The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop help on paint type? Acrylic Urethane? Enamel? or Lacquer?

Trying to decide what is best to paint type for my 51 stovebolt GMC. www.autocolorlibrary.com provided the chip sheets for my 51 GMC (but found the color in the Chevrolet 1947 page).

This truck is going to be exposed to some rain perhaps, and early season snow before going into storage for the hefty part of the winter...but coming out in early transitional spring weather.

I am looking for a nice finish that has some gloss, but provides the best protection from road wear, salts, sunlight and weather extremes.

believe me, this truck is going to be taken care of by the metal prep and undercarriage ptotections using POR 15, bed liner in the inner fenders and just about anywhere water and road grime will find it's way. But I need a TOUGH but good looking surface paint.

Is there that much of difference from Acrylic Enamel? Acrylic Lacquer? or Urethane Paints? (I've heard to stay away from lacquer...but don't have the reasons why for that...)

Also plan to clearcoat, and apply epoxy primer underneath the surface coat.

Help?

Tom Moore

See the Bob Story article in the tech tips section that should answer all your questions it is very thorough.

Tom:
Urethane was my choice. From everything I have read, nothing else is close as far as durability. Epoxy primer direct to metal and urethane over the top in either single stage (if a straight color) or base coat with clear coat (for straight color or metallic).

If you plan to spray yourself, make sure you have proper respirator protection. Most folks recommend positive pressure systems that pump air into the mask. Air Advantage, SAS and others manufacture these systems.

Search the forums at these boards as well if you would like further research:
autobodystore.com
hotrodders.com

Regards,
Steve Lorio
New Orleans.

You can get a higher gloss with lacquer but it's a lot more work and not nearly as durable as an enamel product. Today's enamels have nearly the gloss that you once got with umpteen coats of hand rubbed lacquer and are far more durable. My vote is for enamel. Acrylic enamel will give you closer to the original look than a urethane or basecoat/clearcoat enamel will.

I once lived up in your part of the country.(Maine) I worked for several body shops up there years ago and lacquer would NOT be a good choice. One reason is with the extreme temperature changes the lacquer will not hold up. Around here I can't even buy lacquer anymore. Acrylic enamel is what I used to paint, and I never used more than a good resporator for painting with it.
Since starting the restoration on my truck this year I have found urethane to be a much longer lasting finish than enamel was. You have to be much more careful not to breathe any of it in because it is more harmful than enamel. I got the original paint code & had my local supplier mix the color in urethane (single stage) and it was a LOT cheaper than getting it on the Internet & paying shipping costs. You can look on my Photobucket page & see where I painted the grille, header & filler panels.

Tom,
I have my 53 ready for paint. I talked with several painters and body shops and the consensus was that urethane was the paint of choice. Mine will be single stage, 4 coats of burgundy maroon. The final coat will be color sanded and buffed to a high gloss finish. Material cost for 4 gallons is looking to be about $700, when I add in the sealer, gray poly for the interior, the thistle gray for the grill bars, anvil gray for the bumpers and the black, I will be around $1000 in materials from a local supplier.
My $.02.
Mike

Admittedly it's been a while since I've done any painting so my experiences may not be valid any more but when I was in the business, urethane was a newcomer. We used a lot of Imron. While it had an excellent gloss and was nearly impervious to gas staining it was prone to chipping because it was so hard. That problem may have been reconsiled over the years. While Acrylic Enamel will chip it wasn't as bad as Imron. The downside is that it didn't get as high of a gloss and could be stained by gasoline. Just depends on what you want.

The base coat clear coat system is by far the easiest to spray. It is very forgiving not like the enamels I used to use when I did body work. Lacquer is a thing of the past. It just won't hold up. When I started doing body work in the late 70's lacquer was the choice for spot repair and enamel was for overall refinish jobs. The base coat/clear coat came along sometime in the mid 80's in my area.

IMHO Urethane is the only way to go for exterior paint. It is extremely durable, easy to spray and is quite forgiving. It is nasty stuff however, be careful. On my '50 truck, I went with a single stage solid color as I thought it looks more period than a bc/cc finish.

Tom, My neighbor and friend has autobodystore.com His name is Len Stuart. He just finished painting my 54. I am truly impressed with the paint (and his work). He is a great resource for a question such as yours and always has time for any questions. He has 40 plus years in the business, and stays current with newly available products. You might want to check with him. Scott