Paint Experts, I need some advise...

NOLA26

In the middle of refurbishing a 2007 Bad Boy Buggie Classic. Starting to think of paint. The cart is currently camouflage. I have only painted once or twice so I don't have a ton of technical know how. What I want to know is do I need to prime first? If so what primer do I use for fiberglass? Second, is the color. I want it to be black, but with a hint of blue if you look at it in sunlight. From what I see the best way to do this is to spray black with deep blue pearl additive. I also see some spray the black base, and add the blue pearl to the clear coat. Which way is best and what differences will I see with each technique? Thanks ya'll!

BGW

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jamoore

No expert but I see no one has jumped in so I will. Hate to see a post not get any replies. As far as primer, yes you need it and any quality automotive primer will work. I have used different ones and am currently using U-Pol and am happy with the results. As far as the black with blue pearl I can't help much. Have never tried that. I would search for some automotive painting forums and see what they have to say. With todays paints they can do amazing things without having to blend or mix in pearls. If you have an automotive paint shop near you stop in and talk to them you may find something in a single stage or basecoat that will be close to what you want. Do you have the equipment and experience to tackle that? Painting itself is not too hard. Just need a good compressor and decent gun. The bulk is in the prep. Paint does not hide any flaws it actually highlights them. Spend your time getting the body ready especially for the type of paint job you want. Keep us posted on your progress.

slonomo

If the body is flexible the paint needs to be specific for that. Also, special additives are required for the primer to stick to plastic. I had a cart painted at a shop for $500 and they used standard base clear, looked super nice. One pressure wash and the paint came off in strips. Took it back, they repainted it. Same issue. Got my money back luckily. This was a reputable shop. After I researched, adhesion promoter was not used so the paint didn't stick to the plastic . Also, the paint was for metal, not plastic, and the paint did not h ave any flex to it so it would crack.

I have heard black is the toughest color to get right. And adding a pearl makes it more finicky. Just what I heard.

My advice, do your research and do it right. I'm not a painter, so I didn't dare spend $200 on paint and risk screwing it up. I ended up using a rattle can called Krylon Fusion that's made for plastics. It turned out very nice, not show car nice, but it only cost me $60.

jamoore

He indicated his cart was fiberglass. Not as finicky to paint like plastic.

NOLA26

Thanks for all the replies. After watching countless you tube videos on automotive painting, I started the project. After the first coat of primer, it revealed several areas of micro cracks in the fiberglass.



These were not seen before because the body was camouflage. I fixed the micro cracks using a fiberglass type bondo material.



It didn't come out perfect but most of the defects will be covered by fender flares. I wet sanded and primed again. Then I used Rustoleum flat black enamel. I mixed it to a 3-2 ratio with acetone and filtered it into my spray gun. I sprayed two coats of base and wet sanded in between each coat.



Now came the tricky part, clear coat with the pearl. I mixed a little more than an 1/8th of a teaspoon of deep blue sea pearl to 3 parts of clear.



I put down the first coat and it didn't have as much of an effect as I was hoping for. So I put down another coat and it was perfect!



I then put three additional coats of plain clear on. My next step is to lightly wet sand the clear and start the polishing. I may not even wet sand, I might just compound and polish. Just want to bring our a good shine, doesn't have to be a show quality finish. I'll post up a final pic once its all done and put back together.

jamoore

looks to me like you have things well under control. Looking good, let us know how it turns out. Hats off to you for jumping in and tackling a project that is new ground for you.

slonomo

Yeah looks really good. Clear is the shine. Put lots of clear on, finish sand between coats if you get bubbles. I saw a truck the other day that just looked like it was wet. Guy told me he hat 10 coats of clear and sanded and buffed it. Said it took all week lol. But man did it shine!

slonomo

I'm guessing fiberglass, real fiberglass, doesn't move around much? I know some people "say" fiberglass, but they really mean plastic, happens all the time. Some use "fiberglass" as a universal term for body parts that aren't metal lol. I guess if it's not flexible then it doesn't matter.

NOLA26

No this body is actual fiberglass. It's much more robust than the EZ-GO body I have. That is the reason I chose to keep the BBB body vs. the EZ-GO body.