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New Paint, Clear Scratches real easy??

3K views 11 replies 4 participants last post by  syclone477 
#1 · (Edited)
Hey Guys,
Just got my vehicle painted black and cleared. Payed close to 4 grand to a reputable shop to have the work done. But now that I have the truck back and am reassembling everything, I notice that rubbing against the truck with clothes, or even your finger will put scratches in the clear. There are absolutly no swirls in the clear at all, they said they dont use sanders and do it all by hand. They also said they wetsanded and polished the truck after the clear was done. Im very happy with the paint, the reflection is amazing, and it is the smoothest paint I ve ever felt with no visible swirls in the clear. So my question, is this normal after a week and a half after clear to still be this delicate?? If so what can I put on it, wax, some type of liquid glass coating?? Its like maybe they didnt put enough hardner in the clear, or thinned it out to much to get it to flow nicely?? They said they used PPG base and medium quality PPG clear?? Looking for a professional opinion before I go back and notify the painter. Thanks guys, Fern
 
#2 ·
The clear will be "green" for awhile as it takes time for the solvents to work their way out and the clear to get hard. Depending on how many coats along with the temp will determine how long it takes.Usually 1-2 weeks. Setting it out in the sun will help.

DO NOT WAX IT!!!!! Or put ANYTHING else on it for that matter.
The LAST thing you want to do is seal the clear with wax or such.It still needs to expel the solvents and wax will seal it from doing this.

Have you asked the shop how long and what their recomendation is??
 
#4 ·
I would not wax it.

One of the best things you can do at this point is try to get the car outside for a few days.
Cloud cover or temp does not matter as much as being exposed to the UV's
and that will cause a mass settling of solvents and cause it to finish curing.

This is assuming the the car has been in a heated place for at least a week or so?

You see a lot of this problem during this time of year when shops shut the heat off at night and the metal gets cold. It may take 30 minutes in morning to heat the shop up to 70 but the metal is still 50 degrees and will take many hours to warm back up. One of the worse things that can happen is primer a fender when the air temp is 70 and the metal temp is 50. It can take months for that solvent to come out.
 
#5 ·
Yeah its been in my heated garage at 65 since I got it back. So you dont think there was any mistake done by the shop?? So the best thing for it would be to put it outside on sunny days, even though it is below freezing here?? How long would be reasonable till the clear hardened up?? Thanks for the help guys.
 
#6 · (Edited)
syclone477 said:
Yeah its been in my heated garage at 65 since I got it back. So you don't think there was any mistake done by the shop?? So the best thing for it would be to put it outside on sunny days, even though it is below freezing here?? How long would be reasonable till the clear hardened up?? Thanks for the help guys.
Forget what I said! I was not thinking as it was 70 here today.
Leave it in the heated garage for now.
If the garage is 65 the metal temp is 55-58, not really helping you much.
Can you get the garage to 75? It will speed things up for you a lot.
 
#8 ·
We just cannot say. We don't know how it was painted or what products, we don't know if solvent is trapped in primer or the base or the first coat of clear.
the deeper the solvent the longer it will take to come out. If you have a Lazar gun try to keep the metal at 70 degrees and in a week you should notice a difference.
 
#9 ·
With the job being only weeks old, I’m surprised that the shop said it was ok to wax it.......even if it had been baked.....I would think you wouldn’t want to wax it for at least a month.

I myself don’t wax at all for a year.........and only use hand glazes or polishes.......just to be on the safe side.
 
#10 ·
Hey Barry,
I got the shop set to 78 over night and over the week ends. I already have some pretty noticable scratchs in the clear already, guess I should do anything for at least a month right?? At that point what should I do to clean it up?? Thanks again, Fern
 
#11 ·
Right, let it set a little and you should start seeing some hardness develop, than finish putting together. After about a month i would carry it back to shop and those scratches should buff out pretty easy. Most likely they are not as deep as you think/
 
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