Guide Coat Help
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Hello, I like to do good bodywork so I would like to know more about using a guide coat. Do people just use black paint and sand to find the low and high spots or is their actually a guide coat you buy specifically for this? Thanks as always! Jack :rock
i use guide coat from SEM. it dries quicker and doesnt clog the paper, but you can just just like a $3 spray can and mist it on.
If you are guide coating your body filler you can spray whatever colour you want over it and block it down. There is a liquid guide coat you can buy for body filler that you just wipe on, and once it dries after a few minutes block. Anything can be used (paints, primers etc) just make sure it dries fast and you remove it completely before priming (don’t want to cover any bare metal areas with it).
If you are guide coating primer you can spray whatever over the primer. You should wait until the primer is either dry or at least out of dust. 3M makes a dry powder version that can be wiped on, then sanded wet or dry. I have used aerosol, other primers, old basecoat etc before. The colour doesn’t matter just as long as it contrasts the primer.
I don’t use guide coat too often, but if I am doing a large job where there is a lot of blocking I will. Generally once you get good feeling with your hand you will find that guide coating is needed near as much.
When doing your primer you can guide coat between each grit, this will also help to ensure you removed the coarser sand scratches.
You can use the 3m powdered guidecoat or you can use rattlecan, the powdered guidecoat sands better, dont load your paper like some of the rattlecan ones will. Or for larger areas you can spray different color primers, for instance the entire panel gets convered with black epoxy then do your bodywork, when you are happy with your bodywork give it a couple of coats of 2k primer in a contrasting color then block the panel, if you start seeing your black primer underneath you will know that area is high
Another trick I learned from an old timer was to take a cloth and place it under your hand to feel for highs and lows, alot of times when you think that your panel is good you will do this and any problems will jump right out at you.
Chuck
Hi jack the guide coat comes in two kinds. There a spray kind and a power kind. I love the power kind. The way that it works is afer bodyfiller dries put the guide coat on the whole area. When you sand you will see the low areas because the guide coat will be left on but if the area is high then the will be sanded off.
thats a good idea idunnit
Good info everyone.If you can still get it old lacquer primer works great.put about an inch of primer in the old syphon feed gun pot, fill it with gunwash, mix it up and hang it on the bench,mine is always ready to go.I don’t care how good you are you should use it,not just for blocking but for finding pinholes and other imperfections.I have used it for 25 years,doesn’t matter if it is a 4 inch primer spot or a whole car.Its also nice if you change grits you must use it to get all the sanding scratches out.I have to fix stuff everyday before I paint it from bodymen that don’t use it and it looks like they sanded with a garden rake 😡
[quote=”Jayson M” post=23016]Good info everyone.If you can still get it old lacquer primer works great.put about an inch of primer in the old syphon feed gun pot, fill it with gunwash, mix it up and hang it on the bench,mine is always ready to go.I don’t care how good you are you should use it,not just for blocking but for finding pinholes and other imperfections.I have used it for 25 years,doesn’t matter if it is a 4 inch primer spot or a whole car.Its also nice if you change grits you must use it to get all the sanding scratches out.I have to fix stuff everyday before I paint it from bodymen that don’t use it and it looks like they sanded with a garden rake :x[/quote]
I keep forgetting what its like to prime someone else’s work. There’s a lot more confidence when you do it yourself…lol :whistle:
what wrong with a garden rake :whistle:
I don’t prime,thats what it looks like sometimes when it comes in the booth and they are “ready for paint” :sick: :rofl All I do now is mask and paint 😉
apply your filler straight, sand it straight and there will be no need to guide coat.
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