The car is stripped and when the weather turns I will be ready to shoot it.I was wondering how much paint do I need. I am going to use SPI expoxy primer,a 2k primer, and most likely PPG single stage black.I was wondering how much paint for each coat.Is a gallon to much or not enough for the expoxy , the 2k primer,and the single stage more so as I will need color sand and buff.Thank for any input Vince

 

It depends how many coats you intend to apply and somewhat how experienced a painter you are and what type of paint booth set up you have. I just painted my Cobra with PPG SS Black and used nearly 1-1/2 gallons which included underhood and trunk, full doors, etc. I have a little left over. I had a thin area on the body down low and ended up with 6 coats on the body and 4 elsewhere. I had intended 4 overall. I am obviously not an experienced painter as this was only the second car I've fully painted. I used quite a bit of Slick Sand primer on my car (like 2-1/2 gallons) but it comes ready to shoot right out of the can unless you decide to thin it with reducer. I don't know about epoxy.

If you have to do a lot of the painting in stages, because your booth isn't large enough to set everything up right or you don't have enough stands for parts, you will have more waste from repeatidly loading the gun up and wasting what's left when everything you have set up is completed.

On a Corvette body I would figure about a quart and half ready to spray for a complete coat. A convertible might be a little less. And then addiitonal for the doors, hood, HL buckets, grills etc. It will depend on your gun, experience and so forth. A real experienced painter with a quality gun could lay it down nice and smooth with less.

PPG SS Black is a good choice. A friend had his Cobra painted with BC/CC Black (not cut and buffed yet) and mine came out much better.

Possibly John McGraw will respond as he has really turned out some nice looking paint jobs. Also, there are some experienced painters under the Paint and Body Section of the forum. And finally, the AutoBodyshop forum is a good resource for advice and materials.

My 2 cents.

 

You might want to consider using the SPI epoxy primer as your build and not use the 2K. On the paint forum are several posts on this. I am, after many years, finishing the priming with a 2K primer. If I had it to do over again, I would have used only the SPI then paint. My $.02. Good luck on your project.

 

I should have added above, PPG SS reduces 4 parts color; 2 parts reducer; 1 part hardner so 1 quart of basic color makes 1-3/4 quarts of ready-to-spray paint.

 

Keep in mind that a gallon of SPI epoxy makes 2 gallons of sprayable because you mix it 1:1 with the hardener. That should be plenty of epoxy immediately followed by SPI 2K.

 

You did not mention your spray equipment. Are you spraying with an HVLP system? If so, are you using a complete HVLP turbine system or a air compressor with an HLVP gun?

An HVLP gun will use about 2/3 of the material of a traditional high pressure system. A turbine HVLP system will use even less than that.

When I switched over from a an old-school high pressure gun run off a compressor to a Turbine HVLP system (Croix CX-9) my material use was cut nearly in half.

BTW - I shot my Camaro with PPG Concept single stage black 17 years ago. The paint looks amazing to this day.

 

Vince,
All of the above is very true. Depending on your experience, equipment type, gun setup, etc., you may use more or less. From your question, I would guess that you are not a seasoned painter, and will probably not be using turbine/hvlp equipment. From a primer surfacer perspective, it "is what it is"!! If the body of the car is very nice, you may get away with 1/2 gal to 1 gal. I've used as many as three gallons for a very rough car (this would be a restomod, where I'm finishing the bottom, engine bay/firewall, and undersides of everything). Just keep putting it on until you can block the car smooth. Pay attention to the recoat times, in case you run out, and have to scuff again.
PPG Concept is a very good product, and has incredible hiding/covering. What you're after, is enough material thickness to be able to cut/buff when you're finished. I usually apply three full coats (MAKE SURE THAT YOU WAIT THE REQUIRED TIME BETWEEN COATS, OR YOU'LL HAVE A MESS). I spray with DeVilbiss Plus guns (for SS), mix Concept 4:1:1, and will use about 1 1/2 quarts (unmixed) for each full coat. Tip size is 1.3. So.....the bottom line is that 1 gal of color SHOULD do it, but I can tell you that there is nothing worse than running out of paint when you're not finished. Since you're doing black, and not a custom color, why not buy a little extra (DCC9300, and DCX61 hardner). You're paint store should take it back, if you don't open the cans.

Mike Coletta

 

thanks for the advice I am using a LVHP gun with a compresser.This will be the second car I did a VW bug a couple of years ago I stripped it down toke it apart I used a suckon gun the paint came out OK I learned alot.Iam ready to put some expoxy primer on I need some color so I can see any faults. I still may have to wait right now it has been in the low 60's hopefully in about a month I hope.I am sure I will have a better Idea of how much paint I will need before I put color on Thanks again Vince

 

The PPG SS Concept I sprayed this winter was spec'd to mix 4:2:1. The paint will go a little further as a result. The paint store rep said to me to use 4:1:1 when I picked it up and I showed him the PPG tech sheet and he said, Huh - well that's what you need to use. So, maybe this is a recent change.

 

You're right Dan.......I've been mixing this stuff for years, and after seeing you're recent post, I went back and checked the P-sheet. Sure enough it's 4:2:1. I always felt like it sprayed a little better with an extra splash of reducer, and now I know why!!! DUH!!! Thanks for the heads up.

Mike Coletta