Painting my G8 - Couple of questions

[stuff4mason]

I have just set up a mini paint booth in my garage. First off, I hate painting! I wish I could have someone else do it, but what the heck, I'll go for it. I've read just about every post in this section and think I bought the right stuff. I got all Nason products, including Adhesion promoter, primer and I think one stage auto paint. Since my budget is extremely tight, they said I have enough paint for 2 coats of everything.

Question 1) I've built a steel back seat which I will paint first (to get some practice screwing it up) Do I need to spay the steel with primer, or can I just spray it with the paint?

Question 2) Do I need to spray the primer on the plastic parts like right after the adhesion promoter, say 45 minutes later? or can the primer be put on the next day? I am guessing right afterwards?

Question 3) You guys keep refering to "Flash" time. What the heck is flash time? Is that the same as "Drying" time?

Question 4) The roof appears to be like Nylon, not plastic. Is there anything special I need to do to keep paint from flaking off, like the last guys paint job did, other than using adhesion promoter?

Here's a picture of what it looks like now. The heavy sanding spots are from where the previous owner had runs all in his lovely "John Deere" green paint.

Thanks for the help!

[tplasek]

I just finished painting my cart last weekend. The adhesion promoter is only to be used over bare plastic and nothing else. The solvents are so strong it can lift paint, if applied over paint. Read the instructions on the bottle. My bottle said apply one thin coat of adhesion promoter, wait 5 minutes, apply one more coat and then apply your primer between 5- 10 minutes later. If you wait too long, it has all evaporated and doesn't work to bond the primer.

Flash time is just the time you wait between coats. You want to wait approx 15 - 30 miutes between coats. Once again, read the instructions.

To get a decent looking paint atop of bare metal, the bare metal uses needs a primer first.

Use the red scratch pads and hot soapy water for all the plastic stuff.

For the roof and body of my 2001 ez- go I used almost a quart of epoxy primer (epoxy primer is what you need for plastic, about half a quartz of adhesion promoter, 1 quart of black, 3/4 quart of orange, and one quart of clear coat. This is how it turned out...

[IMG] DSC_1970 by TimPlasek, on Flickr[/IMG]

[stuff4mason]

Thanks TP!

" The adhesion promoter is only to be used over bare plastic and nothing else. The solvents are so strong it can lift paint, if applied over paint. Read the instructions on the bottle."

I read the instructions, but it didn't say anything about lifting the paint....That's not good. So, are you saying I have to remove ALL of the old paint before I spray the adhesion promoter?

[tplasek]

I don't have much experience with the adhesion promoter, but a good friend who is in auto body repair told me to be careful with the adhesion promoter. He told me he has had problems where after he applied the adhesion promoter on a some of his bumper repairs, the existing paint around the repair would lift and he would have to strip the entire bumper. He also said it was uncommon and that he suspected those bumpers were already painted with a lower grade of paint then what comes from the factory. He said he hasn't had a problem with a newer car bumpers with factory paint.

My EZ-GO came from the factory with green paint over green plastic. I used the adhesion promoter on the undersides and engine compartment sides, because they were bare green plastic and I wanted those to be sprayed black. I did not use the adhesion promoter atop of my factory outside green body because it already had paint on that surface 1: I was afraid it may lift the paint from chemical attach, and 2: Adhesion promoter wasn't necessary since there was paint already on the surface. Paint sticks to paint well after you sand the base.

The roof I used adhesion promoter on both sides after a very very very thorough cleaning using hot dawn dishwater soap and a red scouring pad.

I would like to see a good picture of your custom rear seat.

[stuff4mason]

Hmm...OK. Here's a pic of the seat. Fabric's not done yet, but thats after i get it painted.

[stuff4mason]

If anyone says, yea, just go buy one of those sprayers from Harbor Freight Tools - DON'T waste your money! I bought this gun about 2 years ago. Had used it once and for some reason, I put it on the shelf and hadn't touched it since. Went to use it this evening, and it leaked everywhere! China JUNK. Luckily, I didn't loose my $60.00 a quart paint. Anyone have any suggestions on another gun, like from Lowes, Home Depot, Tractor Supply, Autozone, or Checker? (These are the stores that'll have them around here.) Are the gravity feed guns better than the ones with canister at the bottom?

[freddmc]

Your G8 has a plastic cowl and a fibreglass engine cover so you only need adhesion promoter on the cowl. The adhesion promoter softens up the plastic so the primer will stick.
I also have a G8 that I painted last year but I used base coat/clear coat. Turned out great. Its not to difficult to remove the cowl and the rear which makes it easier to paint.

Good luck

Fred.

[Mike Mac]

Wow TP, nice job!!
Mike


Jim, body off for paint, but I'm sure you know! And I would do Checker! Or Auto Zone.

[revoarcher]

I bought 2 dura block guns and they both worked great. I bought them both at runnings for $50 & $70 both are gravity feed which I like better than siphon feed.

[freddmc]

Revoarcher
what is it about gravity feed that makes you like them more than siphon. Just wondering as Ive only ever used siphon?