Final paint questions

[Shadow7874]

Ive got the bottom half of my ski primed and im hoping to paint it friday or maybe tommorrow. My dad was saying on his truck he wetsanded the primer with 2k grit and got it as smooth as possible before his friend painted it. Should i do that on my ski or will the paint hold up? His paint seems perfect after over a year, but he used sealer which i wont be.
Second, ive heard i cant wetsand and polish spraypaint because it doesnt have a hardner mixed with it. would i sand the roughness out of it then spray a 2 stage clear coat over it to get a nice gloss??

 

[spazzit]

for the bottom i wouldnt spend too much time on it first couple yimes out it will be trashed

 

[tightithrash]

for the bottom i wouldnt spend too much time on it first couple yimes out it will be trashed

cee, a couble of yimes on es beach.....is ruined homes

 

[Bonzia Bob]

Ive got the bottom half of my ski primed and im hoping to paint it friday or maybe tommorrow. My dad was saying on his truck he wetsanded the primer with 2k grit and got it as smooth as possible before his friend painted it. Should i do that on my ski or will the paint hold up? His paint seems perfect after over a year, but he used sealer which i wont be.
Second, ive heard i cant wetsand and polish spraypaint because it doesnt have a hardner mixed with it. would i sand the roughness out of it then spray a 2 stage clear coat over it to get a nice gloss??

Not sure on the rattle can wet sand, but if you are going to wet sand your primer use 400 grit, 2k is way to fine and the paint wont have anything to stick to.

 

[Shadow7874]

for the bottom i wouldnt spend too much time on it first couple yimes out it will be trashed

Ya i know, i didnt even bother to smooth the scratches out, most got better just from the primer, the rest im not worried about, but id like the paint to look uniform for the most part, and i want the top as smooth and glossy as i can get for a cheap paint job.

Not sure on the rattle can wet sand, but if you are going to wet sand your primer use 400 grit, 2k is way to fine and the paint wont have anything to stick to.

i just sanded the bottom with 400 a few minutes ago, it seems plenty smooth enough. I also painted a scrap piece of wood with a few coats of paint im gonna try to wet sand and polish it up tomorrow or friday depending on if i get home from school soon enough tommorrow.

Has anyone been able to get a high quality paint job from spray paint?

 

[redsxr800]

2000 is way to fine , only go that fine for clear coat.

 

[Waternut]

Has anyone been able to get a high quality paint job from spray paint?

Isn't that an oxymoron? You can get a decent job from spray paint but it won't last forever and it most certainly won't last more than a season on the bottom.

I've never heard of wetsanding primer...that kind of defeats the whole purpose of primer. You just smooth primer (block sand) so that when you do shoot your color coat, any irregularities will be in the paint and not underneath. If you've got a solid color paint, you can wetsand it but if you're trying to do any kind of metallic type paint, wet sanding will make it 10x worse. Wetsanding is really for clear coats. It takes out the slight imperfections to give a nice mirror finish.

 

[cmeripper26]

If you use an epoxy based primer which is best over gel coat because it will avoid the stress cracks in the gel coat such as those tiny little hairline cracks in your stock ski, depending on how you ride. But if you are in fact using an epoxy based primer and you are SPRAYING, after at least 24 hours of dry time depending on what type of activator you are using you can in fact wet sand the primer coat to make it feel as smooth as glass. If you do take this route be sure to use no less than a 1500 grit wet/dry.

 

[Shadow7874]

Any more comments on polishing spray paint? Im starting to think it will work. I sprayed a few coats on a scrap piece of wood yesterday, and then wet sanded it today. The wetsanding made it look bad, but after hitting it with a handheld cheap homedepot buffing wheel and some polishing compound it got better. Still not amazing, but i think more sanding and buffing would help that. Should i just spray a better test piece and make sure it works or try it on the hull and if it doesnt, spray another coat to cover it up?

 

[cmeripper26]

What kind of spray paint are you using. If you take a wheel to spray paint more than likely its going to melt away from the heat your generating from the wheel.

 

[Waternut]

Alright, I think you're really just mixing automotive paint practices with generic "walk away" paints. When I painted my 750 with spray paint I did a few things that worked well and few things that didn't.

First off, I just sprayed right over the fiberglass and the color coat has held up great. I also used Minwax clear polyurethane clear coat. It comes in spray cans and costs about $5 a can at walmart.

What worked: I spray painted the pole black with 2 light coats of walmart brand paint and 1 medium coat and 10-15 minutes later, I sprayed the clear on it and didn't touch it for 24 hours. The pole has held up great under some nasty conditions.

What didn't work: I spray painted the hull in sections and used nicer spray paint for the better colors and then I sprayed the clear coat. The clear looks nice but it lifted really easily because I didn't get to spray clear until the color was dry and I didn't re-prep the color underneith because it looked so horrible when I tried. Also, if you're planning to paint your ski white, you can't use the minwax clear because it yellows. Barely noticeable on color but more noticeable on white.

Just spray it, clear it, and walk away! and whatever you do... Keep a steady hand and if you miss a spot, DON'T GO BACKWARDS! Catch the missed spot on the next pass or you'll get runs.

 

[WFO Speedracer]

holy crap you never heard of wetsanding primer,seriously?

 

[grezzmky]

600 grit is as fine as anything should be sanded for paint. we used to sand with 1000 for clear only but we have learned that that doesnt last.
FYI, you can buy a HVLP spray gun at Harbor frieght for 13bux

 

[Waternut]

FYI, you can buy a HVLP spray gun at Harbor frieght for 13bux

...and it works great(once you get it set properly)! I've done a car, ski, and trailer with it. :headbang:

 

[Shadow7874]

600 grit is as fine as anything should be sanded for paint. we used to sand with 1000 for clear only but we have learned that that doesnt last.
FYI, you can buy a HVLP spray gun at Harbor frieght for 13bux

i have a sprayer, its the paint i dont want to pay so much for.

also the buffer i have kinda sucks so it doesnt get very hot, but it seems to have worked great on my test area. Ill spray something a bit bigger tomorrow and see how it polishes up.

 

[grezzmky]

i have a sprayer, its the paint i dont want to pay so much for.



then buy a quart of rustolium, reduce it with mineral spirits and spray it. 7 bux....

 

[Waternut]

then buy a quart of rustolium, reduce it with mineral spirits and spray it. 7 bux....

I was going to say the same thing. If you do a google search on rustoleum paint jobs, there are a lots of people that have successfully done car paint jobs with it.