Fiberglass tub: Repainting one questions

[EagertoLearn]

I recentrly purchased a used fiberglass tub. Seeing as tho it was already painted once (red), I want to repaint it. I want my bronco to be a shade of Orange. Not quite sure which shade yet. What are the steps to repainting these. Should I run a DA over it with like 380 grit sandpaper? It also has some stripes which it looks like they clear coated other.

Any help would be great.

Thanks Again...

 

[allenfahey]

What condition is the paint in now? Is there alot of scratches and chips? Do you plan on a base/clear or single stage?
If there are alot of scratches and chips they need to be feathered out and primed with a high build 2K primer. The cleared stripes will also need to be feathered out and primed. You can use 180-220 to feather then 400 around the feathered areas followed by a red scotchbrite on the 180-220 and 400 scratches. Final sanding on the whole Bronco should be done with 400 followed by a red scothbrite if using single stage. You can get away with 500-600 and a red scotchbrite pad if using bc/cc.

 

[EagertoLearn]

There is not alot of scratches. Its just more of the clear coar pealing off. I knew I would have to sand down the stripes. I would have to primer the whole body wouldn't I. I am going to put the pictures in my gallery now.

 

[plumbdoctor]

Chances are the PO sanded the gel coat pretty good, just be sure you don't sand to deep. Getting under the owest layer of gel coat could lead to the resins bubbling in the future.

It's not as bad as it sounds, with 180/220 you should be fine... it will just take a bit longer, just don't lean on the DA to get it done quicker ( patients is everything )

 

[EagertoLearn]

Ok I put some pictures in my gallery. Let me know if I still should be usine 220 sandpaper. I also would like to know once sanded if I should primer the whole outside of the tub. I am going to scrape the carpet off then sand and rino line. Any other suggestions?

 

[Deano]

Hold on to your old body until your done you may need parts or need to look at it to help finish it. I had bed liner put on Inside and the bottom of mine just for sound deadening and rocks fling up and hitting the bottom FB. Whitch body is that? Good luck with the sanding. I hated it!!!! But it will look good when your done. Keep posting pics.

 

[plumbdoctor]

IMO it looks like a Kentrol tub... looks pretty true, the one I had back in 94' was one warped S.O.B.

 

[allenfahey]

There is not alot of scratches. Its just more of the clear coar pealing off. I knew I would have to sand down the stripes. I would have to primer the whole body wouldn't I. I am going to put the pictures in my gallery now.

If the paint was in good shape, you would only prime where you sand with the 220. Since the clear is peeling I would strip the clear off to the base coat with 220, red scuff it, then prime. If you don't sand off the clear there's a good chance it will continue to peel even with your new paint. You don't need to strip all the paint off, just the clear. Don't use paint stripper on it, any bodywork to get it straight will be ruined. As stated keep the da flat and let the da do the work. When you get it primed you can block it with 320 and follow with 400 on the da with an inerface pad to remove the 320 scratches. Before paint always use a red scuff pad under the base coat or single stage.

 

[EagertoLearn]

Thanks for all the input.
I have tried to upgrade to a contributor but keep getting an error. I don't have paypal so I wanted to pay with a credit card or debit.

I just came in from the garage. I did the final engine dismantle. After that I pulled pulled the carpet off the floor and scraped as much of the glue off as possible. I am going to post some more pictures in my gallery but left my cord in the garage. Tomorrow I will use the da and sand the floor down. I also have to remove where the rolebars were secured to the floor. The were just cut out leaving bottoms in the floor. They are rusted away.

 

[EagertoLearn]

Here is a picture of the tub with the stripes: You can see in the back corner where it gets lighter is where the clear is peeling. Is it better to use a base coat followed by a clear coat on these fiberglass bodies?

 

[allenfahey]

It doesn't matter if you use SS or BC/CC on fiberglass. I'm guessing the reason you ask is the delamination of the current paint job? There could be several reasons. Too long of a period between appyling the base and the clear. A different brand of clear than the base coat. Or just using a cheap clear. A chip in the paint followed by pressure washing doesn't help either.

Use which ever fits in your budget.

 

[ken75ranger]

I agree with allenfahey get the clear coat off.
I would suggest you take care of anything you need to do on the under side of the body-clean, paint. etc.
Put the entire body together-doors, dash, steering wheel and all. Then take it apart as needed to paint.
Quite often you need to work on a fiberglass tub to get everything to fit together. It would really suck to cut in to fresh paint because of a fitting issue.

 

[rcmbronc]

I wouls make sure you use some type of sealer before you add anything. I know alot of people will coat wth epoxy before anything else. Check out the body part at www.hotrodders.com

 

[EagertoLearn]

I agree with allenfahey get the clear coat off.
I would suggest you take care of anything you need to do on the under side of the body-clean, paint. etc.
Put the entire body together-doors, dash, steering wheel and all. Then take it apart as needed to paint.
Quite often you need to work on a fiberglass tub to get everything to fit together. It would really suck to cut in to fresh paint because of a fitting issue.

Great point about putting the body together before painting. I am glad you brought that point up, I sometimes let my ass get in motion before my brain. I like to see progress and would have probably started to paint the tub before thinking about how everything fit together.

I need to keep a reasonable budget but would prefer to do the one which is most forgiving of a rookie painter. What is your suggestion then?

Rmcbronc: Are you suggesting to seal it first then primer the areas I need to then paint when ready?

Sorry so many quesitons I just want to make sure I do it right!

 

[allenfahey]

Is the orange your planning on a solid or metallic orange? If it's solid a single stage is "easier" to paint. Less steps. If you do a clear coat and get a run it's just as easy to remove a run from clear as single stage. Single stage metallics are harder to lay the metallics out and aren't as durable as a bc/cc.
The sealer goes after final sanding of the primer. You apply sealer, wait for it to flash, then apply paint. No sanding inbetween. You would only need sealer on new e-coat parts or if there were some breakthru's in the primer. Also, if it's a hard to cover color you could use a colored sealer. Like yellow for example you would use white or yellow sealer.

 

[rcmbronc]

Many people claim to seal the fiberglass before adding anything to it. Sealer is usually right beofre paint, but many say to seal it right away with epoxy to keep some of the weird things from FB away from everything else. Epoxy makes a good base for all.

 

[EagertoLearn]

Great point. I am going to finish sanding the inside of tub later today. I then want to wash the tub out with pressure washer. i want to get the underside real clean before I start doing some repair work to the bottom of the tub. There is not a lot to do about four small areas I want to reinforce. I will probably sand the outside of the tub tomorrow.

 

[EagertoLearn]

Oh...I decided to go back to the orignal color of blue. My son loves blue and I hope to have him drive it when he get old enough. He is eight now. So I have some time for me first!

 

[Deano]

I put my FB all together and made shure everything fit good and then drove it to the body shop to do the finale ajustments and sanding. I think I had it apart a100 times before it was done. I have pics on my flickr page if you would like to see mine in it's various stages.

 

[EagertoLearn]

I will check out your flicker page later tonight. Want to get my work done and get to my garage to play!