How should we Paint our School Bus?

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How should we Paint our School Bus?

Home > Discussion Forum > Bus Conversions - School

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All Messages in Thread	Author	Date
How should we Paint our School Bus?	Len	6-16-03
How should we paint our 36ft International School Bus? We are currently sandblasting it and applying primer. What do we do next? We are converting it into a RV. Thanks in advance.
Steel or aluminum skin?	kd5kfl	6-16-03
If the skin is aluminum, you need to find an aircraft painter. How much does it cost to sandblast a bus?
Re: How should we Paint our School Bus?	Rick Brandon	11-23-03
I am on the way to having to do an exterior paint job on a 20 seat school bus. Please let me know any ideas that anyone might have on how how to accomplish this ? Thanks Rick
Re: How should we Paint our School Bus?	Mark O.	6-17-03
I am wondering why you are going to the expense and bother of sand blasting the bus. I know the yellow is hard to live with and hard to cover but blasting a whole bus takes a lot of sand! As far as painting goes, you can spend a little or you can spend a lot. It all depends upon what you want the finished product to look like. To get a finish to rival the megabuck coach conversions you are going to have to find someone who has a paint booth big enough for your bus. Your paint cost, just for the paint and activator, is going to cost several hundred $$$, if not thousands. A single color paint job, with minimal prep, is going to be at least $3K and can go above $10K if you want multiple colors. To get a decent and servicable finsih I have found the fleet paint available from NAPA to be very affordable, easy to apply, and very durable. Application can even be done outside if the weather conditions are correct. The hardest part is the prep work and the taping. A man lift or scaffold will make the job much easier. Good luck and be careful. Falling off the roof of a bus is not a lot of fun. Mark O.
Re: How should we Paint our School Bus?	Zee	6-19-03
Hi! After sandblasting our schoolbus, I primed it, then painted it with high gloss Rustoleum. We just sprayed it on and it's been a couple of years with no problems.
Re: How should we Paint our School Bus?	Kevin	8-11-03
I have painted about a dozen school buses. I'll try to give some advice. I would not sandblast an entire school bus, only areas of rust. Paint in oxidized but otherwise good condition can be easily prepped with SCUFF STUFF. It is availably from body shop supply companies and when used with hand pads is VERY good at removing oxidation, grease, wax, tar, this stuff is great, it will cut your prep time considerably, just be sure to wash the surface using a rag or brush to remove the abrasive residue. The area which requires the most attention is the rub rails. They are hard to sand. If you don't get the area right by the edges of the rub rails the paint will peel along their edges. If you have rust along the edges, there is rust underneath. remove the rivets, and sand off the rust. Sandblast the back sides where rusted. Prime everything with a good epoxy primer. Rub rails can be repaired by replacing short sections and making a cap for the splice from a 2" wide piece. This is how the manufacturers did it and it looks fine when complete. Although you can paint over properly prepaired old paint, in the case of school bus yellow, it is definately worth the time and material cost to prime the entire bus. This is a very hard color to cover. Use the best quality paint you can afford. Use rustoleum if you have to but dont expect a good shine or durability of more than a couple years. A good quality 2K Urethane paint will have a high gloss for years, even without wax! Sand everything Keep it clean Good luck
Re: How should we Paint our School Bus?	Don	6-19-03
Sadly, the schoolbus I was buying, fell through! Tampa International called my buddy and told him, motor is gone, no compression, $5,000 new motor. I have only a few weeks before the move, so I guess I rent a truck. Darn it, (WAY much stronger languages really used on my part!). The bus was partially framed out and stuff for the bathroom, the kitchen cabinets were mostly there... SAD... Don. Anyway, a thought to Marko and all. Yes, do not fall of the roof of a bus! But paint it with the Kool-Cote, or other roof products people use on theit 10 million mobile homes in Florida, they say it keeps the place 10-15 degrees cooler....