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Primer

Old 09-28-21, 09:26 AM
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seedsbelize2
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Primer

I have a few re-paints lined up for the winter (dry season). I'm the sort who does the quick and dirty paint job. It only has to look good to me, and protect the frame. Does primer have a function when not going all the way to bare metal? TIA
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Old 09-28-21, 11:38 AM
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Primers will help fill in small imperfections to give you a smoother base for the paint. They also give a little tooth for the paint to adhere to. The biggest reason, I think, is to cover all the old color uniformly, so it doesn't show through the final color. I prefer to use primer from the same manufacturer as the paint to eliminate any chemical incompatibility issues.
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Old 09-28-21, 12:20 PM
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in my limited experience, if there are imperfections in the base, these will show in the end results, which is why I went bare metal (via stripper), then acid etch primer and then sandable primer. If just going over existing paint you will need to really scuff/sand well for adhesion of the new paint. primer will help with this and you might do one coat sand to smooth and then another coat for uniform coverage
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Old 10-28-21, 06:47 AM
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I went with primer. Grey, with a subdued orange automotive paint. I'm unsure how thick to paint it, before clearcoat. More than one can?
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Old 10-28-21, 07:15 AM
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What paints are you using? On the rattle canned bikes I've done with Duplicolor they have needed a couple of cans, those are smaller cans than others.
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Old 10-28-21, 09:34 AM
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slight hi-jack, but one instance when going to "bare metal" is NOT a good idea: aluminum frames. It's almost impossible to get good adhesion with any rattlecan paint or primer to bare aluminum. If the original factory paint is anything like "intact" I always just scuff that and then use an "aircraft primer" over it, then add the topcoat(s). Don't know what (say) Cannondale used to wet-paint their frames but it's 100% better than anything I tried!
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Old 10-28-21, 09:44 AM
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I have never gone total bare metal when painting a frame . My process is to sand , spot putty , primer , sand . Usually more spot putty after that and sanding then paint . Also I use 3M Scotch Bright besides paper .
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Old 10-28-21, 10:02 AM
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No, unless epoxy based regular primer will not protect against rust/corrosion. Primer first with a series of light cotes and then apply paint as a top-cote
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Old 10-28-21, 05:49 PM
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There are three man uses for primer. Etch primer is used to stop corrosion and provide adhesion to bare metal. It often has zinc chromate in it. Primer surfacer (also called "build primer") is used to fill surface imperfections, so that after sanding it you get a nice smooth surface. The idea is to sand almost all of it off, so that it only remains in the "low spots". Primer sealer is used to protect all that surface prep from the hotter solvents in many top coats (paint). There are a number of products that combine one or more of these functions, with varying degrees of success.
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