"Fixing" 2K Clear Coat

[Manhattan]

The clear coat on my hood is past saving. So, other than the cost of a can of clear and some time, there's nothing to lose. I did the prep - clean, 1500 wet sanding, clean, dry, tape...

... Then paint.

I've probably used over 1,000 cans of spray paint in the in past 40 years (I repainted my first bike purple!). I'm pretty sure I got the application right:
- Three medium coats (first one a bit lighter than the next two)
- Can 8-10" from surface
- 1/3 overlap of the spray
- No starting or stopping on the panel

I knew after the first coat, something was up. The surface just looked dull and splotchy. I figured, I'd lay just a bit more down - not heavy, just a little slower on the passes. Nope - still dull and splotchy. After three coats, not much changed. The paint looks thick. It looks like it's curing properly. It just looks like crap - splotchy, dull, heavy orange peel.

I'm guessing my high-tech paint booth... my open garage (Land Cruiser half in; half out) allowed the high temps and (the culprit) high humidity to screw things up.

I've never had a rattle can do this. But, I've never used this type of paint - the hardener, etc. Lesson learned (if I'm right on the humidity) - wait 'til October to paint in Atlanta.

Now, the fix. I'm thinking (what got me into trouble initially) I can let the clear cure for a week (more than necessary, but it'll be a week before I can get back on it) and get out the polisher and start with a fairly aggressive compound and work my way up. Basically, just do a 3-step paint correction as if this were just old, dull paint.

But - and it's a big but - I am totally guessing on ^that^. Any tips?

Thanks!

 

[Mike lambert]

My opinion is the paint just didn’t lay correctly on the surface due to the conditions you stated. There is no fixing bad paint application. I would start the sanding process over and be sure to wipe the final step down with surface prep.

 

[Theostoubos]

Can you post some photos ?

 

[Manhattan]

Getting started...

First coat... I knew something wasn't right:

Fourth and final coat:

24 hours later:

Before I start over (sanding off the clear), I may see if an aggressive compound "Liquid Sand" will level the clear - then work my way up to polish. Not much to lose... well, other than more time.

 

[SWETM]

There seemed to be damage to the color base coat layer also? And don't expect it to be much other than amplify the looks you put the clearcoat over. So from your after sanding work the uneveness the looks from it other than the the dull looks is what is expected to get. It's very hard to sand a bc/cc and just put a new clearcoat on it. If you where able to not sanding through the clearcoat it could be possible to look more even.

As for the dullness and orange peel. One thought I have is that the surface after the sanding with the P1500 is a too fine of a surface for the can of clearcoat to be able to spread out and levels to a glossy finish. So you may go down in grit to P800 or even more coarse grit. That would be what the heavy orange peel got from. The dullness can very much be from the environment it was painted in. That messed with the clarity you got on it.

If I where you and would want the best outcome. I would do a primer coat with a suited primer that is able to bond harder to color base coat and clearcoats. Then find a paintshop that can mix your paints color code in a can. And get a great quality of the 2k clearcoat can cause it can also make a difference on the quality of the clearcoat paint on the end results. Then do it properly with the primer + base coat layer + clearcoat layers. And in as a good environment as possible. To avoid very high humidity and winds and also from all of the dirt flying around in the air. Just to get the best possible outcome from your work. Without a primer I have seen to much of imported painted american classic cars here in Sweden starts to peel paint after a year or 2. The primer gives long lasting results and is worth doing so. Talk with the paintshop so you get a primer that suits the bc/cc paint and works to be painted on old ones.

Just some friendly advises to get the most out of your work. Takeing shortcuts often results on a not long lasting results. And also the results directly from the painting. It can be sometimes that when you use different kind of based paints it can mess a lot with the results. That's why a primer paint gets you a new slate to begin the new paint to work as good as possible.

/ Tony

 

[SWETM]

I make another post on how to try to improve the gloss on the finish. Remember that the splotchy and uneven from the paint will not be impacted on this as it's as the before post cause of the base coat layer damage and mix of clearcoat and base coat that you clearcoated over and that will not go away unless you repaint with an even shade of color which you get from a primer coat and color base coat.

Wet sanding the finish with something like the P1500 you got. This is with a standard sanding paper and not the foamed discs that you can see. This is for getting the orange peel leveled down. You would so the top ridges being duller and the valleys stays as before. So going down to the level of the lowest valleys is what you aim for. Keep in mind that you thinning the clearcoat very much by doing this. And you can stop before the wet sanding marks gets fully uniform to save some thickness of the clearcoat. Maybe around 75% and up to 100% is what I would do at least that it's visible from the wet sanding that I have leveled down it to.

After this if you want it easier to polishing out the sanding marks. I would go with a foamed sanding disc P3000 either Rupes or 3M Trizact discs or Mirka Abralon discs. You can use a flat wet sanding paper too. It's just that the foamed or like that discs follows down into the deeper valleys useally. Which you correct with a wool pad otherwise to reach down there. You can go up to P5000 grit after the p3000. Just make sure you takeing the sanding before down with these next steps of sanding. The sanding discs fits useally on a DA polisher and either a 3" or 6" backing plate. Just be carefull as it's a little longer throw than a sanding machine. So a little more aggressive and faster cut with even a 8mm DA polisher. Remember that the moisture from the wet sanding is covering the results. So blowdry or let it air dry to see where you at. If you use a block to hand wet sanding. If doing more than 1 sanding. Do the different grits at different directions so you see when you have sanden down the before grit properly. This with different directions makes it much easier to see how you take down the old sanding marks.

Then compound and or polish as needed. Here you will notice if it's the whole clearcoat that has been impacted by the environment you painted in or if it's just a bad quality clearcoat product and hard to know which of the 2 it is if you don't have had used it before with a success.

 

[Manhattan]

Tony - thanks for taking the time to write/explain all of that. The main take-away for me - given my (very) limited experience and skills - is that I need to hand this over to a pro. The rest of the truck is just too nice to have a half-assed, botched job on the hood. I sorta fell victim to the "You can do anything if you watch a YouTube video" thing.

It's a bit ironic - in the same week I started on that hood, I dropped off another truck (a 1984 Toyota Pickup I'm restoring) at the bodyshop - for body and paint. Maybe I'll just swap trucks when the '84 is ready. ;-)

Thanks again!