Mike Phillips
Active member
- Dec 5, 2022
- 51,004
- 6
Can you apply a ceramic coating to old school single stage lacquer paint?
Anytime I get questions via e-mail, a PM or a FB message I prefer to invest my typing time where
A: It's easier for me to share links, pictures and videos.
B: More people can read and thus benefit from the information. (no just one set of eyeballs)
The reality is, most people that contact me found me via an article I've written or a reply I've written on this forum. The thing is, instead of figuring out that the whole reason they are contacting me is because they found me via an article or answer I wrote on the forum that they to should bring their question to the forum because not only will that help them.... but it will help a future "them". If I answer everything in a private e-mail or other touch point, no one would find and contact me. It's a cycle or pattern that repeats as long as everything is shared in the public domain.
The above is kind of wordy but re-read it slowly and it will make sense.
So I get an e-mail asking,
Mike,
I am going to detail a 1969 Chevrolet SS Impala 427 the first week in July. This car is black with black interior and a black vinyl roof all numbers matching car. The car is pristine except for the paint.
The car was repainted around 2006, however instead of using base coat clear coat they used lacquer.
The car has a lot of defects in the paint (spider webs, swirls and very dull). The owner would like to have it totally detailed inside, trunk, engine and body. She also asked about having it ceramic coated. I have detailed a lot of cars however, I don't do this full time ( more of a hobby).
The only one that was not base coat clear coat was when we worked on Kyle Tucker's 41 Willey's at Detail Fest ( So it's been a while).
My plan is to use a Porter Cable DA polisher and Sonax 4/6 finishing polish with a fairly mild pad (Pink Lake Country). I use gtechniq panel wipe, ultra serum light and Exo.
Can that even be applied to lacquer?
Any advice you can give me on how I should proceed will be very much appreciated. I really want this car to be it's best.
I was a student of yours in Stuart, May of 2013.
Respectfully,
Gary
Great questions Gary,
First there's no LAW or regulation against applying a ceramic, quartz or polymer coating to single stage paint.
Here is the only concern. Because OLD SCHOOL single stage paint is porous, UNLIKE modern basecoat/clearcoat paints, the ACT of chemically stripping it with a solvent, and I would say a very STRONG solvent like GTechniq Panel Wipe, has the effect to DULL the paint.
I always call this,
Working backwards
So it goes against my natural inclination and best practice,
To do no harm
That said, there's no law or regulation against chemically striping old school single stage paints and applying coatings to them. Because they are porous, the POLISHING OILS from ANY brand of compound or polish, even those that state they are water based, (they still have some type of lubricating and beautifying oil in them), will penetrated into the paint and make it look better, sometimes darker. When you chemically strip single stage paint, the solvents will seep into the pores of the paint and leach out these oils and this can have a dulling effect. With a normal wax or synthetic sealant, you apply this right over the oils in the paint and create a uniform [beautiful] finish.
The stronger the solvent the more dramatic the dulling effect can be.
(Of course is you're working on white or light colored paints you would dull it but your eyes would not see the dulling effect)
So here's what you could do - test out your process to a single panel and see how it looks. If it looks good repeat the process over the rest of the car. If it looks horrible, be glad you only tested to a single panel. Re-polish this panel and then use a traditional carnauba wax or synthetic paint sealant.
Hope this helps.
Please feel encouraged to join our forum, this is where I answer questions. Email and Facebook messaging are okay, but the forum is a LOT more powerful. Everything posted to Facebook is like a vapor. Here for a moment and then gone.
Click here to join the AutogeekOnline.net car detailing discussion forum - THE best forum on the Internet
Anytime I get questions via e-mail, a PM or a FB message I prefer to invest my typing time where
A: It's easier for me to share links, pictures and videos.
B: More people can read and thus benefit from the information. (no just one set of eyeballs)
The reality is, most people that contact me found me via an article I've written or a reply I've written on this forum. The thing is, instead of figuring out that the whole reason they are contacting me is because they found me via an article or answer I wrote on the forum that they to should bring their question to the forum because not only will that help them.... but it will help a future "them". If I answer everything in a private e-mail or other touch point, no one would find and contact me. It's a cycle or pattern that repeats as long as everything is shared in the public domain.
The above is kind of wordy but re-read it slowly and it will make sense.
So I get an e-mail asking,
Mike,
I am going to detail a 1969 Chevrolet SS Impala 427 the first week in July. This car is black with black interior and a black vinyl roof all numbers matching car. The car is pristine except for the paint.
The car was repainted around 2006, however instead of using base coat clear coat they used lacquer.
The car has a lot of defects in the paint (spider webs, swirls and very dull). The owner would like to have it totally detailed inside, trunk, engine and body. She also asked about having it ceramic coated. I have detailed a lot of cars however, I don't do this full time ( more of a hobby).
The only one that was not base coat clear coat was when we worked on Kyle Tucker's 41 Willey's at Detail Fest ( So it's been a while).
My plan is to use a Porter Cable DA polisher and Sonax 4/6 finishing polish with a fairly mild pad (Pink Lake Country). I use gtechniq panel wipe, ultra serum light and Exo.
Can that even be applied to lacquer?
Any advice you can give me on how I should proceed will be very much appreciated. I really want this car to be it's best.
I was a student of yours in Stuart, May of 2013.
Respectfully,
Gary
Great questions Gary,
First there's no LAW or regulation against applying a ceramic, quartz or polymer coating to single stage paint.
Here is the only concern. Because OLD SCHOOL single stage paint is porous, UNLIKE modern basecoat/clearcoat paints, the ACT of chemically stripping it with a solvent, and I would say a very STRONG solvent like GTechniq Panel Wipe, has the effect to DULL the paint.
I always call this,
Working backwards
So it goes against my natural inclination and best practice,
To do no harm
That said, there's no law or regulation against chemically striping old school single stage paints and applying coatings to them. Because they are porous, the POLISHING OILS from ANY brand of compound or polish, even those that state they are water based, (they still have some type of lubricating and beautifying oil in them), will penetrated into the paint and make it look better, sometimes darker. When you chemically strip single stage paint, the solvents will seep into the pores of the paint and leach out these oils and this can have a dulling effect. With a normal wax or synthetic sealant, you apply this right over the oils in the paint and create a uniform [beautiful] finish.
The stronger the solvent the more dramatic the dulling effect can be.
(Of course is you're working on white or light colored paints you would dull it but your eyes would not see the dulling effect)
So here's what you could do - test out your process to a single panel and see how it looks. If it looks good repeat the process over the rest of the car. If it looks horrible, be glad you only tested to a single panel. Re-polish this panel and then use a traditional carnauba wax or synthetic paint sealant.
Hope this helps.
Please feel encouraged to join our forum, this is where I answer questions. Email and Facebook messaging are okay, but the forum is a LOT more powerful. Everything posted to Facebook is like a vapor. Here for a moment and then gone.
Click here to join the AutogeekOnline.net car detailing discussion forum - THE best forum on the Internet
