What paint (underbody, internal)

Post by **MattH** » Mon Jan 16, 12 11:58 am

Following on from cutting metal, I am going to have to paint all of this old thing.
I am not going concours, so not worried about body colour overspray and primer look, I just want english weather proof, tidy and rust proof.

I have always used smooth black hammerite, probably since 1985, and its been OK.

I am looking to do the whole underside of the car, inside the boot and interior metal work, but not engine bay as that will be body colour, which is not yet decided.

I did wonder about doing the whole underside silver (like they do on buses) so it is easy to spot any leaks or rot coming through, or even white (car is originally white).

I do think black is the easier option, just wondering what views are on the best product to use nowadays.

Screwfix do a no nonsense gloss black metal paint, not sure how good it is.

I am for the most part painting over clean primed blasted metal, but there are the odd bits that I can't get all the rust out, where Hammerite is a good option.

Whaddya think?

Ivor · Post by **Ivor** » Mon Jan 16, 12 12:03 pm

The big question Matt is what is the underneath like at the moment?

If it's scabby old paint and underseal are you cleaning and sanding or rotary wire brushing back to bare metal?

latil · Post by **latil** » Mon Jan 16, 12 12:25 pm

Why not use white smooth Hammerite?

Post by **MattH** » Mon Jan 16, 12 1:18 pm

Ivor wrote:The big question Matt is what is the underneath like at the moment?

If it's scabby old paint and underseal are you cleaning and sanding or rotary wire brushing back to bare metal?

Its a sand blasted shell with all the rust gone, and primed in red oxide.

Ivor · Post by **Ivor** » Mon Jan 16, 12 2:08 pm

In which case Matt, metal prep to remove all traces of rust, a coat of etch primer to keep the rust at may and provide a key coat, a coat of 3M two pack smooth stonechip for protection and a coat of whatever you like on the top, but you may as well give it a coat of body colour or do as they do on aircraft and old Lotus space frame chassis and paint it light grey, that shows up everything!

By the way, do it correctly you can apply the whole lot in a day with not sanding required at any stage in the process.

sinny · Post by **sinny** » Tue Jan 17, 12 12:24 pm

I've used hammerite stone chip on mine with POR15 chassis paint over the top. I haven't done this before so only time will tell how good it is.

So Ivors directions are probably the safest bet.