Refinishing an old IROC with peeling clear coat. What is the consensus on how far down I need to strip the body? I have some body work to do and want to get the whole body stripped and in primer first, and then address each bit of body work one at a time.

a.) Just remove any clear coat that is peeling. Ensure than any remaining finish is adhered well to the base.

b.) Remove all the clear down to the base.

c.) Strip all layers down to factory primer.

d.) Get it down to bare metal.

 

Depends on what your goal is. If you are looking for a really nice driver that can also win some shows, then it would go to metal, epoxy primer,filler, epoxy primer to seal, base coat and then clear ( you could do a highbuild primer between the epoxy and base, but the epoxy is a high build almost on its own).

That's how I've done my last 2 cars and the results are great. I would highly recommend SPI Epoxy primer and their Universal Clear, if you are painting car red or black I would use their base as well, I used their SPI red which looks great and is a true red. Both excellent products and has a great reputation and quality. Do a search on any car forum.

Of course the final finish is only as good as the prepwork under the paint. But that's a different question.

 

Thanks.

I took my last car down to bare metal but that was because there was a lot of filler and bad body work I had to undo. The goal is for a super nice driver. It will get a primed and blocked a few times. Will likely use U2K high build again since I had good results using it on my last project. Just trying to avoid the extra work of going to metal if I don't need to.

Last project was three or four coats of U2k, blocked in between then three coats of PPG sealer. Three coats of PPG Deltron, color sanded, then three more coats. Then went over that with 3 coats of 5 Star clear, wet sanded to 1500 then three more coats before buffing.

 

Well sounds like you know what you are doing Good luck.

 

OK, so whats the verdict then?

How far down are you going to take it this time?

I was going to do mine down to metal, but if I can just get rid of the peeling clear and seal with epoxy, that would be the ideal situation... help me out here with some ideas.

Bare metal is a great way to go, but my car just has the factory paint on it and I'd like to minimize work/materials if possible.

Help me out here with a good plan. Thanks

Andy

 

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Dunno yet. Gonna hang out and see if anyone with more experience can chime in. Only reason I took my last project down to metal was because there were about 150 coats of paint built up over the years and was covering up some crummy body work. Would like to save time and materials on the current project if I can. I am leaning towards just getting all of the clear off the car and going over the factory base with a good sealer of some sort.

 

Im in the exact same spot. I'm leaning towards going down to factory primer everywhere, 2-3 coats epoxy primer, block it out to 600 and paint... but just getting ideas now too. Body is good and straight, if I'm careful with my DAing, I might not need the high build primer.

Interested in what some experts have to say.

 

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Fyi I take down to factory primer. UV damage can Go deeper, unseen, and crack on you later. Jmo but i believe it has happened to me in the past.

 

I don't know if they used the water based tech on your particular year, but in the later years the cars built in california had paint problems with the paint not sticking to the primer. I have one of these cars (1990 IROC) and the base/clear looks great right up until it delaminates from the factory primer. I'd strip all the base and clear off yours just to be safe.

I recently repainted my roof and decklid with epoxy primer to stop it from rusting. Here is a perfect example of what happens to the paint. I painted a section on top of the rear quarter and when I peeled the masking tape off of what appeared to be good paint, this happened:

 

Good info, thanks. My current project is an '88. With 80g DA it wont take long to get down to primer

 

The factory primer seems fine on my car, it's not waterproof though so it will rust when exposed to the weather. Therefore, I removed it too because of the peeling and rust. I went with a chemical stripper at the local car wash. They make one that's supposed to only remove base and clear without damaging the factory primer, but I haven't used it. It's nasty and you want to be sure and not get it in crevices where it might leech back out later on, but it makes the job easier in my opinion. Used allot of 80 grit discs too, but I think it turned out decent.

Before, I already stripped it and sanded one side, but you can see the rust patches:



After, the rust is gone and will not be back, ever:

 

If you have peeling anything, it's best to take it to metal. Trying to strip the paint back to the factory primer is a futile effort. The factory primer is so thin, you might as well take it all the way down. Best to start fresh.

 

Very good point. I may just do that.

 

Couldn't agree more.

 

Ive decided to take mine to the metal. Disassembly started today. I will be stripping with a DA and using epoxy primer from there.

Andy

 

Thanks for the info gentlemen. I'll be taking it to metal.

 

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