Old Cars Weekly News \& Marketplace - Auto Restoration Guide: Advice and How-to Projects for Your Collector Car

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wearing a   respirator  and rubber  gloves, but chooses not to  wear
modern safety equipment. We recommend a full paint mask,
quality respirator and other safety equipment to protect the eyes,
skin and lungs.

Phenolic read oxide is also harder to sand than 2K urethane primer.
This product probably shouldn’t be used on surfaces that need to be
really slick, as it is definitely an industrial-grade coating and requires
more effort to make smooth than typical automotive products. Phenolic
primer cleans up best with urethane-grade reducer or Xylene, lacquer
thinner will work in a pinch. The red is nasty, so be sure to wear gloves!


Safety gear

Gloves are just part of the safety equipment that is necessary when
spraying primer. A good disposable respirator is required. Dust masks
aren’t good enough to protect a painter from the chemicals involved.
Also, be sure to work in a well-ventilated area and follow all precautions
listed on the primer’s container by its manufacturer. Decent gloves for
mixing and cleaning are also very important.


Additional project preparation

Quality mixing cups will have good mix ratio charts on the sides and
make mixing the primers, activators and reducers much easier. Water
traps on the air compressor and inline filters on the paint gun are critical
items that need to be used. Be sure to have plenty of sticks and strainers
on hand. It’s seldom a good idea to reuse either while mixing primer.
It’s also important to plan for clean up after the product. Most of the
products discussed here will clean up with lacquer thinner. Have a good
paint gun cleaning kit on hand with a wide variety of brushes, because
primer is surprisingly resilient and once it dries inside the paint gun, the
tool is toast. Local paint stores can suggest environmentally safe disposal
methods for any waste products left over. Most garbage companies will
not take paint cans that have paint in them. While at the paint store,
don’t forget to get all the pertinent tech sheets. They won’t be available
for every product, but get all that are available. The cans will also have

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