Painting

[WhereEaglesDare]

When painting a cab to make it looks good again and it has black laminate on it, should I remove the laminate first or just use bondo to fill in the lil dents and prime it and paint over it?

[javeryh]

Remove the laminate.

[drventure]

Yeah, I know from bad experience about trying to get stuff like paint to stick to laminate 

Probably best to remove it, fill and sand, then prime.

You might check out that spray filler/primer that OND mentioned. I've seen it at pep boys locally, though I'm guessing many auto supply or painting places should have it.

[jennifer]

  Paint/primer will have to applied fairly thick in multiple light coats, in order to get the fill needed to compensate for the missing laminate........
and not leaving a lip/step up to the T moulding...... or relaminate thats fun too!!!!!

[WhereEaglesDare]

Thanks I'm going to paint my MAME cab next weekend.  We'll see how it turns out

[DeLuSioNal29]

I've painted laminate and it came out great.

Here's what I suggest you do:

-  Fill in the gaps with Car Bondo (yes the pink stuff - smells but dries SUPERFAST and bonds to anything).  Wood filler will fall out easily so don't use that.
-  Sand the bondo down.  Use 80 grit to get it close to the surface.  Then 220 grit to make it really smooth to match the surface.  Run your hand over it when you're done and you will not feel the hole at all.
-  Lightly sand the laminate with 220 grit sandpaper to remove the shine (so that the paint will stick).
-  Used a "tack cloth" to remove the dust. (available at Home Depot/Lowes for a few dollars for a 3 pack)
-  Paint it using OIL BASED paint and a foam roller (will not leave streaks).  I used Rustoleum's Satin Black (see pic below)
-  Let it dry for 48 hours and then Sand it BY HAND using 220 grit sandpaper. (a sanding sponge works great)
-  Used a tack cloth to remove any sanding dust.
-  Give it another coat of paint.
-  Let it dry for 48 hours and then Sand it BY HAND again using 220 grit sandpaper.
-  Used a tack cloth to remove any sanding dust.
-  Give it a final coat of paint.

(You can rinse a repeat the painting process until the smoothness you want is achieved).

Worked great for me.

DeLuSioNaL29