Painting fibreglass canopy

[Richard]

Hi guys and girls,

I recently purchased a (Flexiglass) fibreglass canopy for my old dual cab hilux but it was slightly too long. Rather than give up on the purchase, I took out the front wall of the canopy, trimmed off the extra length and am now ready to fit it back in (easy job).

In the process of doing this I've had to take most of the canopy apart so I thought I'd go the whole hog and strip the whole thing down to just the fibreglass so I could repaint it (white) as the glass has yellowed a bit with sun exposure. Now that it's stripped, I'm going to give it a good scrub with a scourer to rough up the existing surface and remove any silicon or sealants that might get in the way.

So can anyone recommend which type of paint I should use and which method (spray, roller, brush) i should go with? The canopy already has a stipled type of finish on it so a perfectly smooth finish probably isn't required because it won't be noticed anyway. That's why I'm thinking either a roller or brush might suffice.


Richard

[GBC]

I had a 2nd hand white one colour coded to a ute a while ago.

The hard work is done (stripping out the glazing etc).

I got it to the stage where yours is now, then paid $200 cash to the local panel shop and they sprayed it in matching duco (champagne).

Came up a treat.

[Lucky_Phill]

The best paint, no matter which application, is a 2 pac.

GBC is on the money.


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[Richard]

Dropped into a wholesale paint place today and they recommended a marine enamel over 2 pac, mainly because it is much more flexible than 2 pac. Flexibility would be an issue with a canopy as it would flex and bend in the wind driving along.

Cna be easily applied with a brush too for an almost perfect finish. There's the option of going gloss or satin but i think the satin would suit a canopy better

[rhycebullimore]

mate that should just buff right out of the gel coat, will come up brand new, if gel coat is still on there why go away from it, will not crack like 2 pacs or epoxies etc

[Richard]

Don't think it has a gelcoat Rhyce, looks like it came straight out of the mould..

it doesn't have a shiny finish at all at the moment, I'm guessing that's normal for canopies for cars?

Have tried a No. 2 cut and polish on it and didn't do any good.. must go into the pigment of the glass

[oldboot]

I'm not all that sure that those stipply canopies are fibreglass........you've cut one up so you will know if there are any fibres in there and did it smell like poly resin when you cut it.

I thaught they were some sort of plastic moulding

anyway.....those things are far too lumpy to buff.

The realy good scrub with a scourer is certaily a good idea.
(you can get better bigger scourers from auto refinish shops)

I'd test a bit you cut off with thinners to see what goes on.
If it does nothing you can have at it with thinners..to clean it up.
if it goes just a little tacky (only a little).....you can have at it with some care and a very light touch.....AND know if you spray it with a thinners bassed product (carefully) it will etch bond nice.
If it goes all nasty you will need to be carefull what you paint with.

I've seen a few of these where the preparation Obvioulsy hasn't beeb up to scratch and the look very uggly very quickly.

I'm very fond of wattyl super etch primer/ undercoat.....it sticks to most things comes black and gray....you can get it white but they call it something different.

That with QD enamel sprayed over should do well.

You can get that colour mattched at any auto refinish.......both cheap as chips.

But don't shortcut the prep......and spary iff you can.

cheers

[Richard]

Thanks for the info oldboot..

This one is fibreglass, fibres were there when i cut it and pretty obvious matting on the inside where it doesn't have the same finish as the outside.

Reckon I'll need an undercoat as well ? Good idea about using the cutoff to test it all, will try it tonight and give it a bit of a test wipe with thinners to see what i can prep it with..

unfortunately spraying it pretty much out of the question as i don't have the tools at the moment or an area where i'm prepared to get overspray tipping after brush strokes should get it a good enough finish on top of that stippled finish. They had a test card there of what sort of finish you can get with this paint and it's pretty impressive, wouldnt even know it's a brush job.

[oldboot]

The best solution for overspray......if you don't have a "proper area"......is let the lawn grow for a while.....do your spraying.....then mow the lawn.

I recon you want to go thinners bassed.......think about a roller and some retarder or slow thinner.....be prepared to toss the roller sleves.

cool of the day slows things down too

I often hand brush super etch......you just have to be fast and have good technique.

I'd go the roller.....you'll need to get the right pile to get into that texture and still get an even coat.

cheers