The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Paint Questions

I'm getting ready for some final painting of my 58 fleetside and have some questions.

1. Is the black paint for the 'CHEVROLET' stamped lettering on the grille, and the Chevy 'Bowties' on the white hub caps a gloss or satin black?

2. I happen to have two older cans of Tremclad oil base paint. One is semi-gloss black and one is gloss black. The paint is still good (unlike old water base paints). Can I use these over a polyurethane primer? Will they interfere with a PPG Omni white paint?

3. What is the proper order for the painting? I'm thinking of applying the black on top of my freshly primed metal. Then applying the vinyl letters over the black as a paint mask. Then another shot of primer, followed by a final coat of my PPR Omni white. Same order for the hub caps. Or does anyone just use the black vinyl letters as the final black over the final white paint?

4. Same question for the white 'CHEVROLET' on the tailgate. White over primer. Use the vinyl letters as a paint mask. Final Tartan Turquoise in PPG Omni. (Maybe with another shot of primer first). Or just use the vinyl letters as they are.

Thanks for your assistance.

Hi John,
A couple of things. If the PPG Omni is catalyzed, then you can paint anything over it after about 3 days. Sand it lightly. If the PPG Omni is non-catalyzed (not hardened, if you prefer), then I'd wait a week or two before painting anything over it. Non-catalyzed acrylic enamel has a tendency to lift if you paint over it before it has completely dried. And it dries more slowly than you might think. I believe that is the reason PPG gives no re-coat data for non-catalyzed Omni. As for the question about semi-gloss or gloss, I think the original was gloss but I've seen plenty of reproduction hubcaps and grilles done in semi-gloss. I don't think you can make a mistake. Semi-gloss is a little more forgiving, for what it may be worth.

I've seen people apply the black vinyl letters and leave them alone. I think if I wanted to paint, I'd prime first, sand down to 500 or 600 wet, spray black where you wanted the letters, let that dry very well, apply the letters as a mask and then spray a non-sanding sealer over the black (and mask naturally) to keep it from showing in the white. PPG makes several of these. You won't need but 1 or maybe 2 coats of this and you should not need to thin it. Once that's done, then I'd spray the Omni white and be done. If you have any questions, you might ask the place where you bought the paint. If you use primer as your sealer, mix twice the normal amount of thinner, spray it wet and try to shoot it so you don't need to sand at all. You obviously don't want to sand with your mask in place...

Thanks Jon.
Any suggestions about the use of Tremclad ( item 2 in OP) or is that a really bad idea.

It should be ok, John. My only hesitation would be that you have to thin that paint with acetone, and because of that I'd want it to be very dry before anything was painted over it or maybe even up next to it...and I doubt I would ever be comfortable spraying it over acrylic enamel because acetone and acrylics don't like each other. Sorry to have overlooked that part. I don't think you need primer unless the surface is just too pitted or rough. That paint was made to allow spraying over rusty metal, etc.