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Rator Liner Project

JonnyCat63

NAXJA Forum User
NAXJA Member
Location
San Diego
Raptor Liner Project

Just finished up putting Raptor Liner on my 99's roof. Thought I'd share a few pictures. It was a fun little project. I did the same thing on my 95 a few years ago and it still looks great. I saw it done a number of years ago on a guys XJ that I was buying an axle from and it looked really nice.

My 99 had some surface rust on the roof, and before it got too bad, I decided it was time to fix it.

Turning the garage into a spraybooth.
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Masked it all off and hit it with some 80 grit on an orbital sander. A DA works better, but I don't have one. Make sure you sand it really well. Hit it with 100 grit by hand, and finished it up with some red scotchbrite to get in all the nooks and crannys. I went just under the gutter, too. I took off the roof racks and put the screws back with a little RTV on the threads. Gives it that Frankenstein look!
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I then sprayed two coats of epoxy primer. I used black 2 stage from Axis coatings. After letting it dry overnight, I scuffed it a couple of times with red scotchbrite. The red scotchbrite scuffs the primer really well and you don't have to worry about sanding down to the metal. Raptor Liner needs to be applied to primer or paint, and not to bare metal. You don't have to worry too much about sanding scratches as the Raptor covers really well.
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After scuffing, I blew off the top and wiped it down real good with acetone. Hit it with a tack cloth, and started to spray.
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I opted for 3 lighter coats. You just shoot it with a Schutz gun. I set mine at about 50 psi and kept the gun at about 16-18 inches away. Let it flash about an hour between coats. I ended up using 3 bottles of Raptor. It's about 1 per coat. It takes a little less than a bottle per coat, but you waste the rest because it's 2 stage and the flash time between coats is longer that the pot life.
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Wrapped it just under the gutter to protect it.
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Took the windshield moulding off to get under it. I'm having the windshield replaced next week. Ordered new rubber from Team Cherokee.
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All in all, it turned out great. The black on black looks really nice. Cost me about $300.00 in materials and took me parts of about 4 days to complete.
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Looks good but I wouldn't use black here in AZ!
 
It's a undercoating product by 3M called "Body Schutz" and requires a similar gun as would any good heavy coating like "Rhino liner".
 
Yeah its hot over there in phenix, Idaho is plenty hot for me.

Sweet I was thinking a 300-500 dollar gun.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk
 
Yeah its hot over there in phenix, Idaho is plenty hot for me.

Sweet I was thinking a 300-500 dollar gun.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

That price on Amazon is even way too much. You can get them at an automotive paint store for much less.
 
That looks very good....

I'm curious about the black 2 stage primer from Axis coatings.
I've used Chassis Saver underneath Monstaliner.
Do you know if the 2 stage Axis Primer offers an advantage?
 
That looks very good....

I'm curious about the black 2 stage primer from Axis coatings.
I've used Chassis Saver underneath Monstaliner.
Do you know if the 2 stage Axis Primer offers an advantage?

I'm really not sure if there is an advantage or not. I've done research on POR15 and the like, and I'm not convinced they are the cure all for rust. I've used POR15 on my old CJ project, and it was just okay. Not super impressed with it. In my opinion, you can't just paint over rust and call it good. I think the advantage is being able to brush it on. If you can't spray, then that's probably a good way to go. If you can spray, then epoxy primer is way better, IMO.

For my money, I'll try and prepare the surface properly. Grind/wire wheel/flapdisc or sandblast, repair, clean, treat with some type of rust converter like Ospho if needed, and shoot with epoxy primer. It seems like guys that paint cars use some variation of that procedure. I've used epoxy primer for years with good results. With any painting project, proper preparation is key. If you cut corners in that area, then you're likely to have poor results.

With my 99 roof, there was only some surface rust, so sanding it off was not a big deal. Any 2 stage primer will adhere well to a properly prepared surface, be durable, and provide a good surface for top coats.
 
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