Noob needs paint advice?

[bkbond12]

Hello Everyone,
So, my winter beater has some surface rust forming on the lower doors and rocker panels and I want to nip this in the bud, but am not sure exactly how.

I've read and searched much of this forum and even read 67dart440gt's tutorial. There seems to be a wealth of knowledge and information on here and some amazing body techs, but I haven't found much information on using a bed liner on rockers.

I picked up a 6" DA air sander and have some 40 and 80 grit paper. I also have a cheap-o gun, which I figured would work for what I need to do. What I was thinking was that I could use the 40 grit paper for the spots where the rust is most evident and then the 80 for the areas where the paint is still intact. I would then clean the entire area a couple of dozen times with some mineral spirits and tape off the entire section. I would then put two coats of primer (I need advice on what primer to use) and was thinking about using a roll on bed liner like Herculiner to make the rockers a little more durable. Am I on the right track here, or have I missed the mark entirely? If the liner stuff is crap, then I would not be adverse to using a base clear approach, but being so new into any amount of body work, thought I would start small and being economical would be great too.

Anyways, take a look at the pics and let me know what a good course of action would be. I plan on doing the entire lower door from the plastic molding down, the rockers, and under the body from wheel well to wheel well.

Thanks.
-Travis-

 

[1968FormulaS340]

You have that body cladding there, the best thing to do would be to actually refinish the rig from that cladding down.

 

[AdamR]

You will probably mess the trim up trying to remove it. If its a beater I would sand any rust down to clean metal, put a good primer on it. Prep the entire area from the trim down and spray it with a good rocker panel spray. You may be able find one that doesnt need a top coat.

 

[bkbond12]

You have that body cladding there, the best thing to do would be to actually refinish the rig from that cladding down.

Yeah, I only plan on doing the gray area under the trim to below the rocker.

You will probably mess the trim up trying to remove it. If its a beater I would sand any rust down to clean metal, put a good primer on it. Prep the entire area from the trim down and spray it with a good rocker panel spray. You may be able find one that doesnt need a top coat.

Ok. What's a good primer? I've read about self-etching primers, epoxy primers, 1k primers, 2k primers and quite frankly am not sure what I need. I really don't want to spend a ton on the truck, but I don't want it to rust out. I figure it's a good little project to get me started and learn a bit. Also, I haven't seen any rocker panel spray which is why I was thinking of using a bed liner kit to coat them.

So what brand/type of primer would work the best and be cheapest, and would I be better off painting afterwards, or just using a liner?

Thanks guys.

 

[bkbond12]

Hahaha, I just noticed a compression fitting coupler on my brake line in my pic....looks like I'm going to be doing a new brake line in the future too.

 

[AdamR]

Epoxy would probably be best, 2K would work also. You dont need much, just a quart should be plenty. Brand is really a personal preference. PPG, Dupont, Sikkens. Ive used Transtar with great results as well.

 

[KIII]

After you sand, use "etching primer" on the bare metal areas(aerosol $15) You dont have to prime the entire area to be painted if the existing paint is good,it looks like stock paint so whatever you apply will stick properly. Since you live in Mich. I would go with a roll or spray-on bed liner coating. After it dries completely you can paint it to match. 1.Sand every square inch,paint wont stick to shiny surface. 2.Etch-prime bare metal areas. 3.Wet sand (400-600wet) until smooth. 3.Apply coating. 4.Paint to match.Good luck.

 

[rjsjea]

Mask off the area you are working on (probably trim line down)

Sand it down with the 80grit (if you set on the 40grit, go easy with it),

Rattle on some epoxy (SEM brand)

Spray a decent color match rattle can and be done with it or buy a Raptor liner kit to do the whole rocker......for the "winter beater"

 

[bkbond12]

So I picked up some PPG paint and etch primer and decided to just paint it to match and not get to fancy. However, after starting to sand down the rocker panel on the rear driver's side, I developed a pin hole that still had some rust around it. Well, I took it down until I found clean metal all around it. Now I have a 1.5x3" hole and another .5x1" hole.

Wondering if I can get away patching this with some filler or if I need to cut it out and have a patch welded in? I'm not looking for something that will last 100 years, just another 3 years or so.

Any recommendations would be appreciated.

Oh, I love how the molding has hollow spots on the back side to trap water and increase how fast the body will rust. Take a look at the pic to see what I mean (it's packed with mud and poored water out when I took it off).