[jcclark]

I've been painting cars since the 70's, when I used lacquer.
In the 80's I went to acrylic enamel, I cleared it with enamel and
used a hardener (always) and buffed it out to a show car finish.
The paint was very durable, my own car looked as good 5 yrs later as the
day I buffed it. I'm sure if you saw it you'd swear it was basecoat/clearcoat.
It lasted great and I'm sure much longer after I sold the car.
I'd demonstrate the durability to customers by wipeing my car with
lacquer thinner, never phased it. It was tough stuff.

I now use basecoat/clearcoat, have for 15 yrs.
I guarantee all my work for 3 yrs., haven't had a single one come back yet.

It's not a durability issue with me.
(I never had a paint issue on any of my repairs painted with AE)
For me it's what works the easiest, cures quicker (Can buff out easily the next day.)
and has better/easier blending and color matching.
As far as durability, if done right, both paint types will last longer than most
people own their daily drivers. And that's what I do, repairs on daily
drivers.

[topshopracing007]

1- can i uses a realy hot - reducer for painting in 100 - 120 plus temp
to burn in to an exsisting panle to do a repair
Rather than uses a burn in reducer its was twices as high in prices

2 when using the flex Additive, on the plastic bumber Do I but the flex -Additive in the base coat and the clear coat and do i put hardner in with the bases coat too along with the clear coat

[kenseth17]

1} Need more information. If catalyzed paint or factory paint is on the car, you are not really going to burn any thing in. Solvent won't soften it like that paints of long ago. What you will be doing is thinning the edge of the paint or clear to make a blend into the old paint. This is done be spraying the edge with blending solvent or reducer and carefully buffing the area the next day. You really wouldn't need an extra slow reducer. Try to find badbobs post on blending and his method, he sprays an intercoat clear first to the blend area, and believe he has talked about the procedure. I'd save blending for a real small area if possible, your best bet is to blend in your base and clear the whole panel whenever possible if you are using basecoat/clearcoat. I wouldn't even think about painting in 120 degree temps, whew, it has gotten 100 in my garage before, but at those times I wait
2) take that flex additive back and get your money back. Prepping and sanding the urethane bumper ( or whatever you are painting) and cleaning well is going to do you more good. Specially with urethane paint which is fairly flexable as it is. I think flex additive is a waste of money. In fact most flex additives eventually evaporate out of the paint over time, and are mainly for installing parts painted off the vehicle where it may be twisted on a bit installing. Test fit before painting. I've never had a problem painting something off the car and installing it without using a flex additive. If you do use flex additive it should be mixed in with the single stage paint or the clear and used on the whole area you are painting. Do not add it to basecoat.

[onlythegood]

Originally Posted by jcclark

I've been painting cars since the 70's, when I used lacquer.
In the 80's I went to acrylic enamel, I cleared it with enamel and
used a hardener (always) and buffed it out to a show car finish.
The paint was very durable, my own car looked as good 5 yrs later as the
day I buffed it. I'm sure if you saw it you'd swear it was basecoat/clearcoat.
It lasted great and I'm sure much longer after I sold the car.
I'd demonstrate the durability to customers by wipeing my car with
lacquer thinner, never phased it. It was tough stuff.

I now use basecoat/clearcoat, have for 15 yrs.
I guarantee all my work for 3 yrs., haven't had a single one come back yet.

It's not a durability issue with me.
(I never had a paint issue on any of my repairs painted with AE)
For me it's what works the easiest, cures quicker (Can buff out easily the next day.)
and has better/easier blending and color matching.
As far as durability, if done right, both paint types will last longer than most
people own their daily drivers. And that's what I do, repairs on daily
drivers.

When you were using AE how did you get rid of the dust nibs ? Did you use
polishing compound to knock them down ? If it weren't for these nasty buggers my last job would have been perfect. Thanks for the input. OTG

[jcclark]

I went to clearing my AE just for the buffing ease it made for me.
But if you have some minor "nibs" of dust I' would think you
could knock them off with some 2000 grit wet paper and buf it out
as long as it was minimal.

For the ones I didn't clearcoat I usually flow coated them,
where I sanded it down the next day or so with fine wet paper like
600 or finer then I shot a couple of real wet coats over that.
That always amazed me how well it flowed and leveld out on that
second spraying. I got a lot less dirt that way too.
I would even add retarder in place of some of my reducer and just fog/mist
it on and it would melt in all over without running.
I would use minimal air flow on my exhaust fan to keep the dirt down.

[topshopracing007]

plaese ,
Can any one tell me the best way to spot patch base coat clear coat with out clearing the hole panle
I have some hael dents here and there but realy dont wont to clear coat the hole truck
whats the best way to do this
I was told i could uses reducer that was made to shoot on realy hot days over 100 F,
in a cooler setting that the that this reducer had slower dry time and help burn in to the exsisting coat
the burn in Clear here is tree times more that the 100 F plush reducer that im beleaving has some retarder in it so not to flash in realy hot climit I was told that if i could spray in a 75 to 85 F climit with the 100 F plus reducer that i would have the same results as burn in clear has on burning in to the clear Help My truck is brite white no matalics any sajestions

[jcclark]

There is a lot of info on this forum that is on "blending",
do a search and you will find volumes on it, there's a lot on it.
If you can't find what you need please start a new thread asking
how to blend.

[baddbob]

topshop, use blending solvent instead of slow reducer, if you don't want to purchase a large quantitiy of blender then I suggest you buy one of the aresol types that are now available. SEM is just one supplier-there are quite a few available.

[topshopracing007]

OK Im up and running ill try it blending solvent
THANKS GUYS

[Dewcat]

ive painted for 18 years laid off for 11 and painting again both paints are easy and nice but your durability and technology is in your bc/cc and if properly applied your modern matierals will hold up years beyond old school. I know this because i started out on a/enamel and ditzler delclear on top and this bc/cc surpasses by all means. just my 2 cents

[BishopLord]

So what happened? I know I'm about 4 years late on the subject, but wow, after all those questions and no pictures of the results? Did the truck ever get painted?

Myself, I'm trying to learn all I can about the various paints and have decided on a an acrylic urethane because I'm too lazy to wet sand cc. For now, I would like to have a nice looking paint job for my old car that will be sitting outside (or until I get a house with a 2-car garage).

[mrcleanr6]

doesn't matter what it is you are spraying. that really makes no difference if you have to sand and buff or not. fyi acrylic urethane is the same as cc. its just clearcoat with pigment in it. bc/cc might be a little more expensive to do but for a beginner it is going to be way easier to get good results and fix any mistakes.

[BishopLord]

Originally Posted by mrcleanr6

doesn't matter what it is you are spraying. that really makes no difference if you have to sand and buff or not. fyi acrylic urethane is the same as cc. its just clearcoat with pigment in it. bc/cc might be a little more expensive to do but for a beginner it is going to be way easier to get good results and fix any mistakes.

If AU is the same as CC, then do you recommend a wet sand and buff after the final coat of AU, or leave it as it?

[mrcleanr6]

you can only sand and buff if its a solid color. all paint will just look better being sanded and buffed. if its a metallic or pearl color then you should put a couple coats of clear on top before sanding and buffing.

[BishopLord]

For some reason I'm not seeing how sanding and buffing the clear coat will give the overall paint job a nice mirror finish. I understand the glassy shine is from the clear coat itself, but what about the underlying base coat?

For example, after you apply the final base coat, you'll apply a coat of clear before the base gets a chance to dry out (i.e., don't wait 24 hours before applying the clear). So, when you apply the clear to the not-quite-dry base coat, does this make the base coat retain the shine (gloss-wet look)? I mean, if the BC totally dried, I'm guessing it would be somewhat dull (stage 2 BC), right, and that is why you don't want to wait too long to apply the CC? I understand the concept of apply a few coats of clear, then doing a wet sand with 2000 grit and then using a buffing compound to get the glass shine, but I'm wondering what is the awesome "shine" from? The clear or the combination of a glossy color under the glassy appearance of the clear? Because I'm just imagining that the base coat, not sanded or buffed prior to the clear coat, wouldn't look that great, but apparently it does, thanks to the buffed out clear coat on top. Hopefully you can make sense of what I'm trying to say.