Gelcoat - midyear

[Jim D.]

If you find gelcoat on you car, should you remove it to repaint? Here is a picture of my 66 nose that I stripped to day, is the dark color gelcoat or a primer? BTW, the car was previously painted an unoriginal color, red and I'm going to take it back to its original color, white. The car will never be judged but I just want it to look the best it can be within a reasonable amount of time and money.

[Dick W.]

Re: Gelcoat - midyear

If you find gelcoat on you car, should you remove it to repaint? Here is a picture of my 66 nose that I stripped to day, is the dark color gelcoat or a primer? BTW, the car was previously painted an unoriginal color, red and I'm going to take it back to its original color, white. The car will never be judged but I just want it to look the best it can be within a reasonable amount of time and money.

Not a good photo, but I venture to guess what you are seeing is red oxide primer.

[Jim D.]

Re: Gelcoat - midyear

Dick, its not red but a dark gray?

[Bruce B.]

Re: Gelcoat - midyear

To answer your question: there is no reason to remove gelcoat unless it id showing obvious defects such as cracking, checking or other surface problems.

[Bill H.]

Re: Gelcoat - midyear

Commercially available chemical paint strippers will not remove gelcoat. It is hard to tell in your photo, but that appears to be urethane primer, which the stripper will soften and remove.

[Jim D.]

Re: Gelcoat - midyear

Bill, if it is urethane prime, what is the best way to remove it?

[Jim C.]

Re: Gelcoat - midyear

If you find gelcoat on you car, should you remove it to repaint? Here is a picture of my 66 nose that I stripped to day, is the dark color gelcoat or a primer? BTW, the car was previously painted an unoriginal color, red and I'm going to take it back to its original color, white. The car will never be judged but I just want it to look the best it can be within a reasonable amount of time and money.

The picture is not good, but I believe what you see is the grey polyester resin that they used to mold those parts. The parts were molded here in Ashtabula, Ohio in that era. The molding was done with matched metal molds using either the preform or mat molding process.