1157 - In need of paint supply advice.

[Milsteads Garage]

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Well, it?s finally under 100* in Phoenix Az, so this means I have one hell of a project in front of me which is bodywork and paint on my beloved 1157. Since my past painting endeavors always included buying paint from Summit racing, Napa, or raiding somebody?s paint cabinet, perhaps you can help me find a line of paint that will be best for my MarkII. I plan on either painting outside or under the carport and by the time I get around to painting I plan for an 80* day with little humidity. For base/clear applications I plan on using my tried and true Sharpe/finex FX 3000 gun with a 1.4 tip. My air compressor is a 20 gallon gas compressor but it?s 17.0 CFM. It will more than keep up. I might consider upgrading my gun also. It?s good, not great. The last great paint job I did is I used DuPont chromabase but anyone know of a user friendly modern paint that will last 20 years? Any help is appreciated.

[Barry Wolk]

I wish I could help you, but I'm a lousy painter.

[Knickoliss Iv]

Hey Morgan. Dupont turned into Axalta. I liked spraying Dupont and will be using Axalta for the first time on the damn Camaro. One thing I used to do for cost purposes when necessary was use a Nason base which is cheaper and Dupont clear for durability. This should still work with Nason/Axalta. You have an amazing paint store out there in Mesa called Space Age. Man I loved that place and I wish I had a paint store with half that variety here in El Paso. I never bought paint from them only because I didn't live in Phoenix the last time long enough to spray anything of my own but I did go in a few times for a few supplies for the place I worked for. I don't know what brands they sell but it is worth looking into. With temperatures below 100 in Phoenix, the cold darkness of winter is upon us. Boy do I miss that Phoenix heat!

[Milsteads Garage]

Thanks Knick! According to Arizona Paint Supplies, I found out Axalta did buy out the Du Pont chromabase line of paint. I hold your sentiment with Chromabase and I think I am going to spend the extra money to buy another Chromabase system. That blue 58 Cadillac was done using Chromabase and their “base maker” product gives you nearly 2 gallons of paint out of one gallon of color. I sprayed right over sanded primer and didn’t use sealer like I should have and it still looked show quality. I also bit the bullet and bought 2 new Sharpe finex guns, an FX 1000 1.0 tip and FX 3000 with a 1.3 tip. I’m not fast enough to use a 1.4 tip and while I could lay a good base, I couldn’t spray clear without running the hell out of it so hopefully a 1.3 tip should help me enough not to make a mess of things. Still trying to find the exact color of blue but when I physically start buying paint, I will let everyone know how much of a dent it took out of my MarkII fund.

[Milsteads Garage]

I looked up space age paints in Mesa AZ. They seem DIY friendly as a few places gave me fleet color books and new car chips but every blue I looked at is underwhelming especially new car paints which are super boring. Hopefully, this place pans out and I find what I’m looking for.

[Matt Cashion]

I've used PPG's DBU urethane base coat and Martin Senour IPC15 clear for years with very good results. One recommendation I would make is to make sure you have a good desiccant dryer and regulator with a good filter in it. We have a refrigerated air dryer, not practical for a DIY'er, just off our shop compressor that keeps all our air supplied tools dry and any air drops that we connect to painting equipment has a regulator with a filter in it. You don't want any moisture in the air you put through a spry gun. Just my 2 cents----

[Milsteads Garage]

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For the hell of it, I ducked out of work a minute and ended up at Napa paints which is a finish 1 Martin Senour paint distributor. Good news is I found a color that’s pretty close to what I want. Bad news is, I think they are priced high. The color was going to run around $450 a gallon. Their DTM primers were around $350 a gallon but just the paint, clear, activators and reducers were going to run me close to $1000. Now the money they are asking sounds about right but they are asking that kind of money for Finish1 that can be purchased at an auto parts store. Only time I have ever used finish 1 was in a jobber type setting just to get the car out. I have no idea on how the paint looks or if it even lasted because it went on a car I resold to get me what the car was actually worth. Thanks Matt, for commenting.

[Milsteads Garage]

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Speaking of which, I have an unopened gallon can of finish 1, FP410 urethane primer. According to the data sheet, it’s supposed to be pretty ultradocious stuff. So Matt,Knick, what do you guys think? Pitch it or use it? If I did keep it, the plan would be to coat the car first with an etching primer or epoxy primer. Again, cost really not an issue. Just making sure this would be smart to use.

[Matt Cashion]

Can't speak to that primer as we've never used it. We use TP520 (gray) and TP522 (black) from NAPA with very good results.