[shad9876]

I painted two panels separately and one turned out nice and vibrant with good depth in the clear and the other came out milky.

Color is solid red, top coated with high solids universal clear.

I used two different methods for each panel.

Panel #1: color, then 3 coats of clear allowing proper flash times between coats

Panel #2: I wanted to experiment a little, so I laid the color down, followed by two coats of clear. I let that set for a few days, blocked the clear down with 600, let that sit for a few days and then two more coats of clear.

Results:

Panel #1: turned out very nice, good clarity and depth. Blocked it down with 1200 then 2000, then buffed. Very nice.

Panel #2: When looking at this panel by itself it looks nice, but when side by side comparison with the first panel it is much less vibrant, somewhat milky.
Blocked it down with 1200, 2000 then buffed and still seems to have a milky appearance to it when compared to panel #1.

My questions:

What do you think caused it? ...trapped gasses/solvents??

Is there anything I can do to bring out the depth and clarity in panel #2 so that it will "match" panel #1?


Thanks!
Most people don't experiment with the panels that are actually going onto their car...when will I learn?

[milo]

Originally Posted by shad9876

Is there anything I can do to bring out the depth and clarity in panel #2 so that it will "match" panel #1?

Maybe .. just maybe...wet sand the dull panel with 1000 grit and let it sit for a couple days ,, then sand again with 2000 grit and polish as usual..

Sometimes buffing itself will seal the surface and hold things in a gloss limbo like you describe

[MARTINSR]

What is the ONE difference between the two? That ONE difference (unless there was a difference in actual application) is that you applied more clear.

Clear isn't "clear", depending on the brand, and the "line" (one brand may have a clearer clear than another they sell) some are clearer than others.

Where you could have done this exact same thing with another clear and not noticed a difference you could have done it with a clear that would have even had a worse difference.

But applying more clear is actually one of the biggest mistakes made with these products. More is most definetly not better!

Brian

[kleen56]

I've noticed when I get a milky look in the clear paint its because of temperature. If the room temperature your spraying in is cold, the clear will become cloudy. If it's warm, the paint is clear. Sometimes, when heat is applied with a heater or heat gun while the paint is still fresh, it'll clear up the cloudiness. When I get a cloudy clear, I usually sand the coating off and respray it.

[shad9876]

Interesting, because I painted the "milky" panel at night (probably got to mid 60')s and painted the clear panel during the day (probably mid 80's).

Should I get it out in the sun for a couple days?

When you say, "sand the coating off and respray", do you mean respray clear or lay down more base and then clear?

[kleen56]

Originally Posted by shad9876

Interesting, because I painted the "milky" panel at night (probably got to mid 60')s and painted the clear panel during the day (probably mid 80's).

Should I get it out in the sun for a couple days?

When you say, "sand the coating off and respray", do you mean respray clear or lay down more base and then clear?

You've already sprayed the clear and its already set. Putting it in the sun won't help at this point. What I do, is sand just the clear coat off (the milky stuff) Your base coat should be fine. Then spray the clear on again, but this time in warmer temps. You should be fine. Try to remove the milky coating, because the clear will just cover the milky and you'll have the same thing.

[shad9876]

Since I have ~4-5 coats of clear, is it possible that I could sand down past the milky and then buff? I suppose this would just depend on how deep the milky-ness is.
Say I sand down ~1.5 coats, that would at least in theory leave me ~2.5-3.5 coats remaining. Should still be sufficient for maximum gloss and depth potential, right?

If I were to remove more clear, what grit and method would you recommend.
hand sand, da, etc...? Hand sanding with 600 seems like it would take forever!

[kleen56]

Its hard to say without looking at it. Try sanding it with 1000 and then a 2000 and try rubbing it out. If its clear your fine. Otherwise, you'll have to sand it down. I prefer doing it by hand and a block. 450 will take it down fast. Try not to take too much of the basecoat paint, or you'll have to repaint that too. Use plenty of water so you can see what your sanding. The key is to have good paint and no milky prior to applying the clear. I learned by experimenting. Try a small section and see what you come up with. The worse that can happen is you have to reshoot the whole thing. That's the fun about working on cars right? You'll be alright. Just have to put some elbow into it. The finished product is the payoff. Any you can say you did it. Shad, remember, if you think the paint is too thin, you can shoot more paint on it as long as the surface is clean. You can sand it, shoot base color and still shoot clear later. That the nice part of painting, if you screw up, you can always fix it! Let me know how it turns out. If you do good, you can paint my truck for me....

[shad9876]

I talked with the clear manufacturer and he suggested getting it in the sun for a day or two, so I will try that first as a long shot.

So I've got it sanded with 1000 and in the sun.
Hopefully that will do the trick, then I can sand with 2000 and buff!

[milo]

adjust your ignore list ...

[shad9876]

"adjust your ignore list"

???? I don't understand.

[milo]

Leaving the surface "open" for a while by lightly sanding it (since it has already been sanded) and waiting for it to gas out a for 24 hours before buffing it again will make a diference.

[Runnin'OnEmpty]

Since one of the variables was spraying the cloudy panel at night , the problem might be moisture in the clear. (Since there's higher humidity
at night).
If that's the case, then it'll clear up when the moisture evaporates.

Might take awhile, but anything to heat it up will help, either using heaters
or leaving it in sunlight.

[shad9876]

It hasn't really rained here (houston area) since hurricane IKE. I roll my car out to get some sun and it starts pouring...interesting.

[70 chevelle conv]

Hi everyone! I,m new to the board. I,m a little late but here is what I believe is causing you're milky look, it's the 600 grit scratch from the paper. I'm speaking from my experience I've painted showcars and one time I decided to sand the clear and respray a flow coat. I used 600 and guess what I had the same thing it looked good, but just didn't have the depth "hazey looking". Next time I did 600 and followed it with 1000 grit, that made a world of difference.