Painting fiberglass

[Reitman]

Well, I finally got the fenders installed, so a paint job is coming soon. The tub and fenders are fiberglass white and the hood and grill are faded black. So, I'm planning on spraying the hood and grill a white primer, but when it comes to painting the body and fenders I've heard mixed opinions.

Before paint I guess you're supposed to sand the target before paint so the paint sticks better, but with fiberglass is this needed?

Anyone have opinions on paint and how many coats and then clearcoat, or using the paint that has clearcoat already mixed in?

I'm planning on an orange color. Also, when should you wet sand it? My buddy did his own and didn't sand it and ended up with orange peel texture and I don't want that.

Thanks

Sean

[SilentBob2]

You need to sand the entire jeep! Are the hood and grill new? If so you need to make sure you sand that black primer down realy good or your paint will peel later! Your primer has a lot to do with the finished product. I would go with a urathane primer sealer, a little expensive but worth it. You will need to prime the entire jeep with this. As far as paint, I would say do you want it to look good for a long time or are you going to wheel it and scratch it. Urathane is the way to go but if your wanting an orange color, your talking some serious scratch! My bro inlaw mixed up this awsome orange that flips to a copper in the sun but when he added up the paint, hardner and reducer and the pearl, it was about 1K dollars and a plane orange was about $600. You can go with accrilic enamel and get everything for under $300 and it has the clear in it. Or you can get base coat clear coat and it should be priced in between the two.
As for sanding the fiberglass, All you need to do is probably hit it with 180 grit and cut the gloss look to a dull finish same with the other parts and then hit with the primer. Before you spray anything on it you want to wipe it with a solvent that will remove wax or grease, reducer should work as well. After a few coats of primer sealer then you can wet sand with a finer grit anywhere from 320 to 1000 grit. As you wet sand you will want to use a foam sanding block so you get a level surface and the goal is to sand surface flat until you dont see any little pits in the primer. You can see these by sanding then wiping it down, it's a hidious process but the better you do it the better the finish. You can dry sand it like that to but I don't like the dust.
As far as your buddies orange peel, That can be caused from spaying the paint to dry also but poor preperation has a lot to do with the finish. If you go with acrillic enamel get you some fish eye elimenator to add to the paint. I don't know if I helped you any so maybe someone else will jump in and tell me if I missed anything, Im sure I did. I hate doing body work and painting so have fun.

[TiminMb]

My fibreglass fender and windshield frame are holding up great. I cleaned the fibreglass with acetone (there might be waxes and release compounds from the mold process), removed all gloss with a scotchbright pad, went over it with a tack rag then one coat of a self-etching primer that said it was suitable for fibreglass. I then went over the primer with scotchbright and tack rag and shot 3 light coats of a catalysed polyurethane paint.

Orange peel is from improper application technique with the spray gun. You need the right amount of flow, distance and travel speed. Most of all you need good lighting to see what you are doing. Practice on something else first with the paint to get a feel for it. Sanding out runs is a drag.

[LEVE]

All good points in the above posts, and I've only one suggestion. Use a contrasting primer color to paint color. This way when you're painting you'll be able to tell more easily how you're covering the primer. It helps to cut down runs and drips.

[Reitman]

Thanks for the replies so far guys, they have been super helpful. The hood and grill are original. I have a little bondo work to do on the tub. It got some pretty deep scratches from the place I bought from having it sitting on its side and then moving it I guess. I'm not looking to break the bank on the paint job, just come out with something nicer than I could get at Maaco.

So, you scuff the whole thing up, spray a couple coats of primer, wet sand the primer, then lay down the color. And, if you did a good job wet sanding, the color won't need to be sanded?

Thanks again

Sean

[SilentBob2]

The color shouldn't need sanded as long as it's layed down right. like they said, sanding out runs is a drag. I hadn't sprayed in about ten years and I was doing my doors last week and had bought a new gun and I should have sprayed something else first like said above and man did I ever get a run! Needless to say Im spraying one of the doors again today when a spray the tub! A single stage urathane would be great because if you get some dry spots in the paint or any other imperfections you can color sand it and buff it out. You have to becarefull when doing that to metalics.