I want to repaint my 1991 honda civic 4dr, il do all the body work and hopefully the prep and get a shop to throw the paint on, or even do that myself. but im wondering how long i can drive around with primer on my car. I want to do all the body work and get it to primed then figure out my choices for paint

 

Theres no finite amount of time because it depends on how much you drive, where you drive, the conditions the car is in (like weather, parked inside/outside, etc) But to answer your question, you can drive around in primer for a pretty good amount of time, surely long enough to choose a color

 

well it will probably be a little while well i save for the paint + choose the paint. it will be parked outside and drove to work like a 5 min drive everyday. it rains here a fair amount and probably gonna get some snow. i figure if its to long il just sand it back and re prime it when the time comes?

 

I think you should be fine, just prime it but dont prep it for paint until you are about to paint it and if the primer does get damaged you can always re-prime it before you paint it.

 

if you use a proper sealer before primering, you can go forever.

 

Thats true. You only get one chance to do your paint right, do it once do it right

 

Primer is not meant to be exposed to the elements. End of story. If I had a car that had been sitting in primer while being exposed to rain and dirt and lord knows what else, I would strip the sucked back to bare metal and start over. Even epoxy primer makes me nervous when left in the elements.

If you DO NEED to do a rolling resto, use epoxy primer. Not filler primer. Epoxy is non-porous and you can do sections at a time. It is definitely not ideal but the chances of damage occurring are minimal. If you were to use primer surfacer or even regular sealer, or ESPECIALLY LACQUER PRIMER, the primer can absorb water and dirt and hold it to the surface.

Rolling restos are very difficult to do. Been there, done that, would rather avoid it.

 

Thats a good point, I did not even take into acount the porousness. I would probably suggest priming over your reapair areas then do all the priming/paint work when you are ready

 

36 years

 

Dam I nvr knew this. N I've seen ppl roll with primered cars for a whole yr,

 

my civic has primered doors, after 2yrs it looks show room condition lol

 

For a good while ..... If your gonna do the bodywork before paint, your gonna end up D.A'ing the whole car & do a few more primer coats & block sand before you seal & paint it ..... I don't see why you would have to take it back down to bare metal ..... Just my 2cents .....