I epoxy'd my lowers several weeks back and the results were less than desirable due to poor prep work. So I spent 3 hours sanding the epoxy off, 220 grit, 400 grit, 800 grit, back to 400 grit, wiped it down with denatured alcohol, and poured denatured alcohol over it so there was nothing left on the lowers. I sanded the SH*T out of the lowers and then sprayed. IT LOOKS F'IN TERRIBLE!!! Fish eyes EVERYWHERE! Orange peel... WTF! Sorry everyone I'm just really pissed right now and needed to vent.

 

You need a good quality grease and fingerprint remover from an auto body supplier. You may also have moisture in the line from the compressor, if you used one.

 

man it is your process... pouring that all over will not do it, then sanding gets more contamidants in your surface. your last thing should be a wipe down... how cold is it where you are shooting? how thick are you putting on your coats. wait for it to cure now for a week. go out and sand with 400 just get a good surface on there and remove all the fish eyes, wipe it down with prep or denatured alchole... then light coats, be sure you do not coat after that 30 min marker!

 

After I finished sanding I made sure not to touch the metal. I used a rattle can, not a spray gun.

 

I never have any luck painting either so I feel your pain.

 

yeah aluminum probably trapped in moisture from the alcohol and did not dry completely. Also after sand, little bit of alcohol then go over it with tach cloth, then shoot. And your temperature will have a lot to do with it as your moisture in the air... One thing don't feel bad, I just set up the garage with an air compressor spray gun and all the trimmings, I finished up my prep work on the tins, final coat of self etching on a couple bare spots, after it dryed for an hour I opened the garage to vent it out better... fuggin wind gust blows the rear fender over onto the floor and damages my beautiful smooth surface. Luckily it was just the primer/ sanded layer. It was my fault, when I opened the garage car door, I forgot to shut the window on the garage side door, wind sucked right in the garage...LOL...

 

I didn't sand after I rubbed it down. It's 55 here and my coats are pretty light and I remembered you saying in my last thread that my coats looked uneven so I took extra care this time to make them as even as I could. I started out with 800 grit and I was going to paint over the existing epoxy but figured what the hell, I'll just start all over and do it right and take my time this time. FML. Well come next week I'll try it again. Hopefully with better results. If it doesn't work again I might just send them to you Joe, for a powder coat.

 

ahh man i wish you where closer bud i would come by and help you out!

 

With a name like "Failz" you'd figure it would be par for the course. Sorry holmes, keep at it.

 

55 is too cold. the thick epoxy paint will come out like sludge. You get it out but it will be too thick and have trouble spraying and cause fish eyes and uneven coating. Not to mention the bare metal temp. If you can't warm up the room, warm up the lowers and the cans at least. The lowers are probably 10 deg colder than the air temp as the bare metal gets damn cold. And the cans get cold too. run a blow dryer or heat gun on the lowers for a while as the paint cans are soaking in some nice warm water for 5 minutes or so. I think you have a temperature problem, IMHO... Epoxy is remarkably easy to paint on smooth if it is warm enough. Oh yeah, what epoxy are you using cause the brand matters and the age of the paint matters too.
Thought of something else, it may be easier to just bring the tubes inside your house overnight where it is warmer, this way when your ready to paint you can move them back to your paint area, shoot with the warm epoxy, then bring back inside to cure. I had to do this with my shocks when I epoxied them as the weather was in the 50's or so when I painted them. Also bring the paint inside to warm up as well. Just use something to suspend them and hang em up somewhere safe to cure.