Advice after respray .needed ...
Discussion
Had my fastback home in the garage now for a few months - slowly getting it all back together again - but it's been brushed against a few times (wing etc) and the clear seems to have been marked in a couple of places - seems to have gone slightly opaque where contact has been made ... what can I use (when the car is all back together again) to get this shiny?
20 years ago it would have been T-cut but I know things have moved on since then!
When the car was sprayed, it was then cut back and mopped which gave me the shine. Do I need to take it back to them and get them to redo it in places?
Must say the clearcoat seems a bit soft if all it takes is a couple of brushed against it and it goes dull. There'll be no hope for it once I get driving it finally ...
20 years ago it would have been T-cut but I know things have moved on since then!
When the car was sprayed, it was then cut back and mopped which gave me the shine. Do I need to take it back to them and get them to redo it in places?
Must say the clearcoat seems a bit soft if all it takes is a couple of brushed against it and it goes dull. There'll be no hope for it once I get driving it finally ...
Edited by MikeyT on Monday 11th October 12:18
Ive seen clear coats that are soft like this on meny cars. Though quite soft and easy to mar, it will be easy to correct back to good excellent clarity. A dual action polisher will keep the heat down and without removing to much clearcoat quickly, also a light polishing pad with a polish abrasive will be fine, and feed a glaze back in on a low setting on a finishing pad to refine the finish. This will keep the car looking good and very wet indeed.
Go and speak to the bodyshop who painted it. You'll get all sorts of conflicting advice on here from people who havent even seen the car, let alone diagnose soft lacquer or getting it re-lacquered. If you try to polish it and burn through, even if there is a problem with the paint, your bodyshop wont want to know.
Dont use T-Cut on fresh 2pack paint, the ammonia will attack the gloss, causing it to go matt.
Dont use T-Cut on fresh 2pack paint, the ammonia will attack the gloss, causing it to go matt.
Definitely the best thing to do. Let them take a look and see what they say. If its a half decent bodyshop, they'll put it right. It could well be a problem with soft lacquer, there may have been a bad batch of activator- in which case the paint manufacturer will pay for the repaint.
Let us know how it goes...
Let us know how it goes...
I seem to remember them saying at the time they were trying out some new clear coat (which was also expensive) so maybe they cocked up the drying time or something. I remember them spraying the thing and me going over there to see it the same day - don't know how long cars are supposed to be left in the booth being baked.
Would that lead to the clear coat being 'soft'? I wrapped the trunk lid in bubble wrap for storage and last week when I got it out, it was *hazed* over in some areas - ie scratched.
I can't be going over the thing with polish every time I get some flies on the front in the summer - they're supposed to just *wash* off surely.
Would that lead to the clear coat being 'soft'? I wrapped the trunk lid in bubble wrap for storage and last week when I got it out, it was *hazed* over in some areas - ie scratched.
I can't be going over the thing with polish every time I get some flies on the front in the summer - they're supposed to just *wash* off surely.
Edited by MikeyT on Wednesday 20th October 01:14
Normal lowbake drying times are between 15mins and 45mins, but even if it was air-dried, it should be pretty well cured within a couple of days.
When did it get sprayed, we had a lot of problems with activating paint in very cold weather. Our paint was stored in an external storage shed, everything had been fine for years, we werent doing anything different but we had started using a new high solids paint system. During a particularly cold spell, we had a lot of problems with the paint not curing, no matter how long we left it to bake (we had one car in for over an hour), so we left that days painted cars for a week to see if they dried naturally- they didnt, we put it down to a bad batch of activator, one of those things. The weather warmed up the next day, so the new activator appeared to cure the problem, until the next really cold day... We got the paint company in and after much deliberation (on their part), it was discovered that if the paint & activator are mixed together below (from memory) 2deg C, it will never dry, regardless of bake time/temp, even weeks later it will still be soft.
Almost all bodyshops then started storing paint in a more temperature controlled environment (this was a couple of years before waterbourne paints were prevalent within the refinish industry).
I'm not saying this is your problem, but there are times when 2k paint wont dry, so it is possible your paint hasnt cured. If its still soft after all this time, it will never fully cure. Personally, I would not be confident in just recoating the exisitng paint as in this scenario, I dont believe the underlying substrate will ever cure, you'll just get a rigid outer coat over a soft undercoat.
This is a worst case scenario and TBH, I've not known this happen for a good 10+ years, so I'd be suprised if its the case.
When did it get sprayed, we had a lot of problems with activating paint in very cold weather. Our paint was stored in an external storage shed, everything had been fine for years, we werent doing anything different but we had started using a new high solids paint system. During a particularly cold spell, we had a lot of problems with the paint not curing, no matter how long we left it to bake (we had one car in for over an hour), so we left that days painted cars for a week to see if they dried naturally- they didnt, we put it down to a bad batch of activator, one of those things. The weather warmed up the next day, so the new activator appeared to cure the problem, until the next really cold day... We got the paint company in and after much deliberation (on their part), it was discovered that if the paint & activator are mixed together below (from memory) 2deg C, it will never dry, regardless of bake time/temp, even weeks later it will still be soft.
Almost all bodyshops then started storing paint in a more temperature controlled environment (this was a couple of years before waterbourne paints were prevalent within the refinish industry).
I'm not saying this is your problem, but there are times when 2k paint wont dry, so it is possible your paint hasnt cured. If its still soft after all this time, it will never fully cure. Personally, I would not be confident in just recoating the exisitng paint as in this scenario, I dont believe the underlying substrate will ever cure, you'll just get a rigid outer coat over a soft undercoat.
This is a worst case scenario and TBH, I've not known this happen for a good 10+ years, so I'd be suprised if its the case.
Took the wing over today - it has all cured okay so they said - rock hard etc - and they used a quite expensive (and so probably decent) clear coat. They reckon that when it is buffed up AGAIN (when the car is completely back together) it'll be fine and a decent wax will see it sorted.
They did flatten the clear after curing and then cut it back to get the gloss but reckon that needs doing again and more thoroughly when the car is finished so that it doesn't reoccur.
I kno the car is going to get the odd blemish on it when driving so I can't be that precious and I don't mind cutting it back and polishing it myself regularly - what should I use though?
They did flatten the clear after curing and then cut it back to get the gloss but reckon that needs doing again and more thoroughly when the car is finished so that it doesn't reoccur.
I kno the car is going to get the odd blemish on it when driving so I can't be that precious and I don't mind cutting it back and polishing it myself regularly - what should I use though?
Modern high solids paints tend to dry very hard, this can cause a couple of issues when flatting and polishing afterwards. Its very common for bodyshops to de-nib fresh paint using 1500 grit on a dry DA sander, then go over it with 3000 grit on a wet DA, then machine polish it with cutting compound to remove the sanding scratches. After a couple of days, the paint can "drop" and some of the flatting marks will return, looking like dull areas. All this will need is a further mopping to cut the paint back a bit more. If this is what you are seeing on your car, it'll be easily repaired by the bodyshop.
Unless the paint really is still soft and they're just fobbing you off...
Unless the paint really is still soft and they're just fobbing you off...
TallPaul said:
It's very common for bodyshops to de-nib fresh paint using 1500 grit on a dry DA sander, then go over it with 3000 grit on a wet DA, then machine polish it with cutting compound to remove the sanding scratches. After a couple of days, the paint can "drop" and some of the flatting marks will return, looking like dull areas. All this will need is a further mopping to cut the paint back a bit more. If this is what you are seeing on your car, it'll be easily repaired by the bodyshop.
Thanks Paul - this is what they did originally and what they said yesterday when I was there - a further mop will see it fine they said when I take it back all completed.Gassing Station | Bodywork & Detailing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff