TroutSupport.com Posted May 6, 2019 Report Share Posted May 6, 2019 Is anyone painting with automotive paint? How hard is some of the other paints like Etex compared to automotive paint? Seems I've always used paints that weren't very hard and only relied on the exterior coating for protecting the paint job.. why not paint with harder paints? Our saltwater fish do a lot of damage and also I've found the extra sharp hooks chip and flake the exterior and next thing your know it starts to break and flake off because theres no strength (bond) of the paint that I used and after the exterior chips or flakes it starts to come off... So i'm looking for harder and better bonding paint, what do ya'll think are the best bonding and hardest paints? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DingerBaits Posted May 6, 2019 Report Share Posted May 6, 2019 Lacquer based will bond way better than water/acrylics. Just need to paint with caution. Meaning Respirator/mask, ventilation, and exhaust system 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobP Posted May 6, 2019 Report Share Posted May 6, 2019 Auto paint is harder than acrylic latex or lacquer, yes, but is it hard enough that it does not require a durable topcoat? I don’t think so and if it requires a topcoat anyway, I don’t see any advantage in using it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ravenlures Posted May 6, 2019 Report Share Posted May 6, 2019 You could make your base color in a resin poured lure and use a good bonding paint to plastic for detail, or just a straight one color poured lure, I don't know anything about those saltwater fish but you could try it. Wayne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brick Steel Posted May 6, 2019 Report Share Posted May 6, 2019 Troutsupport, are you making baits for speckled trout? How does epoxy top coat hold up? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TroutSupport.com Posted May 6, 2019 Author Report Share Posted May 6, 2019 18 minutes ago, Brick Steel said: Troutsupport, are you making baits for speckled trout? How does epoxy top coat hold up? I'm only making soft plastics.. actually the painting of lures is just a hobby of mine. There's several guys already in the customer lure painting market and that's way to labor intensive for me. As far as my epoxy top coat holding up.. it was devcon 2t. Over time it yellowed and we fish with a lot of white and bone so that's not too great. As for hardness it's very hard but like I said, my subcoats failed so with trout teeth and sharp as trebbles they will eventually chip and crack and havn't lasted too long. Some of the custom paint guys are using Automotive clear and I can tell it's hard enough. But I havn't liked their work so far ... so I figure I'll do my own or for a friend or two, and some muskie baits for the fall as well. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brick Steel Posted May 6, 2019 Report Share Posted May 6, 2019 Thanks. I live in Panama City, Florida and paint baits for bass, but I'm interested in doing some baits for speckled trout and redfish. I did repaint a redfish bait for a friend that had gotten pretty torn up. I'll have to see how it has held up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark poulson Posted May 7, 2019 Report Share Posted May 7, 2019 A decoupage epoxy, like Envirotex Lite, will not chip or crack. It is softer than glue epoxies, like D2T, So teeth can penetrate it, but will hold up better to abuse from teeth and/or rocks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TroutSupport.com Posted May 13, 2019 Author Report Share Posted May 13, 2019 (edited) any idea how hard emanmel spray paint is compared to automotive. Id assume its not as good a bond / not as hard. yes, with having to use a final topcoat I used to think I could get away with using the acrylics but the bond is so weak that once the topcoat gets punctured then the topcoat starts flaking off. we're using super sharp hooks and our trout and reds do tear up the lures paint jobs pretty well. Mirrolure uses some type of baked on two part paint. It may be an epoxy type two part paint.. I'd love to figure out how they are doing that.. their lures stand up to the punishment the best. I've painted with high end two part epoxy boat paint and it's hard as ***** but I'd only shoot that through an extermal mix airbrush.. it's nasty nasty stuff but super tough. and it's expensive too so I think that would be overkill... but I've found automotive paint in small quantities .. touch up paint.. not sure if that's the same quality as the good stuff the body shops are painting with though. I guess we'll see. I'll try to do some test ... enamel vs automotive vs others... but it will take a while. Edited May 13, 2019 by TroutSupport.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Young Posted May 13, 2019 Report Share Posted May 13, 2019 Ditto with Mark on the E-Tex epoxy. It also is clearer than Devcon. The two part marine paints are self leveling - and will destroy any scale detail. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobP Posted May 13, 2019 Report Share Posted May 13, 2019 Yes, the problem with acrylic paint is that water will cause it to swell and it will push off an epoxy topcoat. The boat other popular paint for crankbaits is lacquer, which is solvent based and doesn’t have this problem. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodieb8 Posted May 15, 2019 Report Share Posted May 15, 2019 On 5/5/2019 at 9:54 PM, TroutSupport.com said: Is anyone painting with automotive paint? How hard is some of the other paints like Etex compared to automotive paint? Seems I've always used paints that weren't very hard and only relied on the exterior coating for protecting the paint job.. why not paint with harder paints? Our saltwater fish do a lot of damage and also I've found the extra sharp hooks chip and flake the exterior and next thing your know it starts to break and flake off because theres no strength (bond) of the paint that I used and after the exterior chips or flakes it starts to come off... So i'm looking for harder and better bonding paint, what do ya'll think are the best bonding and hardest paints? automotive,and automotive clearcoat. use a respirator and blower system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
