Body Paint

[lapeer20m]

as long as you already have an air compressor, i think that spraying is definately the way to go. I've never rolled a bus, but i've painted buses several times with a sprayer. You can buy a cheap hvlp sprayer for about $50....you can find sprayers even cheaper if you look.

rustoleam thinned with acetone, NOT with mineral spirits

finish the project with automotive clearcoat...keeps you from having to repaint in 2 years when the rustoleam fades....

[timbuk]

lapeer how does the clearcoat work in the rustoleam and how much to clear the sides of the bus? it sure fades fast especially orange its a big job

[reprobate]

We've pretty much used the Lapeer method except we've just used an industrial metal paint. Basically the same as Rust-o except in name. And we are going to clearcoat. Damn that flex tape for masking curves is pricey!

[lapeer20m]

cheapest clearcoat i can find is like $150/gallon.....which kind of sucks, since it pretty much doubles the price of the painting project.

i went to one of my local auto parts stores that i knew sold automotive paint. there's actually two different stores across the street from each other, and 150 was the cheaper of the two....

it seems to play nicely with the rustoleam. there is 2 parts....1 gallon of clearcoat stuff, and 1 quart of other stuff that you have to mix in at the proper ratio. Makes the glossy paint even shinier, and it makes the shine last a long time.

it's a little more difficult to spray than paint, because it's clear, difficult to spray just the right thickness without making it run.

1 gallon plus that quart of activator or whatever it is is enough to do the sides of the bus from the window's down. I cant remember if i had any left over or not. There's a two step process...like spray a light "tack" coat over the bus, then after a few minutes go back and put a heavier coat on...somethign like that. the directions are on the clearcoat container.

[timbuk]

yea when it comes to painting busses and cars anything automotive is expensive tape sandpaper primer bondo labor all of these products will be water based soon brings me back to henry fords quote "you can have any color you want as long as its yellow" paint on skoolies timbuk

[timbuk]

thanks for that info shortbus i just learned that rustoleum-tremclad makes a clear coat for their paint! http://www.rustoleum.com

[lapeer20m]

Originally Posted by Smitty

I would highly suggest ........Wash the entire bus with dishsoap & water (a couple times won't hurt).
Smitty

i am not a fan of washing the bus with soap and water prior to painting.

i like to clean the bus with heavy duty paper towels and mineral spirits (kerosene would probably be ok too) but evertime i've panted a bus after washing with soap and water i end up with the same problem: Water trapped under the rub rails that drips out when you're painting. The water gets forced out by the air from the spray gun. I've even washed my bus 2 days prior to painting, i even used compressed air to try and remove the water, but no matter what i do, i still have the problem.

perhaps if you live out west in a hot dry climate you won't have this problem, but here in michigan water under the rub rails is not your friend.

anybody else have this problem? or is it just me?

[reprobate]

You know I think Xtevan mentioned he had the same trouble in a recent post. We went ahead and washed our bus just because rain was imminent and we wanted at least to scrub the grime off. But Lapeer's right, we live in a dry climate and we had several warm, windy days immediately following our wash job.