too cold to paint?

66 Tiger · Dec 5, 2006

Quick question - I think...

So I'm planning on painting the engine bay this week & the forcast is calling for 40 - 50 deg day temps.

All the prep is finally done & I am applying Eastwoods rust encapsulator followed by several coats of their flat black.

My question is - Will the paint be able to cure properly or am I just shooting myself in the foot by painting when the temperature is this low?

Thanks in advance.

Ps. I don't think it's going to get any warmer anytime soon...LOL.

chromedog · Dec 5, 2006

im in the same boat... i shot some misc. pieces last week, when the temperature was in the 50's here, and the paint i used, krylon black epoxy blushed like you wouldnt believe, until i fired up the old redi heater and warmed up the shop.

zookeeper · Dec 5, 2006

Your shop needs to be AT LEAST 60 degrees. It's not that air temp that's all that important, but the car (or whatever you're spraying) needs to be warm to avoid all kinds of problems, blushing, orange peel and runs are just some of the problems cold weather causes. I heated my 24x36 shop to 70+ by using a couple of dual element Mr Heater propane heaters when I painted my car. You don't want to leave the heaters running while you're spraying, but I shut mine off only while I was painting, then after I cleaned the gun ( about 10 mins) I re-lit them and left the fan running, so the shop never got below about 65 or so. I also left the heaters on for about 4 hours before I painted to warm the car, and put a simple outside thermometer across the shop from your heater so you know the temp inside the shop.

zookeeper · Dec 5, 2006

I just re-read your original post, I assumed you were using a spray gun, if your not, just warm the parts with whatever you can, a portable space heater, or even a heat gun, so long as it's warm (not hot) to the touch and dry, you'll be fine.

351w_swap · Dec 5, 2006

its not worth it. If it does orange peel or run there is a lot of work to reprep it. You would be better off waiting for warmer temperatures or heat in the garage, trust me I speak from experience shooting transtar clear coat. I have so many hours into repreping that its not even funny and the fact that you are redoing something that you wouldnt have to if you had waited is really frustrating. You should heat a garage to paint. If you want you could probably shoot the parts or car outside in cold temperatures after removing the car from a warm garage as long as you put it back in after spraying.

66 Tiger · Dec 6, 2006

351w_swap said:
its not worth it. If it does orange peel or run there is a lot of work to reprep it. You would be better off waiting for warmer temperatures or heat in the garage, trust me I speak from experience shooting transtar clear coat. I have so many hours into repreping that its not even funny and the fact that you are redoing something that you wouldnt have to if you had waited is really frustrating. You should heat a garage to paint. If you want you could probably shoot the parts or car outside in cold temperatures after removing the car from a warm garage as long as you put it back in after spraying.

I would give my left n*t to have a nice-warm garage, LOL! - unfortunately at this time the best I can do is a car port.

=zookeeper] I just re-read your original post, I assumed you were using a spray gun, if your not, just warm the parts with whatever you can, a portable space heater, or even a heat gun, so long as it's warm (not hot) to the touch and dry, you'll be fine.

I'm using spray cans. I'll give the heating the parts a try & if for what ever reason things don't turn out right - I'll just wait till it warms up a little more.

My wife's gona freak though if she catches me outside with her hair dryer working on the car. I'm still in trouble from the last time I volunteered one of her kitchen utensils for "car" work...

zookeeper · Dec 6, 2006

Also, an old model car trick is to warm the spray can a bit. Set the can in hot water for a few minutes and it works wonders. Pleeeeeeaaaase do NOT boil water on your stove with the spray can sitting in the water! But if you get the can warm, it ups the pressure a bit as well as helps the paint flow better.

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