Quick Body Prep Question

[gti-si 0]

Not really worthy of a thread...but I'm going to ask anyway. I'm prepping my car for paint atm, as per my thread. On the good areas, I'm just keying up with some scotch pads (halfords own). They're doing the trick, but, do I need to go through the laquer and key the paint or am I OK to just key the top coat?

 

Secondly, I've just filled a few parking dings etc, am I alright to leave the filler bare, or shall I put a coat of primer on now? Just to protect it...It looks like it's going to rain you see, I've got a car cover but it's tosh, it's about as waterproof as tissue paper...

 

Oh, will etch primer cause any problems with filler? I've etched a few bare areas and oversprayed onto filler.

[dommorton 0]

Regards the scotch pads ideally you wouldn't use them at all and would strip the whole panel past the clear coat. However as you're just doing a cheap fix the new paint should take fine to scotched lacquer.

 

Filler can hold a fair bit of moisture so better to coat it. However you should be more concerned about any exposed metal around the filler as this will rust up overnight. Best to get it primed for now and then painted asap.

 

Etch Primer will cover filler no worries too.

[gti-si 0]

Well it's not so much a cheap fix. I'm trying to do the job properly, I'd just been advised that using the pads would give a good enough finish for the paint to adhere to. I've started going over with wet and dry now anyway, making sure the panels are as good as I can get them.

 

I etch primered all the area's I'd fillered after I wrote the topic. All the bare metal was etched straight away.

 

Cheers for the reply, mostly confirmed what I was thinking

[steve@cornwall 100]

I'd be tempted to put a thin topcoat over the filled areas as this can show imperfections not evident in primer. It'll be too late once it's painted

[gti-si 0]

Cheers Steve. All ready did this in some places with red hammerite but it's not the best. Will use a tin of cherry red when it's all been knife putted.