John...I've been studying your article you wrote on painting your car and am using it as my bible for the body and paint I'm doing to my car this Summer and Fall. You mention that it is not a good idea to wipe the primer down with water before you re-prime it, but rather to use a solvent. What type of solvent did you use? And what did you put the solvent on to wipe the car down....tack cloth?

Thanks. If anyone else would like to throw in there $.02 Please do so.

You want to use a wax and grease remover like PPG DX440. Wipe the car down with the wax and grease remover and a clean rag. Keep using a different area on the rag to keep it clean and keep changing to a clean rag. After that you'll use the tack cloth. Same thing. Keep refolding it to keep it clean. These are the last two steps before you mix and shoot the paint.

Originally posted by Infamous:
John...I've been studying your article you wrote on painting your car and am using it as my bible for the body and paint I'm doing to my car this Summer and Fall. You mention that it is not a good idea to wipe the primer down with water before you re-prime it, but rather to use a solvent. What type of solvent did you use? And what did you put the solvent on to wipe the car down....tack cloth?

Thanks. If anyone else would like to throw in there $.02 Please do so. Primer is very absorbent, so it will hold moisture easily. I used Laquer primer on my car, so I used enamel reducer to wipe it down. It was okay to use laquer with the base/clear urethane, but you'd be better off using a matching urethane primer to what ever paint brand you're going with. I would check with your paint jobber to get their recommendation on what solvents to use that best match up with that primer. You can use rags to wipe it down (if you're trying to stretch dollars), but they leave lint, so be careful! The tack cloth should be used as-is it to remove any lint, don't use the solvent with it. A not so expensive cloth that works well is plain cheescloth (the same material that the tack rags use). You can find it at Supermarkets, hardware stores, Walmart etc. It's not too expensive.

I'm glad to see that you're doing it yourself!
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Let me know if you have any other questions. Also read Martin SR's "Basics", well written information from a professional.

John