dicer

Has anyone here ever done or had done reclear coating? If so what was used and how was it prepped?

zmcgovern4

iTrader: (2)

I've read a little bit about this, but am certainly NO expert whatsoever when it comes to automotive painting practices... so please take my response as simply an opinion and NOT necessarily complete fact as I don't feel that I know enough to make any real definitive statements on this subject.

With that being said... I am under the impression that in order to add additional paint to your vehicle, you're going to have to scuff up the surface first (ie sand it). I think that is common knowledge. What I don't know is how aggressive you have to be with the sanding before respraying. The reason that is a big deal is because clear coat is very thin... if you had to sand with anything more aggressive than 1000 grit, the risk of compromising the clear would be rather high. Once the clear is compromised and you are into the base coat I do not think you can simply respray clear and expect it to look completely uniform (again, I don't know... just thinking out loud here). So at that point you would likely have to respray base and then clear.

I guess what I am getting at is unless the sanding needed to respray is very light, it's probably just as much work to do a complete new paint job instead of a reclear.

Would love to hear from some body shop guys though... would be great to know how it really works. I hope to experiment with painting one day.

-zach

FSportIS

iTrader: (13)

I think that makes sense. At the same time, some paint itself can be layered as a common knowledge so that is why we have base and then clear. My pearl white color particularly has 3 stage paint with 3 distinct layers.

Anyways, what I'm thinking is if there is no oil or silicon or other junks that would prevent the new paint from bonding. Similar to coating a car, a compounding/polish is all it is needed as prep step before adding another clear coat? I mean if coating can bond to clear, why can't clear bond to clear.

I think sanding is just common practice in bodyshop because they don't need to worry about saving the paint thickness anyways since they are respraying the paint anyways. That is of course way more aggressive and more than necessary to prep for coating so detailers don't use this approach.

I'm actually going to make a call to my body shop guy to consult him regarding this but i'm sure the cost gonna be high.

zmcgovern4

iTrader: (2)

Good point, but those layers are all presumably sprayed before the previous layer is completely cured... I imagine that is important.

I have heard that there is some clear that is being developed that can in fact be layered just as you're suggesting, but I was under the impression that such a practice is not yet being used (at least not often?). A paint coating is not a clear coat paint... it is a coating designed to bond to clear coat paint. Can't really compare the two.

Even outside of the automotive world, it is a general practice that if you want to paint something that is glossy or shiny, you need to scuff it up a little bit to promote adhesion. Now... there are special paints that have been created to bond to smooth plastic, and there are also special adhesion promoters to use on slicker surfaces, but again... I don't know enough about these things to know if any of that is relevant to automotive painting.

Look forward to hearing what they say!

dicer

The way I understand it, I would highly doubt there is a repaint window for a base coat, unlike some primers that have them. Reason I say is some systems use water borne base coat and then a urethane clear coat. So that is why I would think you would just lightly sand like mentioned above, and then could re clear coat with a urethane clear. It would sure extend the life of the paint job from the factory and way better than a total color repaint, especially on cars where the clear is getting pretty thin do to multiple detailing etc.