Acrylic Enamel vs Acrylic Urethane

[daves66valiant]

Opinions on which is better for spraying an engine bay B5 blue.

Shitty part about living in SoCal. It’s hard to get decent paint anymore.

 

[Lildart]

Opinions on which is better for spraying an engine bay B5 blue.

Shitty part about living in SoCal. It’s hard to get decent paint anymore.

I think urathane is better as you could color sand and buff. Enamel, tuff to do that with. I think urathane would be more durable. This car was a single stage urathane, never buffed. That stuff flowed out so nice.
But like Cali you can’t buy “good stuff” anymore.

 

[sabre67]

 

[Jimacuda]

Urethanes are fussier than enamels IMO.
I have used both in the past but lately it's all enamels.

 

[daves66valiant]

I've sprayed a solid color single stage one other time. It was on JohnnyDart's 65 vert engine bay. It seemed to go down pretty well and still looks pretty good. I dont recall what it was exactly.

The flake/poly in the mopar colors are not that big. Im looking for whatever lays down the best and I might be able to cut and buff. But then again its only the engine bay.

How soft are the enamels? Ill be installing the engine very shortly after painting.

 

[sireland67]

What do you plan on shooting the outside of the car with?
Single stage urethane lays out flat, and is real hard to run because it drys fast.

 

[mgoblue9798]

I've sprayed a solid color single stage one other time. It was on JohnnyDart's 65 vert engine bay. It seemed to go down pretty well and still looks pretty good. I dont recall what it was exactly.

The flake/poly in the mopar colors are not that big. Im looking for whatever lays down the best and I might be able to cut and buff. But then again its only the engine bay.

How soft are the enamels? Ill be installing the engine very shortly after painting.

If you are dead set on cutting and buffing, your best option is a base/clear urethane. Cutting and buffing single stage metallics means you will be cutting some of the metallic itself. I would not cut and buff everything, just spot sand any trash and buff that area leaving the rest alone.

 

[daves66valiant]

Car was already painted when I got it. The engine bay did not get painted. The engine bay is bone stock (dirty) with all original stickers etc. I want to paint it to match the exterior of the car while I'm swapping the /6 for a 340. It doesn't need to be perfect show quality but at least decent.

When I'm finished with my other projects the Dart will get a proper paint job. With my luck that will be 15 years from now.