Squeegeeing primer?? Maybe

[MARTINSR]

I gave an interesting product a try a few days ago, "Squeegee prime" by Sherwin Williams. It's also available a NAPA stores under the Martin Senour label.

Well.....it isn't all it's cracked up to be, but it has promise. First off, to get this stuff to spread out will take some practice. It comes with a super nice fine edged soft squeegee, I need to try it on polyester putty but keep forgeting. The down side is the mixing tube needs to be replaced every time like a 2K adhesive or something like that. For the home hobbiest, that will be an added cost. But by the time I had spread it out three times on feathered out scratches on the car I was getting better at it. It is DEFINETLY not for big projects, but what the heck, maybe? It IS an iso free filling primer like a PPG NCP or the S-W which we spray every day at work and it does a great job. So you are applying a good primer even though it is pretty rough. but that should get better with practice.

It sanded out just as a sprayed primer would and it was paintable after sanding.

Is it going to replace spraying primer, not on your life in this version. But someday, it may, that is what big brother wants us to do in the industry.

Have any of you guys given this a try?

(click here) for gun



(click here) for primer

[Robert]

I don't doubt that some day there will be a no pressure high volume paint application system for solid color and clears. A round "roller" device that can be dipped in paint then "rolled" over the surface and then smoothed out with a "brush" sort of thing.

All the best,
Robert

[Jon E]

What does it all cost?

[Len]

I would think that it would have a narrow set of applications where it would be of value.

[isprayum]

I have used the SW squeegee prime. junk. the rep comes in, pushing it, and the shop owner tells me i need to use it. what a waste of my time. i didnt use the gun type, i stired it in a cup with super accelerator, and poured it onto CleanSheets and used it with a rubber spreader.

i feel its the same as the roller, it creates more blocking effort than its worth. fine for someone with no compressor, but for those of us who CAN spray primer, why bother?

heres how i got that crap out of the shop for good:

TechRep comes back, wondering why we're not using it. "But its ISO-free" yea yea. :rolleyes: So i had this 2004 Sienna minivan with a heavy key mark dug all the way across the slider door. A perfect van, brand new at the time, with this huge, flat door. Rep says he can repair it with the squeegeePrime. we say yeah right. For amatures that dont know, deliberate key scratch repairs have to be handled correctly on a flat panel like this. if you just dig at it with a da and prime it, you can get a "grand canyon" effect. i personally pride myself on my ability to fix these the right way and leave a perfectly flat panel in the end.

anyways, this dude squeegeed and blocked this panel over and over for 4 hours or more before we just sprayed it with high build. he went home and i fixed his mess.

It does have its place, just not in my toolbox

[MARTINSR]

I would think that it would have a narrow set of applications where it would be of value.

That is very correct Len, just scratches is all I see it is good for. But it would have to be feathered out anyway prior to application. I'll give it another try.

Isprayum, I hear you, but I will be giving it another try before I toss the idea.

Brian

[dfox1234]

I roll primer all the time, I sprayed primer the other day for the first time in 3 years, a re-paint on a Hyundai bumper cover.
If it involves not spraying primer, I am for it!
Dean

[Len]

I roll primer all the time, I sprayed primer the other day for the first time in 3 years, a re-paint on a Hyundai bumper cover.
If it involves not spraying primer, I am for it!
Dean

Yes, spraying involves a lot more prep and clean up than rolling. Try lining your roller tray with alum. foil and the clean up is real quick.

[Dennis N. Schmidt]

If I'm using a squeege to apply this stuff why not use a polyester spot putty (I like U-Pol dolphin) to fill the scratches. Zero shrinkage. Am I missing something here?

[MARTINSR]

I thought the same thing, but this IS primer, the exact primer that we spray. So you can sand it and paint right over it.

Brian

[68-chevyman]

I roll primer all the time, I sprayed primer the other day for the first time in 3 years, a re-paint on a Hyundai bumper cover.
If it involves not spraying primer, I am for it!
Dean

(roll-on) (wipe-on) (spray-on):cool: (spray can-UV light):cool:

[JimmyPtr]

The advantage that I see is using it in a high production shop line, where deep scratches are noticed & you don't want to pull the car out of line to mask & put in a prep area. It's not a final solution, just a great 1st step. Still needs to be primed or sealed, but not necessary to shoot in a booth. Also, I've been playing w/ S-W p-30 primer to roll on. The trick is to use a closed cell roller & only dip about half the roller in the primer. Then use the dry roller part to knock down the "snowplow" edge. Works well & avoids overspray & masking.

[68-chevyman]

I can see the point in some shops just not for me or most of the posters here. Not that its not interesting to talk about for everyone. It is interesting but I would'nt recomend runing out and geting wipe-on primer. JMO

[MARTINSR]

Jimmy, it isn't a "1st step" at all, it can be applied and sanded and painted over just as if it was sprayed, it is the same primer. I blocked it out with 180, then 320 and it was paintable. But only on a couple of the number of places I tried it. It is very limited and I haven't had another job in my stall that I could try it on. I will, I want to give it a good go.

I will say that the cool squeegee that came with it was AWSOME for spreading polyester putty. Now THAT ended up smooth as a babys butt. Real nice, I am looking for a place to get them and I'll post it when I do.

I have tried the roll on too, I didn't think about your tip on wetting half the roller, very good.

I tried it with GII polyester primer thinking that the high solids polyester primer would be ideal for rolling, it wasn't. I just couldn't get a decent film build that was smooth enough to sand and paint. I did use the closed foam rollers made for rolling primer but it just didn't work worth a darn.

Brian

[JimmyPtr]

Brian- Sorry for my wording. I meant that it was a great 1st step after the body techs & in-line to the paint shop (No gray area there!). I meant that imperfections that the body side missed, could be corrected by the time it hit the seal/prime area & not have to be sent back to the bodyman. Sound OK? Thanks. Jimmy