Hello HT,

I bought a 1993 Honda Civic EX with really bad paint. I am planning on just primering the car and riding like that until i can afford to put paint on it.

What are some of my options as far as the best looking primer? My price range is around 3-5 bucks per can. I would like to be able to get the primer at Auto Zone as i have a coupon for $10 off a $50 purchase. With that said if there is something better in my price range that cant be found at AutoZone i rather have that. But it has to be something i can buy from a brick and mortar store as i do not have the time to wait on delivery.

As far as what i am looking for, being that i have to drive with it a while id like it to look as good as im going to get from primer ( in $3-$5/can range), and some decent protection from the elements would be a nice bonus.

Sorry for the long post, i just do not know anything about this stuff and i want to get it right. Thanks guys

 

Ehh, don't know of any brands from autozone but by any chance do you have a PPG or Baps In your area? If so they have large variety of different primers in a can. SEM is a good brand when it comes to most rattle can stuff..

What do you plan to sand with before the primer? If not done right though, you'd just be making the job longer for your painter as they'd have to remove the bad layer of primer..

 

Hi NoWorrys,

Thanks for the response. Im not 100% sure on the sanding either, this is what i did. Went to Lowes and bought sand paper starting at 80 and ending at 400 with a few inbetween. Yesterday i did a light scratching of the clear coat with the 80, i plan to move through each higher sand paper in phases ending with a wet sand w/ 400 grit.

As for making it harder on the painter, when i do have the money for paint ill probably restart the process doing a lot of the prep myself. Realistically i will not have the cash to paint for a while, and i may just sell it before that even happens ( I REALLY want a last gen Prelude). But for now i need the car and am just trying to get it looking half way decent to drive.

If it helps in any way i have a ton of pics. Any more input at all on any of this (sanding process / primer ) would be great, it is literally my first car so i am a complete amateur at all of this.

 

Primer only needs a sand scratch of 180 grit

 

if you're going to rattle can primer your car, it doesnt matter what brand u get. its gonna be crap anyways.

because in my opinion, all the time and money you're going to spend doing it that way, you might as well DO IT RIGHT and buy automotive grade primer and a spraygun.

 

If you have acess to a air comressor, doing it with a gun would save you money in the long run. It might even be cheaper right off the bat lol.. If you spray it with a can, its going to have to come off before real paint goes on.

 

These are my thoughts on spray can auto primer, for what it's worth..

Rustoleum auto primer is hard sanding and low build. It behaves kind of like a sealer in that regard. I prefer Duplicolor auto primer in a can. Much higher build, easy to sand, doesn't cake up your paper.

I've only used them in small areas.. I had a slight quarter crease on my CRX that I worked out and used the auto can primer on. If you looked at it you would never know.

 

Hey everyone, just wanted to say thanks for all the replies.

I just got back from a business trip in florida and will be priming the civic in the next couple days. Ill upload pics to show how it turns out.