[stick]

Hey guys. As many of you know, I'm undertaking a huge restoration project on one of my SE's. As part of the project, I'm battling with some rust issues. I've sandblasted the front half of the car, and i'm replacing rust areas with new metal. I plan to paint the bare metal with POR15. However, since I want a perfectly smooth finish, I want to spray it on.

I'm a little weary about using POR15 in my spray gun since it could permanently gum it up, so a hot-rod guy on another forum recommended that I use a disposable Preval Sprayer to shoot the POR15 onto the car. It is a compressed air cannister with a jar on the bottom to hold whatever type of paint you want to spray. The kit was only $7 at my local parts store and refill air cannisters are $5.

Here's what I was told about the gun: The advantages of it are that it is very maneuverable and can do little jobs without much cleanup or wasted paint. It also sprays a lot less material at a time than a regular paint gun. This can be an advantage if you're a novice like me. (It's a disadvantage if you're using a fast drying paint...fortunately POR15 is not fast drying). A disadvantage is that the spray pattern won't provide you with a perfect finish like a normal spray gun... however, since this is my bottom coat (POR15 > Primer > Base > Clear), I should be able to smooth it out with some light sanding between coats.

http://www.prevalspraygun.com/

Has anyone here used a Preval Spray gun for anything? Any comments?

 

[RamaCrx]

I used one on a repair on the leather on my Beetle seat. It does not cover a very large area!!

 

[stick]

I just finished spraying the entire engine bay and front wheel wells. It took me 4 of the Preval cannisters to finish the job. I agree with Rich, the spray pattern is really small, so it takes a long time to get the job done. However, in all the little corners and nooks, it made the job a lot easier because it wasn't shooting out a litre/minute of paint.

One suggestion for anyone else that attempts to use a Preval Sprayer with POR15, you need to thin the POR more than you would for a regular spray gun. The Preval Sprayer just doesn't have the PSI of air flow to spray thick paint. Plus, if you thin it a bit, it tends to lay down smoother with less orange peel. POR15 sells a thinning liquid that is specifically meant for POR15 ($$$)...however, upon testing, it looks to be just lacquer thinner of a different dilution strength. (looks, smells, and acts the same as lacquer thinner when mixed with POR15) If this is indeed true, I'm quite annoyed with the POR15 company for misleading me to believe that this thinner was the only thinner you should use with POR15.

Don't expect it to be a perfect paint job. The coverage is good, but the finish is not perfect and will require sanding to smooth it out. I would not suggest using a Preval Sprayer on a highly visible surface such as the door panels, hood or fenders. You're better off getting a cheap primer gun and spraying the POR15 that way for those large surfaces.

 

[Ragnaarok]

why use por15 at all ?? What is so great about it if you have to use a special sprayer/thinner and on and on...

Why not just use regular body filler and putty, prime it, paint it, clearcoat it, and be done like a normal paint job?

 

[jfrolang]

Because that wouldn't offer the rust protection of POR-15.

 

[Ragnaarok]

Because that wouldn't offer the rust protection of POR-15.

if you scratch the por15 and bare metal is exposed, it will rust just like if you scratch primer/paint/clear ? what is the benefit?

 

[stick]

It permanently isolates metal from oxygen and water, which prevents rust better that regular primers and paints. It does not deteriorate over time because of exposure to moisture like ordinary paints. Since this vehicle was from ontario, and the factory paint job was compromised due to water and salt from ontario's roads, I decided to take this extra measure to prevent the reoccurence of any rust.

It is extremely hard, and difficult to scratch. Even if it were somehow damaged, only the scratch line would rust. The remaining metal would still be isolated from water and oxygen and would not rust.

You are right though, you do have to go through some pretty specific procedures to apply this special type of paint. I only used a special sprayer because I was concerned that the paint may permanently bond to the insides of my expensive paint gun and ruin it.

 

[jfrolang]

From what I understand, POR-15 is extremely strong and durable. It will not scratch as easily as paint. It's probably close to the resiliency of a rhino lining.

 

[Ragnaarok]

Sounds like a great product! Thx for the information. I believe my boss used a similar product on a beat up flatbed trailer. It was called "chassis saver".

 

[stick]

In the future (after I've used up my current store of POR15), I'm going to try out another couple of products that a lot of people have been raving about. ZeroRust (rust paint) and Picklex20 (to prevent flash rust on bare metal while it's waiting to get painted).