Repainting a Box with Base Clear?

[tdls87]

I am planning on having my Snap-on KR1000B repainted by a local autobody shop. It has multiple dents and scratches so i am dead set on repainting plus it's going to be a professional paint job and not a rattle can job.

So i was wondering if anyone has had their box repainted with a base clear combo instead of a single stage? I was thinking Snap-on red with a clear coat buffed into a icy shine..

Heck of a lot cheaper than a new box... Any thoughts or info greatly appreciated!!

 

[Pro-Painter]

BC/CC would look good.. But not necessary unless you want a show quality finish.
A 2K urethane will do just fine at 1/3 the cost. 2k Urethane is a two component paint (2K), Meaning it must use a catalyst (AKA Hardener) to dry, unlike other single stage paints that dry from air or chemical (Acrylic enamel, synthetic enamel) . Urethane is also a VERY durable paint, and has a great DOI (depth of image) even when compared to bc/cc.

Urethane is also chemical resistant, and is comparable in strength and durability to powder coat.

I'm a painter and have ALOT of left over bc/cc around, And I still plan to use urethane to paint my box when I get it complete. bc/cc is simply overkill for a tool box. Even on a box that cost more then a car.

 

[tdls87]

Hey thanks Pro-Painter. What would the price difference be between the 2k and base clear?

 

[back2class]

I would perfer a urethane system mentioned above. Less thickness means less chips and will look better longer.

 

[Pro-Painter]

Well that will depend on a lot of different factors. such as: the brand used, quality used, color used, size of the box, etc the list could go on forever.

For materials alone, urethane is generally 1/3 the price of bc/cc.
The brand has A LOT to do with the price. PPG deltron (bc/cc) is between $200-$400 a gallon + $170-$225 a gallon for clear, and another $100 for the activator,& DT reducers.
But PPG Shopline (2k urethane) is around $120-$200 gallon + $70 for reducer and activator. But their are other brands that are just as good for less money. DuPont Nason, TCPglobal, matrix, valspar, Finish-1, etc will generally be cheaper then PPG or DuPont.

Here is where it gets tricky,
Custom mixed colors cost about 40% more then factory packaged colors (picked from a chip chart), and reds cost more then any other color. (excluding metallic reds). And two quarts of any color will cost almost the same as a gallon.

Paint is priced funny, and it's never the same. If you will give me the size of your box, and the color you want it, I will get you a materials price quote on a few brands.

 

[tdls87]

My box is 37 inches tall and all by 29 inches deep by 53 inches long. Snap-on red is what i'm going with. I wouldn't be repainting the inside. Just box and drawer fronts.

 

[back2class]

I would just shoot it with Kirker urethane. They have about 6 reds and one should be a close match. Gallon with all chems will set you back for right at about $100. Quart may be enough. My guess is it will be borderline. The best finish to me for a toolbox would be some of the LP marine coatings. I used Awlgrip once and it was so hard then when I used it on a boat hull, when I once scraped it hard against a galv bolt sticking out of a dock I thought I just destroyed a very high end paint job. Nope, the big 20ft long scratch rubbed right off. The finish scraped the galvanized off the bolt rather then the bolt scratching the paint off! I think it was about $500 a gal and does not come in custom colors.

 

[Chris Adams]

If you had to buy the materials at retail, sure it would not make sense, but if you have a lot of leftovers from a project...
I've never been all that happy with any of the single stage paints we have used on the big boxes that we've resprayed.
Exception being Raptor bed liner. That's freaking awesome on a box, but it won't look like a factory box, of course.


If you just happened to have a lot of clear coat, etc. so you could spring for a base, or get the supplies cheap enough I would go with the base clear.

It would darn well wax up nice, and a box doesn't take that long to spray, or more importantly time wise, mask.

 

[shannonw]

I just repainted a kra3800, for comparison here's my cost, keep in mind I **** painting so probably used a little more material here and there. I did not do the insides, just everything you see.

28 bucks pint of valspar 2k single stage
45-55 bucks for quart of HOK DTM primer
25 bucks or so for both hardners (2 separate)
12 bucks or so for grease remover as I was out.

I didn't expect but used almost all of the primer, was hoping to use 1/2 for another project, but I was filling in and laying on thicker in some places to fill in some rust pits so I didn't have to go the body filler route.

I expected and used every last drop of the single stage, I was short, I skipped shooting the bottom with color, just left it primer, not going to see it anyways. May go back and shoot that when I paint some other things.

Materials was strip discs 4*4 bucks at HF, and some sand paper, masking paper, tape.

On a 54" box I'd figure a quart of color may do it, might be close. More primer, though I probably wasted a bit there as I put it on pretty thick. I think you can only get dtm primer in quarts and larger and it's not cheap. bc/cc would seem cost prohibitive compared to the value of an older box. I can't imagine paying someone would be worth it (just IMHO), unless they just did a quick sand and shot it, it would seem a bit labor intensive to me.

I don't know how you could do the fronts and not mask, you'll have primer and color all down the drawer sides. I masked right behind the drawer lip and back to make sure I shot the drawer side edges. It's time consuming, I just did a quick mask as i quickly realized to do it perfectly would be more time than it's worth (to me). To not have the drawers look like **** you have to pay attention to the pulls and sand really well there, underneath that lip there are areas you just can't get to, I sanded briefly there and cleaned really well and relied on the surfacer to clean it up (no one will look there anyways).

In hindsight on an older box unless it has some sentimental value or you just want to do it, I think it's more trouble than it's worth considering what newer boxes go for on craigslist. Advantage is I can pickup some steel cabinets cheap, paint those and shop lights to match to kinda of give it a theme. Or some other older side boxes. Though you couldn't pay me to do the insides and drawer sides,etc, and I probably wouldn't do a larger box again, the drawers are a pain. Main box EASY, drawer prep a royal pain.

 

[Skyline]

You may find the Snap-on Red a bit of a difficulty. One of the mix colors is only carried within the very large PPG paint mix systems. My local autoparts store, a PPG dealer, could not mix it, nor could a few places I tried. A large body shop supply place had no problem though.

 

[Altec]

I would just shoot it with Kirker urethane. They have about 6 reds and one should be a close match. Gallon with all chems will set you back for right at about $100. Quart may be enough. My guess is it will be borderline. The best finish to me for a toolbox would be some of the LP marine coatings. I used Awlgrip once and it was so hard then when I used it on a boat hull, when I once scraped it hard against a galv bolt sticking out of a dock I thought I just destroyed a very high end paint job. Nope, the big 20ft long scratch rubbed right off. The finish scraped the galvanized off the bolt rather then the bolt scratching the paint off! I think it was about $500 a gal and does not come in custom colors.

Kirker is good stuff. I've used their candy system. Got it through http://www.smartshoppersinc.com/

 

[Pro-Painter]

You may find the Snap-on Red a bit of a difficulty. One of the mix colors is only carried within the very large PPG paint mix systems. My local autoparts store, a PPG dealer, could not mix it, nor could a few places I tried. A large body shop supply place had no problem though.

To get official Snap-on colors, the Paint supplier must be a PPG "Ditzler" supplier, not just a supplier of PPG products. Apparently, Snap-on keeps a tight lock on their paint codes/mix formulas. I had a hell of a time finding a Snap-on color for another forum member.