First time "real" painting.

[Girth]

Not much. Just heard this today, along with a '72 hr window' (was someone who does ALOT of higher end paint jobs too). I had always expected to have to scuff or sand it before high build primer, but never heard that it wont stick to 'cured' epoxy. WTF are you supposed to do - primer, seal, and paint all in one day? Only been 24hrs so I'd like to know if this is true or hype. I've known cars that sat in epoxy (covered) for years and then scuffed and finished. Dunno.

Ugh... googled, can't find much info on that product. Seems that TDS is missing the rest of the info, that would cover topcoating it.

I'd assume scuff/clean/topcoat, after it cures. Can't imagine it's different from most every other similar product. My TDS says....

Time to Topcoat
(Primer Option)
• Allow a minimum of 1 hour per coat
and a maximum of 24 hours at 75°F.
• Between 24–72 hours, primer must
be sanded prior to topcoating
• After 72 hours, primer must be
sanded and recoated with a single
coat prior to topcoating.

That's a Lumabase DTM epoxy though. Can't imagine yours is THAT much different?

 

[Doppleganger]

Ugh... googled, can't find much info on that product. Seems that TDS is missing the rest of the info, that would cover topcoating it.

I'd assume scuff/clean/topcoat, after it cures. Can't imagine it's different from most every other similar product. My TDS says....

Time to Topcoat
(Primer Option)
• Allow a minimum of 1 hour per coat
and a maximum of 24 hours at 75°F.
• Between 24–72 hours, primer must
be sanded prior to topcoating
• After 72 hours, primer must be
sanded and recoated with a single
coat prior to topcoating.

That's a Lumabase DTM epoxy though. Can't imagine yours is THAT much different?

I just talked to a guy thats worked in a dealer body shop for 20 yrs. He said to leave it til Spring then sand it all with 220 - and apply my high build. So sounds like I'll be hand sanding til I puke.

Only thing he mentioned that I question is my roof - I had bad oil canning and got it straightened out about 95% - but will still need a skim coat of bondo to make it 100%. He suggested sanding the epoxy off to bare metal and mudding that instead. Dunno.

Sorry to the OP for my mini-hijack.

 

[Girth]

I just talked to a guy thats worked in a dealer body shop for 20 yrs. He said to leave it til Spring then sand it all with 220 - and apply my high build. So sounds like I'll be hand sanding til I puke.

Only thing he mentioned that I question is my roof - I had bad oil canning and got it straightened out about 95% - but will still need a skim coat of bondo to make it 100%. He suggested sanding the epoxy off to bare metal and mudding that instead. Dunno.

Sorry to the OP for my mini-hijack.

While I've no background worthy of questioning a pro..... my TDS says to final sand the epoxy with 400-600 before topcoat. To me, that sounds like scotchbrite will do the job? All your edges on the cab, hand sanding the epoxy sounds like you're be touching up a bunch of edges where you burn through? Everyone has their methods I guess, and maybe some product variations?

In my reading there is a TON of argument over the body filler though. lol Some insist on bare metal. The "new tech" guys are adamant that modern epoxies allow the filler to adhere just fine (IF it's fresh epoxy, or prepped properly). The supposed benefit of filler over epoxy (if done right, so it bonds to the epoxy well), is the epoxy won't allow any water absorbed by the filler later on (say you get a paint chip) to get to your base metal, and start rusting under the filler.

I'm of the mind to fall back on my favorite saying It's a helicopter (well, truck, in this case), NOT the freakin' space shuttle. Just FIX it. I've got some light filler where I sanded through to bare metal. Some that were skimmed over the epoxy too. Time will tell.