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Old 07-14-2022, 05:48 PM   #11
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Raptor liner is great stuff and I have used it a lot. BUT that does not mean you can skimp on the prep work, like anything Raptor liner still needs to adhere to something, and smooth paint / clear coat is not that. You still need to sand the whole van when using Raptor liner. If you don’t it’s not going to last.

The other thing to remember is no bed liner style paints are fully waterproof (like regular paint is) so when sand to bare metal you need an epoxy primer as that is the only primer that will give you that waterproof barrier.

Personally hate the very rough finish of Berliner’s on vehicles bodywork as you simply can’t wash them easily, rips a sponge, pita with a cloth etc. So I thin Raptor liner down with a thinner and spray with a normal paint gun, (upol will give you all the instructions to do this). that way you get a textured finish you can easily clean and IMO looks far better.

Example of finish.


Bumpers, flares, roof rack, steps have all been done in raptor liner, van was painted in method described in previous post

Pic is using a “tree hoist” to get the roof rack back on.

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Old 07-14-2022, 06:57 PM   #12
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All good: I plan on sanding everything. Question was mainly on far I got to go.
Coming from the adhesive world I know a bit about surface prep, which is why I said ecoat sticks to surface, so why take it off.

I have my bumper and grill already raptored. 60psi and the “simple” spray gun from Raptor seems to be easily cleanable. But perhaps you’re right and should make it a bit smoother (longterm). Let’s see.

Funny: the tree hoist is my idea as well [emoji23]
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And I decided for mechanical removal and not a stripper. I guess two boxes of beer, a running grill and some friends should make it possible fairly quickly.

Inner areas (covered by weatherstrip) will just be surface sanded and painted with regular paint, same/ similar color.

End of next week the van goes to the body shop for the metal work (I should learn welding next!!) and then I go ahead and start. Decision made, wife convinced [emoji23][emoji898]

Just taped some areas to see where the paint chips off and I have to go deeper.

Oh man! Looking forward to all the fun and curses :-D
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Old 07-14-2022, 07:12 PM   #13
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On how far to go sanding, ive used 120 grit in a random orbital sander (with soft pad) and been done very quickly. I use woodworking sanders as that’s what I have to hand, works really well for preparing painted surface for Raptor liner, it just clogsup the paper very quickly, found slowing the sander down works wonders and clogs up the paper less as it gives the dust more time to disperse.
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Old 07-14-2022, 09:18 PM   #14
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Thanks for the hint. Was planning to go for wet sanding with a random da + belt sander + what I need. But 120-200 is what I had in mind.

Once back from the body shop I will take pics and let you participate in my story.

My tape test at least showed bigger spots than anticipated. So I will decide on the go :-)

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Old 07-14-2022, 09:45 PM   #15
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Sorry guys. Can’t wait [emoji23][emoji23]


Test Random DA’ed a few spots. Ecoat or not: that’s no additional effort.once the clear and white is gone it’s an additional second to have the ecoat off.

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Old 07-16-2022, 08:48 AM   #16
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FYI

I Stripped it Down to Bare Steel & Found.. // '69 Off-Road Beetle

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Old 07-16-2022, 07:55 PM   #17
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Thanks for the link!

This one shows these brushes as well. Will just some different stuff and see how it goes.

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Old 07-23-2022, 08:30 PM   #18
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Hey guys. Update!

I’m at the point of now return!
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I now have all dent areas clean as the body wants it. Tomorrow I just got to do the wheel wells and starting it’s in the body shop for ~2 weeks.

The weekend I get it back I’ll start with the drivers side paint.
I also decided to take the windows out and do it properly to
A) replace the old sealings/ butyl and
B) avoid any non painted areas in these gaps around the windows.



First hands on experience so far:
Angle grinder with 80 grit flap disc:
really aggressive and quick
You get marks going back and forth (so do it like a rattle can)

Angle grinder with 7” backing plate and 120 grit:
Very (!) fast
Larger area than flap disc
my Makita 18V has so much power, unbelievable how quick everything is gone
Will need to test 220 or so to see how it handles

Power drill with wire brush:
Really good for corners and the weld seam area at the bottom
Takes the “rubberized” layer at the bottom away much easier w/o “liquifying” it
Used it as pre-step before Random DA

Random DA with 120 grit:
Fairly slow

Random DA with 80 grit
Acceptable speed
My favorite for now, but got to play more with the angle grinder + 150/220.
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Old 08-02-2022, 02:43 PM   #19
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Update:
Body shop has taken out the big dent, now working on the wheel wells. I should have the van back next week and can start next weekend.

Below my plan for now

Weekend 1: “details = everything you can’t touch from outside”
- take doors off, remove all seals/ weatherstrip
- scuff all corners/ door jams/…
- epoxy primer all corners,…
- paint all corners in final color: 40-50% thinned tinted version of Raptor on HVLP gun

This way all weatherstrip/ sealing areas are fairly flat.


Weekend 2: “driver side + perhaps roof or back doors”
- mount doors
- take down to bare metal
- epoxy primer
- paint in final color with 20% thinned tinted Raptor and HVLP

I was thinking about sheepshaggers comment on the roughness and watched some videos. Eventually decided to go slightly smoother than usual.


Weekend 3: “other exterior”
See above


Weekend 4: “black stripe at the bottom”
- scuff primer slightly
- shoot with Schutz gun in the known rough pattern

Having color A (you’ll see it when it’s done :-)) on the body with a smoother finish and black at the bottom with a rougher finish, could look nice.



Let’s see how it all turns out [emoji23][emoji23]
Still got to decide about how to built my mobile paint shop in my driveway though ^^
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Old 08-10-2022, 02:56 PM   #20
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Another update:
picked it up from the body shop, but I‘m not happy with the results. Will use the weekend to start the door jams and roof, but he has to work on the wheel wells and driver side dent more carefully.

On the wheel wells I got the spacing I wanted, but instead of welding the „radius part“ back on as we had talked it through, he more or less attached it 90 degrees… so now the top part has the radius and the bottom parts have an angle…

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For the driver side dent he took the dent out, but didn‘t follow the long dented line along the whole body. You can see how there is a shade in the stock „dent“, but the part he worked on just hit that 30% or so…
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