Duracoat as paint

[KYMidnight]

I'm tossing around the idea of using duracoat for my paint. It's available in a bunch of colors, and is some very tough stuff. For those who don't know, duracoat is a two part firearms finish that is sprayed on like a paint. I spoke to the guys who make it, and they make a uv resistant version and claim that a couple of people have done this with success. I have good relationship with them, since I work as a gunsmith and use a lot of their product, but never anything this big.
Has anyone else considered this sort of thing? Duracoat is really hard to scratch and much tougher than regular paint, so I would think it would be a good choice for a vehicle that is going to get banged around a bit. At $250 a gal its a bit more expensive than auto paint, but can bond directly to metal, and only needs a clear coat if it needs to be glossy. I'm guessing I could do my CJ5 with 1 1/2 gal but have literally 0 experience with painting vehicles so I don't know how far it would go. (Lots of experience using duracoat on firearms though)

 

[Flex BT]

Well the first thing I was going to tell you was it would be extremely expensive but you already covered that. I duracoated my AK and it pretty much immediately gave up under the selector switch where the little detent sticks out (the line that is on the side of pretty much any AK). I was disappointed as I did a few coats and the clear coat as well. I used HK black with an airbrush and other than the scratch it turned out really nice looking. The scratch isn't really that big a deal, like I said standard on any AK, I just expected the finish to hold up to more than the first few times the selector was used.

After putting some auto paint with hardener on my winch rebuild I'm not sure that the stuff I put on there (auto paint from NAPA paint shop w/ hardener) wouldn't have held up better. Seems a lot tougher. If I was going to paint my body I would probably spray on POR15 first and follow it up with some regular auto paint. On the other hand, I'd love to see what a duracoated jeep would look like.

 

[BIGTRUCKNUT]

My brother is a gunsmith and tried to convince me to use Duracoat on my Jeep also. Stuff looks good on my weapons but I wasn't sold on the prep work or price - I'm sticking with conventional paints.

 

[Bowbender]

I'm almost positive Sherwin Williams' Polane is the same product as Duracoat.

 

[KYMidnight]

The Polane is pretty similar, but not the exact same as I understand it. I'm pretty comfortable using duracoat, since I do it at my job on a regular basis. I don't think the prep work would be significantly more involved than regular painting, just a wipe down with alcohol to insure there is no residual oils after the sanding and washing you'd do anyway. I get dealer pricing on it, which makes it more expensive than auto paint, but not a deal breaker I don't think.
How much auto paint do most guys use when they paint a CJ5 ?
Flex, The wear under you selector is somewhat inevitable, since the selector detent is basically a scribe running up and down the side of the receiver. Usually it is actually taking a bit of metal with it even; not may things can hold up to a steel gouge rubbing it. That said, if you make sure you get your 12:1 hardener ratio right and let it have a week to cure before reassembling it would help, since duracoat is a product that continues to cure for months after application, but even that would only do so much, eventually any finish would fail in that location...

 

[harleydragon]

on a CJ7 to paint the outside I usually use about 1 1/2 gallons (after it is mixed)..that gives me a light first coat,a medium coat and then hammer it on the last heavy coat..1 gallon would work but I put that little extra on mine.I then follow that up with about the same amount of clear

 

[BIGTRUCKNUT]

I used a gallon of enamel and the required reducer/hardener when I last shot my CJ5 .

 

[ptrtj]

Ive seen a CJ7 done in monstaliner at my deer lease. I really havent talked to the owner about it, however it looks good and seems to hold up well.

Monstaliner do-it-yourself roll-on truck bed liner outperforms Herculiner Bed Liner, Duplicolor and Rustoleum Road Warrior