paint garage door

[john320d]

my metal garage door requires repainting. I painted it about 20 years ago and I have forgotten the type of paint that I used. The door will be painted in situ. Best paint is oil based?. Water based?. Polyurethane?.
I intend lightly sanding the door, then undercoating it, the top coat would be satin or eggshell finish. Any comments would be most welcome. Thank you.

 

[sparkwright]

Prime all bare metal with a primer, this could be a special metals primer.

Oil-based undercoat and top coat is probably favourite.

Gloss may be easier to keep clean IMO.

 

[john320d]

Thankyou for your reply. I am now in the process of burning off the old paint and starting to remember what I did last time. I did use a special metals primer and possibly Hammerite. I will most likely use a oil based paint this time. Would oil based topcoat be ok on top of a new application of special metals primer? The door has 9 profiled squares, if the door had been flat I would have used a roller. Which is the best way of applying the topcoat? Many thanks.

 

[Notch7]

You could use s gloss roller then lay off with a quality brush.

 

[john320d]

The door is made of 3 vertical panels say 7ftsx2fts. I am thinking of using masking tape on both sides of the central panel leaving the joints open for the painting of the side panels. Then later put masking tape on the completed side panels next to the joint. That way when I paint the central panel the joint will have had 2 coats. I think that I will be more in control of paint drying times and weather etc. Thanks again.

 

[phatboy]

I did mine with car paint, which came with a hardener.

It went direct onto the bare metal. I did 2 coats, but if I had pressed a bit harder, 1 coat would have done it.