A&Q about 350Z
Q:
I'm really looking at doing this to my garage floor this weekend.
They have 2 kinds, the regular garage floor coating which is water based epoxy, and a professional that is a solvent based epoxy (and costs almost 2x as much). I'm going to go with the professional one.
Then I'm going to top it off with their clear coat....Total cost to do the 3 car garage is going to be about $300.
I've read a bunch of reviews, and about 80% of them are good reviews, and the other 20% I'm attributing to people either not doing a proper prep, trying to do it on a previously coated garage floor, or doing it when temperatures/humidty isn't where it's supposed to be.
Has anyone else used this product? Got pictures of before/after?
A:
I did half my garage with the regular coating (gray with the paint chips). Plan on doing the other half when the Jeep is done. It didn't have the clear coat. Worth every darn penny. The floor is very easy to clean up and I haven't managed to chip it at all. My key to making it work right was washing, scrubbing, and rinsing with the cleaner three times instead of the one time the instructions call for. Don't have a pic of the floor for you but go ahead and do it. Also when you do the cleanup of the floor a powerwasher helps.
1973 240Z 4 screw SU's, Tokico HP's, Toyota Calipers
1946 Willys-Overland CJ-2A (restoration in progress)
2006 Ural Gear-Up
A:
Does anyone know how these floor paints stand up to road salt?? I'd love to do my garage floor, but we do have salt on the roads here in the winter. I'd hate to have a mess in a few years...
Phil
1981 280zxt
5-speed conversion,3.9 R200,Eibach springs,Tokico struts,Energy Suspension,K&N CAI,AutoMeter A/F, Boost, Fuel Gauges,Cusco Strut Bar,Greddy B Spec II boost control,Jeffp 3in mandrel exhaust,Magnaflow,Spearco Cooler, HKS BOV, 10 psi
A:
Solvent based will be less prone to "chalking" when exposed to sunlight for extended periods.
Solvent based epoxies are better, as a general rule, than anything water-based.
I was responsible for repainting half of our Gas Plant Piping during California's switchover from Solvent-Based to Water Based low-VOC Epoxy. We were already on the Rustoleum program in the process piping, so we stayed with it. In two years the stuff painted with water based paint was chalked almost white, and when you pressure washed it it turned back grey, but you KNEW a mil or two of paint was gone from oxidation.
On the piping painted with the older Solvent-Based formula, it was still glossy and "wet" looking.
Solvent based paints hold their gloss far longer than any of the water based paints. We did most of the concrete containment berms in the process area, and the solvent painted berms didn't stain like the water based painted ones did, and as with the piping, the water based stuff chalked up.
My walkways were all painted with water based stuff, and it seemed to not hold up as well to foot traffic as well as the solvent based stuff did when in comparable-traffic areas.
Probably the closest comparison of all would be the experience of the different coatings in the engine room---where direct sunlight was not a factor. In there, the gloss seemed to go off the water-based stuff after a couple of washings, where the solvent based stuff stayed glossy and "wet" looking far longer. Matter of fact, the lines painted on solvent based substrate seemed to stick better as well compared to water-based lines atop water based paints.
In either case, the muriatic acid washing of the concrete (etching) is HIGHLY recomended. The adhesion of the paint was FAR MORE durable on the etched portions of our engine room floor than on the parts where it was simply put on freshly cured concrete with a rough surface.
The etching of the surface makes the stuff really stick, and this will keep it from pulling up with hot tires parked on it.
As for salt, we had brine spray in one section of the plant, and the paints both seemed to stand up similarly, but again, the solvent based paint seemed to hold it's gloss and overall apearance far longer than the water-based paint.
FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS OR YOU WILL GET PAINT THAT LIFTS!
People Are Idiots, Just look around here and you will see!
Tony D: "Knowledgeable but Caustic"... rationull
My brother from another mother calls himself "Willie D"
A:
Join this site and you can find some good information and pictures of garage floors. Along with other cool stuff!
http://www.garagejournal.com/
77 280Z with SBC, 700R4, Vette C4 IRS W/11.5 rear disk, Centerlines 16x9.5 W/BF G 245x45ZR Comp T/A Rear and 15x7 Ft W/BF Goodrich Euro 225x15 on ft. Soon to have Coleman 12.2x1.25, x-drilled, zinc plated, Rotors W/Billet Outlaw 4000. Z U V8ter
A:
Just a heads up on an alternative to the Home Depot brand stuff. I went with this company http://www.protectyoursurface.com/pitch5.html and I was very satisfied with my results. My two-car garage took less than a gallon and a half, and you may be able to do a three car garage with two gallons (you might need a third gallon). The stuff costs about $100 a gallon and I was made aware of it by a friend who works at a hydroelectric dam, and that is what they used on the powerhouse floor (inside a dam with lots of machinery and high humidity). My floor came out awesome and I highly recomend it.
They will call you about three months after you get your product to try and sell you more, so be ready. I wish I had a picture of my finished floor, but all I have are before pics! I have since sold the house.
Do not belive the web site, because it says that it dries in two hours (to the touch maybe) because you have to wait a week before parking on it.
'72 240Z
A:
You may not believe this, but I know a guy that painted his garage floor with Gray POR15, about 6 years ago. It still looks great and he parked his cars on it the next day. He use 2 Gallons to give his 2 car garage 2 coats.
1983 280ZX current restoration project
1982 280ZX parts car for 83' and now crushed
1984 300ZX turbo Rolled it one rainy spring day, twisted the body and then junked it.
A:
I used the Rustoleum stuff on half of my garage floor a couple years ago and it is still holding up well. The half I did was the side that was pretty eaten up from years of road salt. I cleaned it really well and followed the instructions. I have dropped tools and dragged car parts across it with no ill effects. I have a couple spots where the concrete had cracked before I painted it where it has chipped a bit, but I don't think it's the paint that chipped, more like the concrete breaking. I plan to do the other half once I can have space and time to do it.
1972 240Z 4-speed, header, 3.54 R200, Crane XR-3000 Ignition, 280Z tach, Tokico Blue Struts, Suspension Tech Springs, Poly Bushings. Visit me at my website for your custom EFI & restored Datsun parts
A:
I did my garage in the stuff and loved it. It makes your shop twice as bright with the reflection off the floor. Its super easy to clean too!
One thing, Let it dry completely!!! I think it say a week with no car on it. Well, I waited a week and pulled the z in to do the Tokico springs. It wasn't completely dry. It felt dry but wasn't. I ended up getting grease into the paint and it f*cked it all up. It didn't affect the paint but in acouple areas it would not come clean :(
If you look real closely in the pic it's the floor part in front of the nose of the car.
Since then i've done 3 garages in that stuff. I will never go back to a bare floor lol!
_____________________________________
75' 2+2 Electric Blue, tokico setup, k&n filters, mostly new parts
1 year of lots of work, Finally driveable!
A:
You bring up a very good point I forgot bcg187. The paint will make your garage much brighter inside. Easier to find all that crap you drop under the car.
1973 240Z 4 screw SU's, Tokico HP's, Toyota Calipers
1946 Willys-Overland CJ-2A (restoration in progress)
2006 Ural Gear-Up