks!

With the clear that I use, the thickness of the paint will cause it to run or 'sag' if you put too much on. A couple of years ago, PPG came out with this 'thicker' clear, and two coats is all that you spray on. If a third coat is applied, it becomes too thick and will run. When I first switched to this clear, I didn't heed the instructions from my paint guy and put three coats on a vehicle, because 'I knew better'. Well, I learned my lesson because I had to sand out all of the runs, including a couple of spots that actually did drip onto the floor of the garage. That's where that came from.

Mark

Urathane clears are far thicker than the old clear laquers. One coat is prob equal to 3 or 4 laquer coats. 2 will usually be plenty. You can put more on if you allow adequate drying time between coats. It will run very ez if you put succeeding coats on too soon. It will also block out quite easily after its dried. On a car thats going to be shown, Ill put 3 coats on to have 1 that can be sanded off to get rid of any orange peel. With 3 coats, you can sand the hell out of it before buffing. You dont want any more clear than necessary because due to heat and sunlite, it will be very prone to cracking. Remember your only seeing the shine on the top coat of clear anyway. The days of those 20 clear coat paint jobs are gone now.

Thanks for the wealth of information, truly priceless.

I was wondering, if I were to decide to paint a pegasus on my hood, is there any type of paint I should try and use? I guess using the same paint as the base would be best. Are there any other options?

Chris

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'87 2.8v6 5spd

It applies to the temp of the conditions your painting in. I use fast reducer/hardener in the winter to help prevent runs and use slow in the summer so that it flows out smooth before it dries.

If your painting your Pegasus in one color or 2, use reg basecoat. Id also recommend scuffing the entire hood before you mask it off. Paint your picture, unmask while wet and clear the whole hood. That way, you wont have edges or peeling edges. You can airbrush it on in multi colors too with laquer if you have it, then clear it with urathane also.

Cool, makin' sure I got this right, after the main basecoat I can use regular basecoat (probably 2-tone silver and black pegasus) or laquer paint to paint the pegasus, then the regular clearcoat.

Another thing, the spoiler I will be using is primed with acrylic enamel spray paint. Does this need to be completely stripped off before repriming or painting?

Next comes the difficult part.... I have to clean my garage

Thanks guys
Chris

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'87 2.8v6 5spd

[This message has been edited by cjgable (edited 01-19-2004).]

If you use an airbrush, you can use laquer if you dont get it very wet. If your painting the whole car and putting the emblem on, its best to use basecoat on the car and the emblem before you clear it.
Myself, I do it the other way around. I paint the emblem and mask it off before painting the rest and clearing. Lot less masking that way.

On the spoiler, Id either sand all that primer off, or put a good couple of coats of regular primer over it. Some, if not most spray cans are not compatable with automotive paints. They will peel off or bubble up when you cover them.