paint

[finnegan]

Just wondering whats the best type of paint that will stand up to another buffalo winter?

[JCurtis]

Hey finnegan,

Have no idea what paint would hold up to a Buffalo winter, maybe IMRON the stuff they paint planes with???

If you find something that works for you, let me know. I will immediately paint all my plows with it. I will never have to paint them again.

No way, we are ever gonna have as much snow as Buffalo.

Think SNOW

[John Allin]

I get as much as Buffalo.
More (on average).

Paint. Maybe Chuck would know something. I've never had paint that won't wear off in time. However, we get about 3 seasons on our Boss plows before repainting them. I don't know what they are using.

[Chuck Smith]

You're starting to know me John. Am I that predictable? ;)

There is a great paint on the market. It's even brake fluid proof. It MUST be applied wearing a respirator. Even outdoors, you NEED the respirator. It's nasty stuff, and VERY TOXIC, but it is the absolute best. The last time I bought it it was $30 a quart. In fact, I haven't painted my plow in 4 years. It holds up that good.
It contains isocyanates (sp?). They are nasty, because they build up in your body, the same way lead does. Paint thinner won't take this stuff off your hands. Aircraft paint stripper, takes 17 hours to soften it. Acid even takes hours before it starts to eat at it.

It's an MCU (Moisture Cured Urethane). There is a primer version, that you can paint right over rust with. Unlike all the products that claim to "seal" rust, this stuff really does. You can even use it to seal pinholes in gas tanks. A few coats to build it up to about 8 mils is best. Then you apply the top coat version. It comes clear, but you can add pigmanets to it to make it any color you want. They also sell it in black, but you could just add black pigment to the clear coat. The primer doesn't hold up to UV rays, so any topcoat will work over it. For the best results, you need to use the primer, then your color, then the top coat. I gave my plow 2 coats of clear, with a brush so I could lay it on thicker. The more you "build" with this stuff, the longer it will last.

You can't buy it in stores, and it's for "industrial use only". I got mine at a swap meet, at Raceway Park in Englishtown NJ. There was a dealer in West Milford, but I can't locate him now. Let me try to find more info about where to get it, as my supply has dwindled.

Oh yeah, this stuff passes a salt spray test with flying colors. I mean about 32 hours of salt spray, with no adverse affects. A salt spray test is when you gouge an X in the painted surface down into the metal. It is then sprayed with salt for hours on end....

It's called Mastercoat. It's MCU.

I'm hoping to become a dealer in the near future.

~Chuck

[diggerman]

Hey Chuck I think he's just painting a plow not the space shuttle,also he would like to be alive and using his plow when he was finished not quarentined in some hospital for exposure to toxic substances.

[iowastorm]

Digger: If you don't use a good quality paint, you'll never have a solid surface to place your stickers.

[BRL]

To our Iowa friends: Thanks for my LOL of the day! Maybe we should send Chuck down to NASA. They could sure use his help. Nah... Lets keep him here with us, we'd appreciate it more, and they'd end up wasting his talents. Think snow!!!

[Chuck Smith]

iowastorm is right. You want those fancy stickers on a nice smooth surface! Finnegan asked about the best, and MCU is the best. It's not that bad. So what if I can't bend the fingers on my left hand anymore.... I didn't need my left hand use anyway. I'm right handed ;)

~Chuck ;)

[cat320]

yea Chuck I would love to know where you can get that stuff just got done painting my plow but i have the back to do yet.

[GeoffDiamond]

If ya want a less toxic paint. I just don't want to have to list a substance like that in my MSDS sheets. Go with the Meyer/Diamond paint, it holds up well.

Geoff

[Bill c]

Por15 is also very good and heavy duty paint,I believe they have a web site.

[John Allin]

What Chucck didn't tell you is that this stuff also puts and end to any future sinus problems (no more nose), no more stuffy nose (mucus membranes will be fried), no more need for shaving (it eats off your skin), no more need for gloves in winter (as there won't be any more pain nerves in your hands, much less any skin), no more alcohol (because your liver will be shot too).

Chuck.... whattaya trying to do??

We want this guy to come back here to the board with more than just knobs at the end of his arms !! No wonder they don't sell this stuff across the counter, or across the ocean for that matter.

I'll paint my plows every year with some other stuff. A least I'll be able to see where the stickers will go.

Hey guys...My fault for recommending Chuck. Better not ask him what to clean the hydralics with - we'll all need an environmental suit..... but the lines will be cleaned out.

Good one on the shuttle......

(just kidding, Chuck)

[plowking35]

Boy these guys are rough Chuck. So what if you are rainman when you are done painting.
Yeah definatly use mastercoat, yeah definatly.
Well we painted last year with yellow John Deere primer. It is cheap, easy to find and hold up great. The spreader used staright salt last year and no sign of rust, oh yeah its stainless. But I also own an airflow mild steel spreader, and thats the one we painted. The backs we top coated black, but the fronts we just sprayed 2 coats of primer, and it didnt wear off, or flake. Nad trust me the prep was porr at best, it just adheres to everything great.
Dino

[iowastorm]

I'm not rough. I'm just trying to waste all of these responses so I can be a senior member; then I'll be important like everyone else (and kill time until it starts snowing).

[John Allin]

What's after "senior member" ???

[iowastorm]

Double Secret Senior Member

[John Allin]

DSSM.

Sounds intimidating.

I like it.

[Snow Pro]

I always thought it was "Senor Member" where you needed a name like Gonzales or Rodriguez or something like that.

John Allin and IowaStorm, I noticed you're now Seniors. WOW! Someday I'm wanna grow up and be just like you!

[Snow Pro]

Dino -

Did you intend to put just the 2 coats of primer on or was it a job your guys didn't finish?

Also, if everything sticks to it, does that include snow?

[plowking35]

We repaint every year, so why bother with a top coat. We are out all during a storm, and the sand mix we use, acts like a sandblaster, and tears the paint all up. So we just prime them, and reprime next season. They make a yellow primer, so the plows dont look to goofy. Snow doesnt slide off as well when stacking, but we live with it. Our urethane edges have a large lip, so snow tends to hang up anyway. We just give the plow a little shake when we start backing out of the pile and that does the trick.
Dino

[jaclawn]

Are you saying that you just use primer on your plows as a finish coat? If so, that is a big no-no.

I have some background in finishing, and can tell you that primer is not designed to act as a top coat. The chemical properties of a primer are two fold, most times. It acts as a surfacer, to "level" the slight imperfections in the surface. It's other function is to be an absorbant.

Primer is designed to absorb. That is why paint will stick to primer much better than to bare metal. When you top coat it with a paint, the primer absorbs the paint, and when the paint hardens, it seals the primer.

If you just leave the primer on as a top coat, eventually, it will begin to absorb moisture. This will lead to rust. Did you ever see someone that was doing body work on his vehicle, and the metal is rusting under the primer? Same principal.

The primer will only seal the metal temproarrly, when exposed to the elements. If it it inside, out of the weather, that is a different story.

I just painted my plow. It was a very long and involved process. I probally have close to $100 invested in the paint materials for this plow. I also had it sandblasted to bare metal.

After it was blasted, I used a urethane etching primer/surfacer on it. I mixed some up a little on the thin side, and used a horsehair touch up brush to run it in all the cracks. You cannot get paint in there by spraying. I also brushed it in the hard to get to areas, like the mounts for the shoes.

I then sealed all the seams with a drip check type of sealer. This will prevent the rust stain that runs out of the seams.

I then sprayed it with 4 coats of the primer surfacer.

I then wet sanded the entire plow, with 600 grit. I did the same brushing in technique with the paint. I used an automotive urethane clear coat. I put on 4 base coats, and 3 coats of clear.

It looks as nice as the hood of a new Corvette.

I have another $60 in the sandblasting of all the parts. Couple that with approximately 15-18 hours of time, and I probally could have bought a new plow! The finish on this plow is "better than new"

I have done this procedure on various things over the years, trailers, boat trailers, truck bodies, equipment, patio furnature... and it all has held up much better than the factory finish.

[plowking35]

And my point is that one storm with the type of conditions that we plow, and your finish is toast. Like you said, it cost alot of money and time. We have to many plows to repaint every year to invest that amount of time into. I dont care if it absorbs moisture, its a snow plow. I bought the plow for 200.00 and I am not investing more than the plow in paint. I have a backround in auto body and are aware of the right procedures, however IMO they dont apply to snow plows, unless you have a show plow or something.
Also if you were to read a can of JD primer, it reads that contents dont need to be top coated. I mean really, wet sanding a snow plow, I do that everytime I plow with it. Maybe after the next storm I will pull it in and spray the top coat on. Thanks for the great idea. But seriously, with amount of plowing that we do, the moldboard has the paint worn off in 2 storms max, usually near the edges, but serious scratches all along the moldboard. The back sees very little wear, so that is top coated, but not wet sanded.
Dino

[Alan]

Has anybody tried epoxy paints on plows? I know they are wicked glossy and should shed snow quite well. I'm going to be sandblasting and repainting a 10' Western

[GeoffDiamond]

Is the 10' western going on your C60?

Geoff

[Chuck Smith]

Alan,

The epoxy paint is good, if you plan to paint every year. After one year, with the blade sitting outside where the sun can get at it, that glossy finish will start to vanish. It doesn't seem to hold up well to UV rays. At least not on the boat trailer I painted with it. It held up great on the cross members under the boat, in the shade though.

~Chuck

[jaclawn]

The king wrote on 10/6/2000: Well we painted last year with yellow John Deere primer. It is cheap, easy to find and hold up great.
The spreader used staright salt last year and no sign of rust, oh yeah its stainless. But I also own an
airflow mild steel spreader, and thats the one we painted. The backs we top coated black, but the fronts
we just sprayed 2 coats of primer, and it didnt wear off, or flake. Nad trust me the prep was porr at
best, it just adheres to everything great.
Dino

Then on 10/17/2000 The king wrote: But seriously, with amount of plowing that
we do, the moldboard has the paint worn off in 2 storms max, usually near the edges, but serious
scratches all along the moldboard.

So, which is it, the primer adheres to everything great, or does it wear off in two storms max?

I can understand that someone with a vast fleet of plows not wanting to spend the time or money to do a proper paint job on all of their plows. However, it may be cheeper in the long run. Maybe you will only have to paint them every 3-4 years?

I like to have my gear looking as nice as it can, and simply putting on some farm tractor primer is not going to cut it.
It really amazes me that people will spend hours shining up their high dollar trucks, and put an old ratty looking plow on them. I see it every winter.

[finnegan]

I totally agree that the plow should at least match the truck,If you have a piece of crap for truck then you put whatever you want in front of it

[plowking35]

WOW
The love for shiney plows is overwhelming. Just because it sticks doesnt mean it wears well. It works great because the under lying metal doesnt have to be perfect (read a little rust, maybe dirt) for the paint to stick. Now at the end of the season, we wash the plows, and give them a quick touch up of JD primer, and they are all set until fall, when we roll another coat on them. I mean peopel they are just snow plows, I dont see why all the work for them. During a storm nobody will even see them, the moldboard is covered in snow. I have never had a customer give me extra money, and say "this is for the shiney plow you own, I know it did a better job than Dino did."
We used to go all out when I had only 1-2 trucks and the result in the spring was the same, no paint.
I even wore off the western powder coat on the edges in one storm. I added 2 used plows last year, and I was going to sandblast and paint, but we went this route in 1/10th the time, and I believe it held up just fine IMO.
Our trucks are not crap, and plows look better than 90% of the other guys plows.
Dino

[Alan]

Yeah, Geoff,, the Western is going on the big truck, although it's a 5500 GMC, not a C60 Chev. It's not the plow I want but it came with the truck so I figure to clean it up and use it for this year and see how it works. The rig used to belong to the Shelburne Museum, it was their grounds truck. They painted it several times, from the look of it, heavy coats with a brush, no prep, and it's curling and coming loose badly. As rough as it is now I can't see snow sliding on it at all so taking it to near white metal and starting over looks like the way to go.

[GeoffDiamond]

Well best of luck, like i always said, use what ya got. You got a 10' blade, and it will do the job. However when you plowing, you are going to want weight in the truck.

Geoff

[diggerman]

If there is a calander I want to be Mr January,I'll have to dig out my speedo and maybe I could pose across my Oshkosh.Boy would my wife be embarassed.

[Alan]

Oh yeah, Geoff,, weight is a must, that will be our main spreacer truck as well so as a rule it will be packing a load of salt whenever it's on the road. 10' in not what I particularly want on there, but after buying a Vee this summer and setting up the central hyd. I'm depleting my equipment budget too fast. What I want is a 11' Valk 36" PA plow on that truck. Next years equipment budget is gonna get hit pretty hard too! :)

[GeoffDiamond]

Hey, i wouldn't rule out the 10' blade intill the winter is over. It might suit your needs just fine, and if it does you will have more money, to buy other stuff. Is the 11' valk, just a straight blade?

Geoff

[Alan]

Geoff, I'm not ruling out the Western, but I don't think it will clear wide enough (when it's angled) to cler the outside dual unless I'm going almsot straight. I hate treading snoww all the time, it's counterproductive. I stopped at the Valk factory when I was in PA last week, their plows look very well made. They have 11' PA straight blades in 30, 36 & 42" moldboard heights. The 36" high looks like what I could use, the 42" is a bit heavy. As long as I have to build a maounting frame anyhow I'm going to build it to accept both the Western and a Valk, so if I do decide to go tht route I won't have to start over.