clear primar?

would clear primar work for both dark and bright colours
because if gray is used for dark colours and white is used for bright colours , couldn't i just get the clear primar to use for both dark and bright colours?

clear primer? never heard of it, maybe you are talking about clear coat?

the point of primer is a sealer, to seal the body work. if it was clear it wouldnt do anything.

some primers for metal are clear.

ok then..... what would a clear coat do?

ok then..... what would a clear coat do?

Clear coat is for "sealing" and protecting the basecoat. It also makes the basecoat shinier. It doesnt act as a surfacer for the body prep, or sealer.

You should use white primer, it works for what ever.

Are you talking about this stuff?

http://files.automotiveforums.com/gallery/watermark.php?file=/503/63107can_adhesion.jpg

It works, but be careful. It slightly etches plastic, and fogs clear plastic. However, I use it to do window trim sometimes. It etches the clear plastic white, but then when you spray black on it, it goes black (from both sides).

Just be careful with it. It's for plastic, but it will etch. Mist coats are key.

it's interesting how people interpret 'primer'.
Here in Slovenia we can get only clear PLASTIC PRIMER. The meaning of this primer is to lay a coat of substance which is giving the grip for the paint to stick on.

That gray, yellow or any other color stuff is also a primer. But that one is meant for filling the tinny holes from sanding. It's differend kind of primer.

I got this info from automotive painter.

would clear primar work for both dark and bright colours
because if gray is used for dark colours and white is used for bright colours , couldn't i just get the clear primar to use for both dark and bright colours?

If you only want to buy one can of primer, I would strongly recommend you get white. You can paint a dark colour over white primer without any problems, but you cannot paint a light colour over a dark primer (like gray). If you try that, the colour of the primer shows through the colour, and really changes the colour of the paint. White primer is safe for any colour coat.

One of the advantages to gray primer (I think, I actually don't own any) is that imperfections show up easier on gray primer. It's also easier to see coverage if you are spraying a piece of white plastic.

Clear primer would be fine for light colours if your plastic colour is either white or the colour you will be painting the body. If you want to paint the car a light colour and the plastic is a dark colour, you will need white primer. Clear primer will allow the exterior colour to be changed by the colour of the plastic.


About clear coats. Primer coats go down before your colour coat, while clear coats are layers of paint (not primer) that go down after your colour coat. They are not really required for solid colour paint jobs, but will deepen the colour if you use them. However, for metallics, if you plan to polish (rub out) the body, its a good idea to use a clear coat and only polish the clear coat. But be warned... a clear coat will change the look of a metallic paint, darkening it and making the metallic flake much more visible.

Hope this essay helps.

ok thanks
then i should just get white?

Yeah, though I suppose a very light gray would be better than pure white. I can't get out of my model airplane habits and use aluminum as a primer. You can see flaws much better after a metallic coat. It's hard to paint on it though, takes a few dust coats first.

But basically a clear primer isn't ideal because you can't see where it went on and it doesn't do anything to make flaws visible.

Most automotive clear primers will craze the plastic and make it VERY hard to get a smooth finish without a ridiculously hard session of sanding & rescribing panel lines....