Need paint and body guru help

[skipc]

When I used to paint cars (for fun and a little profit) there were 3 choices: enamel, lacquer, and Imron/2 part paints. The epoxies were hard to work with and could ruin your spray equipment, and enamel usually needed to bake. Lacquer looked best, was easy to use, but you had to watch what you put it over.

I've heard of new types that are out - hybrids of lacquer and enamel, 1-part polyuerethanes, etc. I need to repaint the top/hood of the XJ and don't want to look like the village idiot at the paint supplier. What would be a good top coat that's easy to spray (without a booth), can use high pressure or HVLP systems, and would work with whatever an 89 Cherokee was originally done with??

I'm not talking about the fanciest, just the best type/brand for the buck with decent longevity and ease of application. It's that dark maroon - almost brown - metallic with clear coat. The top doesn't last long, but longer than the sides, so it's the top now and all of it in a few years. I'd like no problems now, and no problems when repainting in the future ;-)

Thanks in advance.

[cbremer]

when i repainted my '87 2 years ago, i used DuPont ChromaOne single stage urethane enamel with a HVLP gun, and i'm quite happy with the results so far. like yours, my roof and hood were in bad shape, so they were stripped to bare metal, sealed, filler primered, then painted. the rest was simply roughed up and recoated. easy, relatively cheap (red, which is always a bit more expensive), and seems to be pretty durable so far- i do most of my runs in the so. cal. desert, and have a bit of pinstriping, but nothing has scratched all the way through the paint.

[Ed in North Ga.]

Ive always liked the urethanes, but have stuck to just laquers & enamels- Urethanes never really actually dry....given enough time they will, but because of that, they seem more durable. Enamels are easier to me- they lay down easy on flat stuff, cover well, and dont bleed through near as much as others...lotsa gooey pigment. Laquers easier to polish, easier to fix, easier to chip. Urethanes are a pain to buff untill really hard, hard to fix right, and almost never chip.

Laquers tend to eat whatevers underneath-unless you can flashcoat it-even then your playing with fire, Unless you already have laquer on it. Primeing with a 2 part epoxy primer will solve any problems with burn through.

Some of the newer waterbased enamels seem good- seen them, havent done one yet. Father in law did his POS honda and left a half gallon open after mixing it- week later it was like jello....weirdest thing I ever saw. It hardened up on the vehicle, but not in the open can, nor when I popped the jello out and sat it in the sun...I can still bounce it like a basketball.