Vent: Went with cheap primer instead of the name brand on a Chevy Silverado job

Last month I had a 2015 Silverado come in with a bad door ding repair. Decided to save $30 and use the store brand primer instead of my usual PPG stuff. After three weeks the paint started lifting around the repair area. Ended up having to strip it all down and redo the whole panel. Has anyone else had bad luck cutting corners on materials like this?

3 comments

3 Comments

henry_palmer242mo ago

Is it really that big a deal though?

allen.cole13d ago

... I had a buddy learn this one the hard way too. He used some discount store primer on his old Mustang, figured paint is paint. Within six months the whole hood was peeling off in sheets, like the primer never bonded right. He spent more time fixing that mess than he did on the actual paint job. @henry_palmer24 I get what you're saying, it might not seem like a big deal till you're the one wet sanding out orange peel you could have avoided. That cheap stuff saved him maybe twenty bucks but cost him two weekends. Now he won't touch anything but name brand primer, learned his lesson just like leo_kelly mentioned.

leo_kelly2mo ago

Have you ever had a cheap primer ruin your paintjob like that? Its the worst feeling when you try to save a few bucks and it backfires hard. I did the same thing years ago on a friends truck. Used store brand primer on a rust spot and it bubbled up after a month. Had to sand it all down and redo it with the good stuff. Now I never cheap out on primer or clear coat. Its just not worth the headache of doing the job twice.