Base clear over acrylic enamel ??

[65post]

I painted a 74 chev pick up with acrylic enamel for a friend 11 years ago.Now he brought me a goodmark 2 inch cowl induction hood to have painted.I wanted to put a BC-CC on it but could not get a good match so I sprayed it in acrylic enamel .Can I put a base clear on top of this? I would like to rub this out.It is a light blue met. so I dont think I can sand on it before putting clear.Any way of doing this? Thanks Terry

[Mike DC]

 
I dunno.


Wouldn't you rather just spray it with what's on the rest of the truck so it all matches better?

   

[FJMG]

A local guy painted his 69 super bee with acrylic white and let it sit for a month. He then proceeded to lightly sand with very fine sandpaper, shot three coats of clear, let it set, another light sand followed by two more coats of clear. The car looks perpetually waxed, amazing really.  Everybody thinks he polishes and waxes the car regularly, but no, just washes, thats it, no wax no nothing. If you look close, you can tell due to the lack of swirl marks in the sun.

[65post]

Painted the hood Saturday in single stage met. blue.Tacked it off ( no sanding ) Monday and sprayed 3 coats of base clear on top.I wet sanded it today and rubbed it out.Looks great.1 PPG rep told me to wait 16 hours before putting clear and another rep told me 48 hours.I hope it sticks.Time will tell.

[hemi-hampton]

I would have waited the 16 hours. 48 hours just makes me cringe/nervous LEON.

[Bobs69]

I'm no paint expert.  However my car was done in vitamin C (enamel) over 10 years ago then clear coated.  Dupont paint.  From my understanding you can clear it but need to use different activator in the paint, or maybe it was the clear..........anyhow you talked to the Rep so I'm sure you got the right info.

I've read that enamel is easier to spray for us do it yourselfers, and that it DOES NOT SHRINK and is tough as nails.  However its supposed to be next to impossible to do spot touch ups.       

[Rob R]

No problem shooting clear over single stage...just let the single stage dry before shooting the clear.

This is a hood I did for a young fellow a couple of weeks ago.

[Bobs69]

Let the colour dry as per the instructions?  Or just for an hour or so?

Another thing I was told once, think they may have been trying to BS me, but I don't know why.  When you are sprayiing single stage at home and you want the paint to dry quicker so the flies won't have as much a chance to land in it you can mix the paint, now ready for this, without the hardener?  I'm sure it was the hardener he told me to leave out, which makes little sense to me............but it was a body shop telling me this?  I don't know why they'd want to lie about it............my wife has brought lots of business to them!  And we've recommend them......

[hemi-hampton]

In the old days, the 80's when Centari single stage acrylic enamel was popular lots of people did not use the Hardener. Why, At that time a gallon of paint was around $30 & a pint of Hardener was around $30 doubling the price of the paint. A low budget job or place would skip the hardener as it was optional. If you do skip it the paint will not have the gloss & it will not harden as hard inside the underneath underlying layers of paint which means very hard to rub out to a high gloss & will lift if recoated & you sand through top layer. Top layer hard but undermeath soft. No hardener & it air dries as the Hardener induces a chemical reaction & hardening or crosslinking. LEON.

[Bobs69]

Well thanks Leon!  I was also told that it wouldn't be as durable.  Guess that's what you meant about the top layer being hard but not the ones under.

Speaking about cheap.............and I wouldn't try it on my Charger but have you ever heard of a brand called "dupli-colour"?