Behr Paint Jobs- Show me your MV's

So after reading through this extremely informative thread in its entirety, which was no quick task, I have decided to go the Behr paint route. Sounds like several have had good luck without priming anything and spraying Behr paint direct with a Wagner electric power sprayer or other similar brand and it adheres to bare/rust metal just fine. I think I am going the extra cautious route and anything with rust or bare metal after sandblasting I will prime with a red primer. If nothing else it will let me allow it to sit a while if I can't get to painting it right away completely. My question is, I remember reading somewhere in here but cannot remember where or what page a discussion on spraying the Behr paint as is right out of the can vs. thinning the paint with a mix of 1 part (1/4) water to 3 parts (3/4) paint. Anyone have any experience with either method regarding ease of spraying and if one adhered and/or lasts better than the other method? I'm thinking for thickness and adhesion it would be better to spray right out of the can un-thinned, but I may not know if my Wagner power sprayer will work well without thinning until I actually try it. If thinning with water has no real adverse effect, maybe that's the way to go. Thanks in advance.

Yes, red primer. Use a small dose Flo-trol and go light on the water with Behr.

We have used BEHR ULTRA EXT FLAT MATTE paint and had great luck spraying it with a cheap graco airless sprayer with 50’ of hose and spraying right out of the can. A FMTV or M939 truck takes about 6 gallons, LMTV about 5 gallons, and a HMMWV takes about a gallon and a half. If you have a good paint chip or I used a new bridge weight plate they can color match easy at the Depot. Wash out the sprayer and hose with the water hose and good to go. Only downfall is its hard to paint when its cold because the paint will not dry.

I’ll second the Graco airless. It’s a Godsend. No need in thinning it, just paint. The Graco is a monster. It sprays out paint like a champ. Adjust it on a piece of cardboard or plywood and then go to town.

If its hot or dry, keep a damp rag handy and wipe down the nozzle every now and then. If you have to take a break, I just dunk the entire gun in a bucket of water, keeps the jets from clogging. Put a wet towel over the paint bucket too to keep it from drying out too much.

I've sprayed Behr after thinning and FloTrol though a standard HVLP sprayer, much slower than optimum but it worked great, laying flat and smooth. It works best in dry climate so the water flashes fast. Might not work too well at 100% relative humidity.

A true airless which gets 4000+ PSI should work well, I just haven't had much luck with the cheaper Wagner units and water based house paint as it tends to go on rough.

When I get a round to it, my 1986 M1031 is getting a full respray. Fortunately, my soon to be neighbor is a blasting shop so prep is going to be a little wallet thinning.

One of the posts mentioned the federal color code/ID which I took to Home Depot. I bought a quart of recommended Behr outdoor paint (flat, ultra, et. cetera), and have been using it to coat my MEP803a which is just about done.

Once prepped (lightly sanded w/ a 3M green scouring pad and degreased where necessary - much of it, actually), I've used a small 1" brush and 3" roller and am very satisfied w/ finish.

Might even do the BDU woodland camo theme, I've got the book of patterns. Might.

I'll post pics when I'm done with it.

Has anyone tried using the BEHR Premium Plus Interior/Exterior Multi-Surface Primer & Sealer as the primer and then used the BEHR flat exterior paint of the color of their choosing on their MV's? If so recommended as the primer over existing metal and holds up well? Any different then using the all in one primer and paint?

I've been seeing alot of the paint is now labeled "paint and primer". Not sure there is really a difference.
I use an oil based primer with good results. The rustoleum red resty metal primer on steel and self etching primer on aluminum.

Just painted my M348 last weekend with a harbor freight hvlp.

And after!

3rdmdqm said:

Has anyone tried using the BEHR Premium Plus Interior/Exterior Multi-Surface Primer & Sealer as the primer and then used the BEHR flat exterior paint of the color of their choosing on their MV's? If so recommended as the primer over existing metal and holds up well? Any different then using the all in one primer and paint?

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There really is no need. The paint itself sticks to CARC like glue and even to bare metal. I painted a piece of 16 ga sheet I had in the garage. It was clean, but I didn’t prep it at all. Never cleaned it from the time I bought it. I just rolled a big 2-3 sq foot area and it is on there for good. I am amazed at the quality of the stuff.

IMO painting a primer before this paint is a waste of time and money. It sticks. If you are concerned about bare metal spots, you can hit it with some rustoleum spray first.

Which Graco specifically are people talking about? I looked and I see they make a lot of different airless sprayers. I usually shoot CARC through a HVLP but I am getting tired of the hassles with it, and think I might give this a go.

So I emailed BEHR Tech Support to get some feedback on the paint properties, in particular how the primer or paint would adhere to rusty surfaces, how it would hold up in the elements, specifically what they would recommend for bare steel, vs. rust coated steel, vs overother paints, if oil based primer would be recommended and then if theoir exterior latex would stick to it. Here is the complete response I got back, "We do not recommend BEHR products for automobile/truck application." LOL. After emailing them back and saying let's just forget the truck application and assume this is an exterior steel structure I finally got some technical responses back regarding the paint properties.

I don't know anything about the Behr paint specifically but one thing to consider is that in some systems the colored paint layer is not 100% water tight. Water can still get inside, a tiny bit, and these systems rely on a sealing primer and/or gloss to be become waterproof. So it's not just about adhesion - if the paint layer sticks down to bare metal that's great, but is it going to transport water over time to where you'll see rust come up. CARC is this way in my experience. I've got "ready-to-spray" jeep piece that had a non-sealing primer base, great adhesion on the CARC, and now after a few years the entire piece is rusting. I should have shot it with the same sealing epoxy primer I did for everything else. Lesson learned. I've seen it on other Jeep projects too where guys were lazy about the prep.

Anyways if they certify it as sealing that's great. Otherwise just use a good sealing primer. but I would be leery about using it for bare metal.

3rdmdqm said:

So I emailed BEHR Tech Support to get some feedback on the paint properties, in particular how the primer or paint would adhere to rusty surfaces, how it would hold up in the elements, specifically what they would recommend for bare steel, vs. rust coated steel, vs overother paints, if oil based primer would be recommended and then if theoir exterior latex would stick to it. Here is the complete response I got back, "We do not recommend BEHR products for automobile/truck application." LOL. After emailing them back and saying let's just forget the truck application and assume this is an exterior steel structure I finally got some technical responses back regarding the paint properties.

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I can imagine that guy was shaking his head saying “seriously? This guy wants to paint his car with a latex paint? What an idiot!”

Little does he know.

Shewin Williams also makes a paint that they recommend for painting ocean shipping crates. It’s a latex exterior paint.

Premium paints have come a long way in the last 20 years. you could get away with Lowe’s premium brand as well. I’m sure the science behind all of them is the same.

I painted a tan 1101 green and black, which has a totally different finish than a 939. A much smoother finish. The Behr sticks to it just fine. Only prep was a hosed off finish.

You have 80 pages of believers. Just remember, dry paint does not equal cured paint. It drys quickly, and is rainproof within a few hours (I found this out twice in 60’s temperature range). But it takes a week or more to really cure to the proper hardness. So don’t be disappointed if it’s a bit soft a day or two after painting.

The premium exterior latex latex paints of today are a fine choice for these vehicles. CARC holds it extremely well, and it sticks amazingly well to bare metal in my experiments.

Proceed with confidence!

Just entered the 5 year mark, still doing just touch ups here and there! Being outside all the time we're getting a little fading, but got that in the Army as well with acrylic paint!

This is the paint scheme I'm looking for without the brown. I'm thinking of painting the whole truck green first. Then come back later and do the black. Is that the way you guys would do it? If so, How soon after painting the green would I need to do the black? Would I mask the parts I want to stay green? I don't really see a sharp edge from black to green. Do they just freehand it? Have any of you guys got a link to a how to video?

Don’t mask it. Id just freehand it.

It dries pretty quickly, but takes a while to cure. Like a week or so. It isn’t as scuff resistant until it’s cured. I would think you would be safe to paint over it in 24 hours. That should be plenty of time.

FWIW, it’s rainproof in just a couple hours. Found that out twice. It was cool both times, like in the 50’s.

Buffalobwana said:

Don’t mask it. Id just freehand it.
It dries pretty quickly, but takes a while to cure. Like a week or so. It isn’t as scuff resistant until it’s cured. I would think you would be safe to paint over it in 24 hours. That should be plenty of time.
FWIW, it’s rainproof in just a couple hours. Found that out twice. It was cool both times, like in the 50’s.

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Thanks for quick reply. Actually, what I want to do is disassemble the truck and paint everything green. Then assemble it and paint the black. It will take me a long time to get it together. So would there be a problem painting the black several months later? It will be inside, so no rain. But will get dusty. Would I need to scuff the green where the black would go?

Dont suppose anybody has paint codes for that green?

Is there a reason you are disassembling the truck? I just masked off the mirrors and windows and anything I didn’t want paint on.

Do not scuff it up. The CARC is very rough and holds paint well. I’d just wash it with water, to remove dust, let it air dry, then paint the black. No problem with painting it months later.

There is a thread on how to get the paint mixed. The Federal Standard code and how to instruct Home Depot employees to find codes for all the military colors.