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Painting plastic bar cover

losh1971

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Hi, found out today that the old plastic primer filler is really hard to get. What the paint supplies are saying is I now need adhesion promoter, then I need to use something like hi-build. Is this really the case? Last time I painted my bumperettes I was able to use grey plastic primer/filler and put 2k straight over the top. It seems there is no way around this or am I wrong?
 

Vin999

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An adhesion promoter is just another fancy name for a plastic sealer/primer with a flex agent included for plastic ... An adhesion promoter is also used when changing to 2pac paint products over old acrylic paint products before primers to seal them back from causing issues.

A cheats $ way/short cut can also be to spray an etch primer instead of AP on plastic then scotchbrite sanded after dry and then the sand able epoxy primer coat and then base colour/clear but chances are that won’t last and issues can occur with paint lift and cracking with hard bumps to bar.

AP should be clear in colour sometimes a bit milky/yellow and yes you need that on first if the bar has been stripped/sanded right back to raw plastic... If bar was just sanded down to the old undercoat then you don’t need to use the adhesion promoter/plastic primer, you can just go straight to spraying epoxy/highfill primer over your putty fixes if it’s the same type of paint eg acrylic to acrylic or 2pac to 2pac.

On top of promoter/plastic primer you can use 2pk epoxy primer and/or a high fill primer depending on how good your surface is and/or if you want to block sand back bar before laying/spraying base colour and finally clear coats... Its just a $ choice and time what you want to do in method and how good your bar surface is for base colour coat. The epoxy coat only needs a scotchbrite rub over for base colour.
 

losh1971

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Does anyone know about this primer. I tried to get the similar gear in KH, which I have used before and can have 2k applied straight over the top I just can't find a place that sells KH anymore. I can't find any info about putting 2k over the top. Or if it needs a white base and then clear. I'd rather just prime and paint. I know there are grey plastic primers out there that can have 2k applied over the top just the local paint supplies no longer sells it.

primer.jpg
 

Vin999

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@losh1971 Maybe read the back of can for info you're not sure of.
The title on can is misleading ... its a epoxy primer with a flex additive and sold for bumpers but can be used on any painted plastic bits, not raw plastic, its just a sales technique .... The flex additive is the same component in the clear Plastic Sealer/Primer aka Adhesion Promoter.

If you sand old painted bars back smooth to the old original primer for a respray, then there is no need to use the Plastic sealer/adhesion promoter, just spray over epoxy primer and paint.

Just use any Plastic Sealer with the flex agent in it (wrongly called plastic primer) since bar was stripped back to raw plastic and needs a Sealer and then apply any plain epoxy primer followed by the rest of the base colour/clear, just as you want to do.
 

losh1971

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Vin, I was hoping I could just apply this plastic primer which has flex aid added and then paint over the top with 2k white. KH used to make a plastic primer that this could be done as it was compatible with both 1k and 2k paints. This can doesn't say and online searches are not helping, as there seems to be no information on the net about it. Unfortunately KH burnt down and no longer exists or I would have bought their product. I have no idea if this gear can have 2k primer painted over the top anyway. It's sold buy a Rare Spares in Launceston and they sell heaps of paint but knew little about this gear it would seem.
I went in to buy the KH gear that I have used before and walked out with the Bodyworx stuff.
 

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Vin, I was hoping I could just apply this plastic primer which has flex aid added and then paint over the top with 2k white. KH used to make a plastic primer that this could be done as it was compatible with both 1k and 2k paints. This can doesn't say and online searches are not helping, as there seems to be no information on the net about it. Unfortunately KH burnt down and no longer exists or I would have bought their product. I have no idea if this gear can have 2k primer painted over the top anyway. It's sold buy a Rare Spares in Launceston and they sell heaps of paint but knew little about this gear it would seem.
I went in to buy the KH gear that I have used before and walked out with the Bodyworx stuff.
BodyworX Bumper Coater (VN Commodore): 1 L
Flexible factory pack bumper bar paint which has been designed specifically for use on bumper bars. Suitable Substrates: sound existing finishes, new bumper bars primed with plastic primer. Up to 10% reduction may be required using a multi-purpose thinner.
BodyworX Bumper Plastic Primer (EA Light Grey) 1 Litre
Plastic Primer is a ready for use primer. It is easy to apply and is specifically designed to adhere to all plastic auto parts. Suitable substrates: ABS, PP/EPDM, PP, SAN, PC, PA, PUR-RIM, R-TPU, PPO, PBT, PUR, SOFT FOAM, UP-GF. Not suitable for vinyl upholstery Colour: Grey Size: 1 Litre
BodyworX Flex Aid 500ml
 BodyworX Flex Aid 500ml ,An additive for use with Acrylic Paint to improve flexibility, making it more suitable for flexible surfaces, such as bumper bars.
 Mix 20ml of Flex Aid to 1 Litre of Acrylic Paint

@Losh online info. So, going from that, suitable to go straight over plastics using their other product BodyworX Bumper Coater (VN Commodore) over the top after. Holdens used an Acrylic Urethane Enamel system called Dulux Rapide from 1982 to 1994 built bodies .... 1995 built on was 2K. Spray 1 light dust coat first and see if any reactions/issues with plastic when dry, if ok spray 2 more full coats for smooth surface coverage followed by base colour/clear, OR spray a 2k primer over the top of that bodyworx primer for a 2b 2b 2b sure 2K result.

I would just get a spray can of the clear plastic sealer/primer/adhesion promoter, to key in the raw plastic bar, then scuffed up followed by coats of any sandable 2K primer for coverage/flat surface then base colour/clear.

Many ways/brand products/costs/choice to skin a cat, time and doing multiple times/jobs would show you what works without issues and good for you in your situation and what quality/result job you require, versus time to redo. Some painters even just spray the clear promoter thick then straight to colour/clear on different plastics, simple shortcuts for a quick cheap job. They even use 2K primer thinned with 10/25% reducer if they have no Epoxy primer to seal any raw parts to leave for a long time before working on them but is much $$ dearer than epoxy. Epoxy can also be tinted to match paint colour to go straight to colour/clear to use less expensive paint but not for a long lasting top quality result.
 

losh1971

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In case anyone cares and wanted to know the answer to the question. I have called the place that makes the paint and the bloke reckons I should use a clear adhesion promotor. The Bumper Primer can then be applied as a hi-build would, jus without harder. You can then use any paint you like as the top coats. I think the cheapest and easiest way will be to get a pressure pack of adhesion promotor as suggested by the paint supplies. Then I can gun on the primer and decide if I will tackle the 2k or fork out for someone else to blow it on, which will guarantee good results. I will be supplying the paint as I want to match the Valspar Alaskan White I have bought from them before. I have found the Valspar to be a very close match to the paint I have on the ute now, but it does need to be mixed in 1L tins as the 500ml ones seem to stand out more against the paint I have now.
 

losh1971

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BodyworX Bumper Coater (VN Commodore): 1 L
Flexible factory pack bumper bar paint which has been designed specifically for use on bumper bars. Suitable Substrates: sound existing finishes, new bumper bars primed with plastic primer. Up to 10% reduction may be required using a multi-purpose thinner.
BodyworX Bumper Plastic Primer (EA Light Grey) 1 Litre
Plastic Primer is a ready for use primer. It is easy to apply and is specifically designed to adhere to all plastic auto parts. Suitable substrates: ABS, PP/EPDM, PP, SAN, PC, PA, PUR-RIM, R-TPU, PPO, PBT, PUR, SOFT FOAM, UP-GF. Not suitable for vinyl upholstery Colour: Grey Size: 1 Litre
Yes I seen this, and it in no way answers the question I originally asked. This is the same info that is on the back of the can.
 

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Yes I seen this, and it in no way answers the question I originally asked. This is the same info that is on the back of the can.
Your first question mentioned plastic primer filler which I have never heard of but it could be the acrylic spray putty/filler which isn’t a primer as this filler needs an 1K etch primer over the top for acrylic base colour ... Plus you had your rear bumpers sprayed by a painter in 2K so it’s confusing how you done them if the painter did them ?? unless you meant/put 1K Etch primer yourself at home and then the painter in booth would have done the 2K of Epoxy primer/base/clear over the top.
Like I posted before, you stripped your bar back to raw plastic so you need a clear plastic sealer/adhesion promoter (wrongly called a plastic primer because it’s not a paint), then followed by a Etch primer for acrylic or Epoxy Primer for 2K colour/clear. If you had sanded down smooth to the old primer on bar you could’ve skipped steps and gone straight to the sandable 2K Epoxy Primer/highbuild and saved yourself a lot of time/work.

The Bodyworx Bumper Plastic Primer you have says it goes on different raw plastic as their info states, followed by using their other product Bodyworx Bumper Coater (Vn Commodore), so it seems they are saying the 1st can you have is a adhesion/promoter/sealer with grey tint added and the 2nd can is a 1K Etch grey primer for acrylics as the VN to VR cars still used an acrylic paint system, unlike the VS 2K system.

So your choice what to use, either the bodyworx 2 can system or like I said before get a can of clear plastic primer then 1K Etch/Epoxy coats followed by acrylic colour base/clear OR if you use 2K epoxy primer over the 1K etch primer and promoter then you can spray either acrylic or 2K colour over the top. This is what you’re saying to do in your last post anywaysssss.
Little tip if you decide to use 2K Epoxy highbuild add 10% urethane medium reducer, not thinners, helps coverage to reduce orange peel from paint/clear coats for a better end result with minimal buffing for shine ... 25C temp let epoxy dry enough 1 hour in your shed, if colder temps you need to wait longer before spraying any colour for better results.
 
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