Urethane Clear Coat

[Gator1996]

Hello All.
I've been doing a bit of painting and had an issue that I have not seen before. I mixed two ounces of urethane based clear coat with one ounce of duplicolor specialty reducer. When I started to lay down the clear, it came out of the gun in wispy strings. It looked almost like spider webs. Has this happened to anyone else out there? Any idea what I did wrong?

 

[Woodonglass]

What brand of clear coat? Urethane Clear Coat is REALLY finicky. You gotta be very careful with thinning it. If you use the wrong thinner it can go squirrely on you as you've discovered.

 

[Gator1996]

Thanks for looking in WOG. I was hoping that you would.

I think the manufacturer is Sherwin Williams but no idea on the name of the line. I bought a couple ounces of urethane touch up paint along with the clear to fix some peeling clear coat on the wife's car. The old stuff sanded and feathered out nice. Reduced the paint 1:1 with the same duplicolor reducer and the paint laid down pretty nicely. I let that cure for a couple of hours and then wet sanded. Had the paint looking good and the patch was barely visible. I went to hit it with the clear and all hell breaks loose. The hairy crap comes out of the gun and ruined the paint. I could not sand the clear off, had to start from scratch. I was thinking that the clear is a lot thicker than the base coat so maybe I need to thin it at a higher rate than the base. Any thoughts?

 

[Woodonglass]

I'd for sure ask SW what they recommend to thin the clear with. As I stated it can be REAL finicky when it comes to thinning that stuff. It's CRAZEEEEE!!! You MIGHT try some Xylene but experiment on some carboard first!!! Different brands require different chemicals.

 

[Axkiker]

Yeah, I have seen this before. What is happening is its being sprayed too dry and is drying before it hits the surface. I read through your posts but I dont think I saw exactly what kind of clear / reducer / activator you are using.

To be safe you really need to stay consistent with your mfgs. If its Sherwin Willimas use SW for the reducer and activator. In fact, now that I think of it, doesnt SW use a reducer / activator combination ???? I could be wrong its been awhile since I sprayed it.

I typically spray PPG HOK or Matrix which use a 3 part system. Clear / reducer / activator.

My bet is you have a combination of a wrong mixture and possible incorrect pressure settings on your gun.

Tell me more and ill see if I can point you in a better direction. Ive painted a number of cars and completed a few auto restorations so im pretty familiar and have made most of the mistakes you can make LOL

 

[Axkiker]

Also, what are you trying to top coat.? If you are trying to top coat one of those crappy touch up paints that autozone sells with a quality clear I fear you will run into trouble. From what I have found that crappy touch up paint is no match for good professional clear coats. The clear is just too hot and will orange peel the paint. I could be wrong as I have no idea what you are painting with. I would be careful though and allow the base to dry a good bit before trying to clear.

 

[jimmy wise]

if you can get a sw number i can get the info for you. if its laquer reducing with thinner 150% would help. if its urethane clear your missing activator

 

[Gator1996]

Thanks for the replies guys. I apologize. I had no idea that you had posted. More bugs I guess. I bought the paint custom mixed on ebay. It was sold as touch up paint and was intended to be brushed I assume because they sent a brush. Here is a link to the item Paint I bought the clear from the same guy it is here Clear

The seller said they are made by Sherwin Williams. As I mentioned, I was pretty happy with the paint but the clear I really blew it on. There was no reaction between paint and clear it was really the clear messing up before I ever hit the car with it. I used Duplicolor specialty reducer. I really didn't know the brand was important I only got it to thin the paint and clear coat. I also did not realize an activator was necessary. There was no indication on the site that I i bought from that either was needed. As far as the gun it is just a detail special from HF. The spot I am working on is less than a square foot and I just started messing with it because the original clear hd cracked and was peeling.

If I sprayed too dry what should I do. Thin more? change reducers? Get some activator? adjust the gun somehow? I appreciate the assist guys. Sorry for the delay? activator?