I dont make many posts on here, cus they are always long
Dont cut corners with your paint job! Its almost as important as the rivets! The paint job is the first thing people see, and the last thing they remember!
Stripping an RV is a pain in the butt (ive stripped several of them now because folks cut corners on the first paint jobs)
All major manufactures of paint also make a less expensive line.. PPG has ShopLine (used to be Omni) Akzo has Lessonal, and so on...
Remember the amount of square footage you are painting on your RV is about the same as 3 cars! Anything can happen during the paint, with good materials you can eliminate alot of guess work.
My 2 cents, stay far away from off brand anything.. Nason, Matrix, Wanda, Martin Senour, Valspar, Western, American Finishes (except for thier high build primer) Vandex, Rustoleum, Duplicolor, Krylon, and many many others! They are cheap for a reason!!! thier binders are sub-par, pigments arent color fast, UV protection is poor, and generally dont cover well.. There are acceptions to each of these but for the most part, if the paint is cheap per quart, it will take more material to cover.
Dont believe the auto part stores that say "oh our junk you never heard of is the same thing as 'blank' and its cheaper"
the cheap stuff is fine if you are trying to fix a little spot on a car you are selling or something.
My other 2 cents.. DO NOT cross brands.. if you start with PPG primer, finish it with compatible PPG Clear and all the way through.. this goes for reducers, cleaners, hardeners, blenders, flatteners and anything else that will be chemically dependant on the coat under it.
With ONE exception....
Etch and Alodine is the way to go! but not everyone makes a Zinc Chromate primer.. In this case i highly recommend using Akzo Nobel #S9001 for the zinc chromate and the Aduct is #S3001.. (see
http://www.anac.com) This works fantastic with just about any urethane top coats.. I have painted a bunch of aircraft with this primer, and you name it on the top coats.. excellent stuff.
Additionally.. etching primers are ok.. but etch and alodine is how aircraft have been painted since they began making them out of aluminum.. and is still the best. Epoxy primers are ok too.. but tough to sand smooth, and are brittle and tend to crack easily.
Sherwin williams makes a good product, but is over priced for the quality of the product (i compare it to house brand stuff most the time)
SW clear is to thin, and has a yellow tint.
see, long comments..
and here is a youtube video of an RV7 i painted
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGfVk2q2AbM
I painted this RV7 four years ago with PPG and Akzo zinc primer, Its holding up fantatic, and flies off a grass strip pretty often!
Maybe this can help ya a little