One thing I forgot to mention is the sand-ability. the other thing that matters is if your getting a urethane primer is some of them sand better than others. So try one that you feel confident in adhesion. Some polyesters are slower to sand so if your going there you might be spending more time to do that. Sand-ability of epoxies is also not that great. some sand better than others. So once you find a good one that works for what your doing you will get the limitations of that product.

Mike I worked for a Chevrolet dealership in the late 60s. Our bodyshop used only Dupont paint and primer...only 2 types of paint LACQUER and ENAMEL. NOTHING ELSE no Urethane etc. Body work had to be impeccable, unlike today hiding scratches or repairs with 2 part sealer primers. I enjoy watching your work and explaining why you do what you do. Many cheap bodyshops would not have made it back in the day.

Hi Mike, I used a 2K epoxy primer on the VW T3 Single Cab.2 layers over zink spray sanded, and did the first painting with urethan acryl paint, worked out just great..greetings.HCS🇳🇴

Thanks for the great summary. Over the years I've restored and repainted many cars and motorcycles as a hobby, learning the hard way through the school of hard knocks. I still remember that Olds Cutlass, mucho Bondo and sanding, lacquer primer surfacer, more sanding - the acrylic coaenamel finish flowed out beautifully, perfect! Then I cried as the scratches appeared in the finish due to sand scratch swelling of the lacquer primer.

Great info, I really appreciate the step by step video series, when you restore these classic cars. I was watching a lot of stitch and glue boat building videos during the Covid lockdown, and they talked about the processes with these epoxy resins, and various marine paints, etc. The parallel here, is that you have a window of time with epoxy products, to apply additional coats, and have a "chemical bond". If the base coat is not fully cured, the next coat can chemically bond with it. Once a coating has fully cured, sanding will be necessary to allow a "mechanical bond".

Your videos are the best. Your presentations are satisfying, the camera/editing work is fine but the knowledge that you share makes me think I could go out and do this. Thanks Mike.

in the mid 70's and 80's we used acrylic primer DULON brand here in aust also the old acrylic spray putty early 2 pack paints in the late 80's early 90's was good but when it got stone chips it would chip badly

Great explanation of the different primers. If I ever get a car to restore I'll have some reference to go back to. Thanks Mike

Great info. The term TDS not only applies to technical data sheet anymore. 😂 Thank you!

Great information. Answered lots of my questions. Now I'm going to go watch your Westy project again and review the large scale body work you did on it. Thanks for your sharing of knowledge.

Lot more to learn than meets the eye, good one thanks.

Thanks For the info and your help and time ! Straight Ahead

I learned a lot Mike. Thank you.

Wow! That family tree of just primer / sealer products, just turned into a confusing tangled forrest! At a boat dealer with 34' boats in stock, we where we did fiberglass & gel coat to factory, and repair starts with clean, grind out, fiberglass and sand smooth to below the repair. Gel coat is 40% talc, 40% polyester resins and 20% hydrocarbon based colorant according to MSDS the service mgr needs on hand for OSHA. This year is 2000 and uses a catalyst of clear MEK in drops per parts of gel coat. Methyl Ethyl Ketone mixed with polyester resins is thinned with monomer styrene. Sprayed at 60psi with a siphon gun, it is just like body filler. There is no fog or mist (Very little) but full PPE is worn. Two coats was 2 mil, like a high build and open time was no solvent popping, no shrinkage and ready to sand in 2-4hrs. So I can't ever look at a polyester with clear catalyst without equating it to body filler. It created an exothermic reaction that sped up cure time. Now, polyester plastic filler uses MEKP (Methyl Ethyl Ketone Peroxide with a colorant for product ID. I would not use a brown in place of a blue because of different % of the contents. Cleanup was lacquer thinner. Epoxy does not need a weak phosphoric acid in it because as made clear by marketing from a large gel coat supplier, drives the idea that one less step is needed with their product, so it cost more but a time saver. This company had a devision of automotive products. So, on with the chemistry mystery of what to use! I appreciate you telling us that buying, using and watch for delaminating & shrinkage is normally not deep pockets willing to redo a panel after 5 years of daily drivers. Restorations are to be a lifetime if garaged at home but work has sun & bird dung w/tree sap for fun. Only a few new vehicles get a daily wash and a number of motorcycles cast & chromed in Taiwan but assembled in Milwaukee or KC. Yes, the sea containers are unloaded by the thousands, just wire harnesses are built in overseas facilities that now spot weld multi-stand copper wire together a junction points. All do this as quick, reliable and cheaper. Face it, more wires than ever before in the history of transportation as PED invented the splice pack. Used for diagnostics on serial data, but now grounds if more than 4 are required. 4 is the max that gets spot weld naked copper with a friction tape bonnet. Epoxy is something that sticks to any property cleaned, lightly abraded substrate. They are going for a chemical tooth and mechanical tooth at the same time. It spots are not fully sanded, neutralized from baking soda like jams & interior pockets then pickup the DTM. This is great for vehicles with light rust if they were dunked with a E-coat. But what is it? When did each plant start? Why does it still rust. As sheet metal turns metric it becomes thinner by spec, because boron steel, HSS, UHHS call for panel bond and spots welds while wet as it conduct electrical current. But not dry or cured. How much is a gallon of Vibrance VB2050, DTM, epoxy high build? Will that fit on a business card? What activator and reducer of the correct temp cost to make it sprayable? A set of truck mud tires perhaps. But is does everything except sand itself. Worth it, right? DK, ASE master, retired.

Good info Mike! It can be a bit overwhelming trying to figure it al out.

Excellent learning video! Gotta love all that info! (BTW, I know the sanding part is missing and a mistake on your part but it goes without saying as you said it many times before with this car and the two busses before.)

I've never heard of most of the types of primers your talking about. Up here in the snowy humid climate of the white mountains, we epoxy prime everything. Then we have been using upol 2k high build primer. Some times we thin the 2k with 10% reducer. Works as a sealer. My boss sometimes buys 1k cheapo primer for cheap repairs. But that's it. I've found that rust never sleeps up here. And because of that there is no money in painting anything. My boss repaints lots of rocker jobs due to rust coming right back. We oil some of them with boiled linseed oil mixed with oil based black paint. That helps the underneath. But other wise that's all we use. My boss uses cheap clear that doesn't shine at all. He has his son buff and polish every paint job. Poor decisions over there has caused me to get fed up. Only one bringing money into the shop was me doing rocker repairs. I make most of my own panels . But do use aftermarket rocker skins. But that profit gets waisted on repainting small jobs twice that never paid anything in the first place. I'm tired of waiting weeks to get paid a measly 145$. Up here we got lots of rich people that enherited there grand parents farms that they sold. Thats what I'm dealing with. Wishing I never moved up here now. But I love these conversations. Ps. We also let the epoxy dry for days then spray 2k on it. Then DA it. Then paint. It's all about not waisting time. God bless

Some people use an epoxy as an adhesion promoter for the first layer of paint. Basically a great sealer just before paint that helps you put the first coat down and get it to adhere better. Less issues with runs on the first coat of paint. especially on single stage urethanes.

Thanks Mike. Personally I love the 5310. It's the best all around primer (for me) I've ever used for how I do my work. And Happy Thanksgiving!!

Thanks mike!

Tamco does not want filler on metal they want it over epoxy or dtm 5310. They say due to heat generated builds moisture,

What single stage paint would you’d suggest over a lacquer primer. Thanks

I’m almost ready for primer on a 1955 Chevy bel air do I need to get all of the lacquer primer of the metal before etching primer and the 2k primer? It’s my first build on my own so I don’t know.

Going with what you're saying, and because I'm working a Corvette, that I don't need epoxy primer, and can go right to polyester sandable primer. True?

I have a question will dtm primer stick to epoxy

How about DTM Acrylic Alkyd Enamel? like Rust-Oleums Industrial 7400 & 9400~9700 series! Thats what they use on Bridges exposed out in the Open elements for 20 years with no problems (they also use Epoxy Primers/paints that last this long as well... and for Acrylic Enamel paints and Urethane Enamel Hybrid paints, It seems that if you thin out the paint it can be a nice flat finish like regular Urethane paints and clears...

I'll probably paint maybe one or two cars in the next 20 years. So suggestions such as "find our what works best for you" are probably fine for professionals that paint each week, but not to me. Could you suggest any specific system for us amateurs painting a daily driver that we want to last?

I had a oval VW in 1961 .. had trouble spraying ..thru the air vent under the back window. How do u do this ?

I am working on a 1971 corvette, I have put on 2 coats of epoxy primer from eastwood which I sanded with 220 grit. Can I go over that with polyester whiched I purchased from amazon (feather fill polyester) then sand with various sandpaper grits or do I need to go over polyester primer with urethane primer which I have? Thanks for info.

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Epoxy is not a primer, it's a sealer.