Repainting my 4pt Cage
 

Posted this in the "what did you do to your Z today?" thread as well but its on topic only so ill put this here.

So i finally decided that i needed to repaint my roll cage. I pulled off the trunk pieces to look at the welds and inspect the area and found some rust at the welds which had me concerned. Really i was lazy when it went in and decided to be cheap so i just used the good o'l rattle can.

Anyways, after a trip to OBI (German Home Depot) with my German friend to translate what was what, i found a good metal primer and a solid gloss white that's intended for kitchen appliances and such. On top of that i used some TCP global Metal Etch since i had heard some great things about it.

Long story short...i stripped the bars back down and then used a 50grit sand paper to lightly scuff them...then used the etch. After that primer...and then the coats of white. As it stands now the second coat of white is drying and ill probably have to use a third to get it as thick as i want for protection.

We are having a bit of a cold front here in Germany...temps dropped back to the 50s, so my solution to get it to dry faster is to turn the car on and crank the heat to 90 and let it run for 5-10min then turn it off and leave the car for an hour or so closed up. After that i repeat the process....again and again lol.

http://www.the370z.com/members/mozen...-some-time.jpg

http://www.the370z.com/members/mozen...metal-etch.jpg

http://www.the370z.com/members/mozen...coat-white.jpg

First and second coat of white are on there. Got paint in a few places i didn't want it but it all came right off. Should see that when i take a final pic. Need one more coat of paint i think to get it solid everywhere.

http://www.the370z.com/members/mozen...coat-white.jpg

Awesome. I'm in the process of doing the same thing.

I found that the appliance white ( really a synthetic-resin based paint) that i was using was too thick. However i was scared to dilute it and ruin it so went with a different roller and put it on as thin as possible.

Really my problem is the panels...too close to get in and out easily...im going to wait a week to let the paint harden as much as possible before trying to slide a panel back in and ruin it.