Painting advice please

[LisaRiel]

What type of paint do I use over the (properly prepped) original yellow school bus paint? I want to use the right paint, so it will last.

 

[o1marc]

Not latex house paint. Some have had issues with it peeling off.

 

[LisaRiel]

Thank you!

 

[ol trunt]

Most any polyurethane automotive paint used with a hardener will last many years with some annual upkeep. Sticking with non metallic colors will add several years to the life of the paint. Delfleet Essential by PPG is one example. It is what I used on the main body of my bus and after 5 yrs it still looks show quality. I went with base coat/clear coat on the fenders because it was the only way to get the specific shade of yellow I wanted and it too looks brand new. You can learn much about specific materials by going to the mfg's web site.

Rustoleum and "Tractor paint" with hardener is another less expensive route though I have never chosen to go that way. Furthermore, consider yourself lucky if you aren't going to have to prep someone else's repaint. Short of removal of the repaint, no matter how well you prep the repaint, your paint job will only be as good as the prep on the prior paint job--prep is EVERYTHING.
Jack

 

[Tango-SKO]

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Any decent paint job is 99% preparation. Sand, degloss, scruff and clean the surface thoroughly before even thinking about applying any paint.


As noted above...NO water based house paint. Use a real oil based mix or automotive.



Then there is all that taping...

 

[Whatthefak]

Skip the tractor paint! I did a stint in a commercial paint shop, John Deere parts get powder coating or John Deere tractor paint, the paint has a 24+ hour cure time so unless you are in doors it will be full of bugs.

The toughest paint I've ever seen is epoxy, it's like 50-50 or 60-40 mix cut with a little mak to thin it for a better spray. It ends up super tough, comparable to powercoat


Also like they said already prep is key, don't spend big bucks on good paint for it to look like crap. Take the time, it sucks doing but a good paint job lasts

 

[EastCoastCB]

What type of paint do I use over the (properly prepped) original yellow school bus paint? I want to use the right paint, so it will last.

As Marc stated- NO latex house paint. If on a budget use Rustoleum or a comparable oil based enamel.
If not on a total budget you can get automotive grade paint for not too much more if you shop around.

 

[Tango-SKO]

Add a little hardener to Rusto and it makes a big difference in the finish and durability.

 

[Jameson-SKO]

A YouTube channel called "The Bus Life" has a couple videos of him as a first timer shooting automotive paint. Definitely some things that need improving on, but good enough to give confidence to a novice in the use of the tools and materials on such a large canvas.
Recommend checking out Eastwood painting vids for quality tips. Good news with paint is if you screw it up, you can redo with alot of hardwork!

 

[dan-fox]

Dzlfreek had an idea on his channel that I'm going to keep in mind. IIRC he was shooting epoxy. He used a Harbor Fright little HVLP gun that he claimed he got for $10 each on sale. He'd get a goodly area prepped and ready, mix paint, shoot it, and throw the gun out. Just treat it as a consumable.

Having cleaned paint guns with mixed results and much effort, this sounds appealing to me.