I started to watch this episode yesterday then I had to do something else and turned it off.  Now I'm going to have to go watch it.

'My guy'... that re-done my Mustang body... sanded/primered( where he went thru to bare metal)/body filler-ed/primered whole car/painted/clear coated. Since 2015 still holding up great. (I do park it inside though )
6sal6

I've found that in paint and body work, as in many things in life, there is more than one way to skin a cat, and one isn't necessarily better than the other.  Many guys have applied filler directly over bare metal for many, many years and had excellent results with that.  Now, is this a holdover from a time before epoxy primer and/or sealer were common?  Could well be, but it doesn't mean that its invalid either.  One thing I do know is that if you are going over bare metal the surface needs to be rough, or you risk the filler not making a good connection with the metal, and if that happens you are definitely setting yourself up for trouble.  

Personally, with the limited body work I've done I always applied filler over some form of primer.  I did this to make a spot repair on my K5 back when I was in college (close to 30 years ago) and ended up spraying the whole tailgate with a rattle can outside, cutting and buffing it by hand, and that tailgate still looks as good as the rest of the paint on the truck, and it sat outside for a lot of years.  Granted, you could get away with a bit more with single stage paint.  

To me primer means sanding primer. For me sanding primer goes over body filler.

As far as bare metal goes I've always sprayed epoxy primer before applying filler.   Keep in mind there are different types of fillers and primers.  Some can go on bare metal and others not.  Keep in mind I'm no expert but I was taught by a buddy who's done bodywork/repair for a living. Full on restoration to insurance repairs.  I always follow his advice and he always has a good example to why.

One thing that has always been important is to not break through say a sanding primer and then apply paint. The goal is to always have the surface material not sanded through before applying the next layer of product. 

I'm repainting my 2010 f150 and still follow these steps. I sanded all the old paint down.  Sealed with epoxy primer/sealer then high build primer then my color. I don't want the sanding primer to have a reaction with the old paint so the epoxy is used to prevent and unwanted reactions between old and new or different brand paints.

Lots of good advice.  Thanks guys!
To be clear, I wasn't knocking Derek, just asking for clarification and opinions.

I painted my hood a few years back and the result looked good, but I had paint bubble up in a couple of spots after a couple of years.

I'm going to have to sand it down, treat the rust, and paint it again, and I'm just trying to avoid making the same mistake.  I live in deep south Mississippi, where we have a LOT of humidity, so rust is always a concern and things flash rust quickly.

After I sand the hood and sand down the rust, what would you recommend to treat the rust (or formerly rusty spots) before sealing the hood with epoxy primer?

When I'm restoring mustang sheet metal I always spray the bare metal with OSPHO then neutralize it then epoxy primer.  I even go as far as pouring my left over epoxy in body seams.  Catch the run off and pour it in another seam.  lol


TKO I'm bet your buddy about had a heart attack.  Did the painter redo his work?

Michael....you have  a PM 
6s6

RTM wrote:

When I'm restoring mustang sheet metal I always spray the bare metal with OSPHO then neutralize it then epoxy primer. I even go as far as pouring my left over epoxy in body seams. Catch the run off and pour it in another seam. lol


TKO I'm bet your buddy about had a heart attack. Did the painter redo his work?

That's smart, rust alwasy starts in seams.

He was decidedly not happy.  He ended up taking the car to another shop and the first shop paid for the work.  
 

Last edited by TKOPerformance (Today 2:39 PM)