Is a coat of sealer important?

I am getting ready to spray my first paint job. I have a nice coat of high build primer sanded and uniform in color. Should I buy a sealer to put on before the color, or just top-coat it? Thanks in advance, Jim

 

Yes seal it.

 

A large part of a successful paint job is directly related to the preparation efforts. Painting a vehicle is a tedious process that involves a lot of preparation. If you do not properly prepare the vehicle for paint, you will see defects in the finish and you may experience adhesion issues
Once you make these repairs, you should seal the entire vehicle with a quality sealer primer.

From eastwood:beers2:

 

Thanks I will buy some. I appriciate your advice! Jim

 

once you seal it and it dries ,use a bright light to check the entire surface for any imperfections,they will be a lot easier to fix now then later:laugh: Laters Tim

 

Thanks for the light tip Tim! I will use it. I really appriciate your advice. Thanks, Jim

 

Seal it . A little extra money now saves a lot of work and materials later . Sealer eliminates adhesion problems and shadows of translucent colors . Another reason a good paint job costs as much as it does .

 

This might be silly, but can cars be painted in stages? Like hood and fenders,then doors and trunk (As I have some from a parts car). This will give me the ability to keep driving my car and spend more time to do the body work right. Humidity changes- well it won't down here for a few more months.

This would be epoxy primer and sealer before final bc/cc all together.

And so not all off topic, say you find where some glaze is needed, can it be applied directly over the sealer or do you have to reprime that spot,glaze,prime, seal. Also where does high build primer enter in here? o No:

 

yes Jason you can paint your car in peices, you just mask off the panel you are working on, I think the panels should be right before the sealer coat.

 

J_Pop on the sealer and primer no problem painting at separate times. But when you start with color you will have a mismatch . Temperature , humidity , air pressure and technique will vary the shade a little so the mis- match . sorry not to be more positive but just to be honest with you

 

Yes I meant just the priming-no color or cc. I learned this a few weeks ago. Sprayed 2 interior pieces 2 nights apart I guess at the threshold for it to effectth ecolor. One panel was gloss. The other almost less than semi.

 

Having owned a body shop and painting lots of cars, I will tell you that a coat of sealer can make all the difference in the outcome of your paintjob. It isn't essential - if everything is just right and completely compatible you can get a nice job without it - I've done it both ways, but have sometimes kicked myself for not using sealer.

Sealer does exactly what it's name implies. While providing an excellent surface for the color coat to adhere to, it seales everything underneath and prevents unwanted reactions to the solvents in the color. Without sealer you run a chance of sand scratch swelling, spot glaze putty swelling or shrinking which both result from the primer becoming softened by the solvents in your color coats. Sealer will prevent this imperfections and will eliminate the chance of these problems. My two cents are that as hard as you have to work to get the body prepared, and undoubtedly your expectations of having a nice finish, sealer is one of the best insurances you can have.

If you haven't already found them, you can check out Trinity online for low cost paint supplies that seem to be very nice quality - they don't mix factory colors, but you might be interested in checking them out anyway.

Fred (Colorful Cars)

 

Thank you Fred! I went with white primer/sealer. it is the non sanding type. This is my first paint job, after doing so much body work I wanted to paint it myself. Your pro tips are greatly appriciated!

 

I want to thank y'all for the advice. My guy wasn't going to use it. He said they usually don't. I will make him, but I must be gentle as it is getting donr basically for free.:grin: One half of theRiv has been sanded to bare metal and the old bondo has been removed. and primed. There are a few small pinholes that I've ponted out and he already said it will be addressed.
So yay!!!! He is using everfill (I think) a good brand and I forget the type of primer. I'm hoping we can get it to his friends shop so really get to work. I will be allowed to get my hands dirty so I will have some pride in it as well. I hope I can make my uncle (now passed) proud. He sure was a stickler for doing it once the right way no matter how long it took!!!

 

Sealer worked good for me! Thanks for the great advice guys!

 

do you have any pics of the finished car:kodak: i would love to see them laters Tim :3gears:

 

IF you dont seal a light paint job over time all the body filler work you did will bleed into the base paint and turn the paint wierd colors .