I have a DG 04 coupe & recently bought a new trunk lid that was silver without a spoiler. I want to strip & prime the trunk lid before I vinyl wrap it. This way if I ever want to paint it im only a few steps away & the lid is sealed & smooth under the vinyl. With that being said i keep getting quoted 200-300 just to strip & prime it. I have a large compressor and a hvlp gun kit that is un-used at my folks place I haven't moved over yet. I am going to just do the work myself.

My question is for the DG paint is there a specific color epoxy primer I should use? I wasnt able to find this information online but i know they sell this primer in white, grey and black. I would imagine grey primer but I just want to verify. Ive already chemically stripped the trunk lid. Took less than 20 minutes & its down to a nice clean bare metal surface. This weekend ill sand it & primer it.

Is there any particular brand primer you recommend? I realize there are about 1000 brands to choose from which is why i am asking. There are not really any shops nearby to ask such questions so ill be order my primer online.

PS: Why am i stripping the silver painted trunk lid just to cover it in vinyl? Its because the infititi factory paint is crap and literally peeled clear coat off around the infiniti emblem on the trunk while removing. I know once i apply the vinyl those imperfections will be seen through the material so I might as well strip & prime it now and be ready for other future options.

 

I had wanted to do the same with a crappy painted spare trunk I bought awhile back but with no paint and body experience I didn't want to mess it up. I ended up finding a guy on Craigslist who works at a Paint and Body Shop who did it for me on the side. Only charged me $50 and came out great. I don't know what brand of primer he used but its grey. You should post some before/after pics

Before:



After:

 

Nice, ive got mine down to metal and its smooth to the point im debating just wrapping it as it is without primer but my fear is even under the vinyl non-coated metal could rust up. I dont have any experience with vinyl over bare metal as far as if the metal could/would still rust and such. Im not really a body shop guy either but I do have the tools to do just about anything. $50 is a steal, i called around today and most wanted $250-300 for just the trunk lid. I also need to strip my hood so ill be doing it myself for sure. The vinyl wrap part is easy im just not 100% on if i need to prime, should prime, what primer to use.

Here is a quick pick after chemical stripping. Only took about 20 minutes for it to eat it away. Its still a bit wet in the pics.

 

Did you use the chemical stripper on the inside of the trunk? If you did your gonna wanna make sure you either rust proof it or make sure the primer get everywhere. Also you actually didnt need to strip the paint. It would've been better to sand off that layer of paint and use a urethane sanding primer. But you might want to spray an epoxy primer and a urethane primer sealer over it for extra protection and when u do paint it you wont instantly cut to metal. And since you took it to bare metal it wouldnt really matter what color primer because more likely than not itll have to get another coat of sealer when you paint it. But if you didnt strip it to bare metal you couldve just sprayed urathane sanding primer then sand it flat when your ready to paint. Also dont touch the bare metal with your bare hands, body oils will cause rust pretty quickly expecially if it humid where youre located

 

You could probably spray the urethane sanding primer over the epoxy primer never tried but I dont see why not usually it get painted soon after so we use sealer. What color were you planning on painting it later?

 

Thanks for the info! It would eventually be painted DG. For now I just want it sealed & smooth for a vinyl wrap. Also I did not remove the paint on the other side. I planned on just scuffing that side on the edges. I may primer that side as well but only to the carpet outline.

 

Honestly if you do primer the inside of the trunk itll be better to primer the whole inside that way theres wont be a line from the primer. Primer lines are pretty hard to get rid of. Even if you may not ever see it its your car man you should do right

 

Touche, well I already stripped the outside. Should I chem strip the underside as well or just sand the underside and primer it all at once? Its really not any more work either way. I ordered my primer epoxy today so should be here by the weekend. Got the garage all setup for paint this weekend. Cheap plastic sheet and some staples ftw lol!

Thats the plan really. I want the option of after the vinyl to eventually be able to paint it without much more prep if I go that route down the road.

 

For the inside of the trunk its better to just sand and primer. Even better put extra rust proofing inside the trunk just for extra protection, not sure if your located in a coastal/humid area but a little extra rust protection never hurts haha.