Self-Etching Primer
Mark Simpson
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The key to getting paint to stick to bare metal is all in the metal prep and using the right primers. Self-etching primer contains a mild acid that actually etches the bare metal to create a superior bond between the primer and the metal. Once the area is coated in self-etching primer, more traditional primers can be used to build out the surface.
When working with a car and you gotta make spot repairs, there's just a couple of things you really wanna think about before you just kind of throw on some primer and be ready for the next thing. After you have the surface prepped and metal finished out. Usually I like to finish metal out with 180 grit sandpaper. Take some grease and wax remover. Whenever you use this stuff you should use two rags.
One is what you're going to wipe on the metal to clean any oils or hand prints or any kind of contaminants. Sometimes you can have waxes and other things that have contaminated the panel from the surrounding areas. So do a good job scrubbing it down with a paper towel. And then follow that up with a dry paper towel. The wet one kind of softens it up.
It makes it so you can get to it. And then the dry one actually removes the contaminants. And also gets the surface cleaned and ready for primer. Once you have the surface cleaned we'll give that just a couple moments to dry. We're gonna use a self etch primer.
You don't wanna use just a standard primer because a lot of those will just sit on the surface. Self etch contains an acid. It's just a very mild acid that will actually etch in to the steel and create an even stronger bond. Because usually if a paint job or any kind of retouch work is gonna fail it's that initial bond between the steel and the primer. Self etch primer is a good choice.
You can also use epoxy primer. As I've had very good results with those. Wanna make sure your can is really thoroughly mixed. And I shook this a little bit earlier. And you wanna apply light thin coats.
The idea here is this is not your final primer. This is not your high build primer that you're gonna do all your primer work. This is just a layer to create a bond between the primer and the metal. And then when you put on your other primers and surfaces you have a surface that's well bonded to the metal to attach to. And using a fan spray.
Simply go over the whole surface. I like to do two coats. And notice you can still see the clouds you can still see the metal through this. Because we didn't put it on so thick that it's going to cover all. What we mainly wanna do is get down just a layer to bond to.
Okay, we can tell just by the sheen that we were ready for our second coat. Again, we're gonna apply it about the same as we did the first coat. And it's just quick even fan pattern. Across the surface. And when that's dry we'll be ready to do whatever other body work we have to in the area.
And we'll have a good surface for our paint and primer to adhere to.
Hi Mark. I look forward to your videos every week and always seem to learn something new. My question: If I apply a zinc phosphate coating on my bare metal (such as After Blast by Eastwood), can I still use a self-etching primer over top of it? Thanks.
what grade sandpaper is needed to sand paint that's already on the car for repainting once the sanding has been done do the car have to be primed before painting
Hi What’s the next step after selfech priming ? Can we go ahead and start adding are first coat or will we need som other type of regular primer ?
Is it better to apply body filler before or after self etching primer? Will self etching primer work correctly over body filler?
Mark, I've got some bare metal panels that I've been working on but won't actually get to base coat painting for quite some time (probably months or up to a year). Is the self etching primer something I can spray on to protect it from rust and leave it until I'm finally ready down the road to apply the high build primer?