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Paint my K5 Top

TJ1978

TJ1978

I have MANY questions
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I'm wanting to paint the top of my blazer black. It was white when I bought it but was horrible looking. I wanted it black, had some extra Herculiner left and put that on.

Well, the AZ sun has pretty much removed it for me and the white is peaking through all over.

I want to paint the top black again, but I doubt rattle can will last, brush or roll on would be easier and less messy. Would a semi-gloss work or full gloss outdoor brush or roll-on paint be best?

www.homedepot.com

BEHR PREMIUM PLUS 1 gal. Black Semi-Gloss Enamel Exterior Paint & Primer 534001 - The Home Depot

Flourish your walls with impressive tone and texture by choosing this BEHR PREMIUM PLUS #Black SemiGloss Enamel Exterior Paint and Primer in One.
www.homedepot.com

www.homedepot.com

BEHR PREMIUM PLUS 1 gal. Pure Black Hi-Gloss Enamel Exterior/Interior Paint 862001 - The Home Depot

Provide ultimate durability and exceptional hide with this BEHR Premium Plus Pure Black Hi-Gloss Enamel Exterior or Interior Paint.
www.homedepot.com
 
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Got a tractor supply around? The tractor paint is pretty tough and they sell a hardener that helps with UV protection.
 
Obviously bedliner and house paint won't adhere to weathered peeling fiberglass finish, especially if you don't store it indoors. Best case will be a primer intended for fiberglass, *after* you've removed all old peeling stuff (i.e air sander) and maybe done a filler coat and sanded out. Then a real car paint, something catalyzed. Easiest thing for me right now is to page @ryoken for advice, but he may recommend something that takes 2,000 hours, costs $3,000 and lasts for 4,000 years, so there may also be some middle ground. What are you trying to achieve, long term? Textured finish, smooth, glossy, flat?
 
Blue85 said:
Obviously bedliner and house paint won't adhere to weathered peeling fiberglass finish, especially if you don't store it indoors. Best case will be a primer intended for fiberglass, *after* you've removed all old peeling stuff (i.e air sander) and maybe done a filler coat and sanded out. Then a real car paint, something catalyzed. Easiest thing for me right now is to page @ryoken for advice, but he may recommend something that takes 2,000 hours, costs $3,000 and lasts for 4,000 years, so there may also be some middle ground. What are you trying to achieve, long term? Textured finish, smooth, glossy, flat?
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I want it to not look like cow skin. I'm just going to use a roller and paint it semi gloss black. And just touch it up once a year or as needed. I'm not sanding and doing all that to the fiberglass. Maybe one day but not for the foreseeable future.
 
as Blue85 mentioned, are we trying to retain a factory pebble grain? or it's not savable, or wanted? big dif in how you go about this.. main thing is the herc needs to be off.. sh*t is sooooo 2003. ;)

if you want to go smooth, these processes will be different, and generally easier...

scratches are your friend.. once the herc is off, and we can discuss methods of that too... you need to scuff the pee out of the factory peeble grain gel... if it is actually porous, a primer would be good...

topcoat, i know we're on the budget end here, but you definitely want something catalyzed whether a cheap qrt of uro or rusto and hardener added.. UV protection in that kind of environment is critical....


edit - ok, that was unneeded ;)
 
Line X has a nice light texture in Black.

60 Grit the top &:have it sprayed.
 
The Herculiner was an after thought when doing the inside, and a regrettable one at that. I may just paint over the whole thing for now and do what you recommend when I have more time and $$
 
OK, if you're going to hack it, just do what you want and don't pretend you're asking for advice. If you feel like doing a good job later, hit us up and get some good suggestions.
 
Blue85 said:
OK, if you're going to hack it, just do what you want and don't pretend you're asking for advice. If you feel like doing a good job later, hit us up and get some good suggestions.
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Nice, thanks for the advice.
 
ryoken said:
as Blue85 mentioned, are we trying to retain a factory pebble grain? or it's not savable, or wanted? big dif in how you go about this.. main thing is the herc needs to be off.. sh*t is sooooo 2003. ;)

if you want to go smooth, these processes will be different, and generally easier...

scratches are your friend.. once the herc is off, and we can discuss methods of that too... you need to scuff the pee out of the factory peeble grain gel... if it is actually porous, a primer would be good...

topcoat, i know we're on the budget end here, but you definitely want something catalyzed whether a cheap qrt of uro or rusto and hardener added.. UV protection in that kind of environment is critical....


edit - ok, that was unneeded ;)
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Appreciate the comment. I will look into this before proceeding
 
I think you’ll find that rustoleum doesn’t fade nearly as fast as herculined. That crap fades almost instantly. 3 of my trucks are painted with rusteolum and a roller and none are very faded after 3 years. Since the top is pretty much all flat surfaces it’s nothing to roll a coat on once a year (fellow cheap bastard here)
 
I rattle canned mine black and it looked great for 10yrs when I sold it. Think it was rustoleum, dont think it was anything special
 
What'd you ever end up choosing for paint?
My top is getting faded and brittle on top, but the sides are still somewhat decent.
 
regal403 said:
What'd you ever end up choosing for paint?
My top is getting faded and brittle on top, but the sides are still somewhat decent.
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I'll snap a pic, so far so good. We'll see what happens after this summer. One can was about 2-3 coats using a roller.

4E811D74-66FE-4D30-8F95-317DFCBD1617.jpeg

3B818CB5-EBBB-4460-A1DC-BF740A3E97A9.jpeg
 
scouthead said:
that's latex fortified acrylic household paint from the home depot???

really????
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It's indoor outdoor and I read latex acrylic works with fiberglass. But...

But...I bought a couple different ones now that I think about it. I ended up not using this and used, I think the farmers one. Tractor paint posted above..
Sorry for the misinformation with the pic...
 
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i would think the latex would be an accelerated repeat of the liner - shrink/crack/fade...

curious to know how it holds up if you end up using it on something - I imagine it would not take well to scrubbing/waxing (not that I do that to the blue auto paint on mine anymore though! :whistle:), and man unless you were taking it down to get blasted, it would be a major SPAININTHEASS to clean it up or get it off again?

I should have mentioned that me used 3 inch rollers and "one shot" sign enamel on one of our boom trucks when I worked at a sign shop years ago. good stuff. One shot paints are pigment heavy, and are considered "high hide". they have hardener and uv additive available, but we did not use it- just rolled it on out of the can... sides of the bed were made out of a light duty I-beam. We painted the beam material black all the way around the bed, and later put white vinyl lettering in there - still looked great 7-8 years later, but this was in LB CA, and none of the surfaces were horizontal and in the sun 24/7 like the top of you roof will be.

my vote for a DIYS would probably rolling rust oleum black enamel and maybe playing with some of the UV and hardener additives before diving in to the big job.
 
Yeah, I know it's not the proper way, Bla Bla Bla. but I'm on limited funds and mostly time and it was looking horrible. The Herculiner was just beat to shizz from 2 AZ summers in the driveway. So the easiest and quickest way for some lipstick on a pig was this route. A couple posts giving me flack led me to not update this thread and thus forgetting about it. And although they probably were correct in their advised process, I just wasn't persuaded or inclined to go that route. I honestly forgot about this thread until today when a post was made.

My end goal is a soft topper. I also have a source for "new" hard tops if I'm so inclined. But this is fine for now. And if cracks I'll just paint it again...
 
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