luckyguy

The clearcoat on the top of my '93 LS400 is peeling.

What is the process to spray a new layer of clearcoat? The paint doesn't seem to be damaged.

Any suggestions on a good source for the clearcoat?

Guitarman

You can do it a couple ways; You can try to flake off all the clear that you can, and wetsand the remaining solid clearcoat edge with ~800-1000 grit paper till it's feathered to the point where you CAN'T feel a transition (edge). You also have to wetsand the entire panel with 800 grit so the new clear that you spray over the whole panel will stick/bond. I had to use this method on my wife's red Miata a few months back, and it came out excellent. It was flaking clear at the corner top of her driver's door.

This approach can work, although sometimes it's just safer to do the above and then respray (blend) the basecoat over the affected areas, then respray the clear. Reason is-you should never wetsand the basecoat because it can affect the tone of it, as well as make sanding marks visible, and it's darn hard to impossible to wetsand the flaked clearcoat edge without adversly affecting the basecoat there.

BTW, there is no way to strip off or sand off all the clearcoat and respray it without affecting the basecoat. You have to feather the bad edges and recoat the exisiting clear at least. Either that , or start over and redo the entire panel with B/C C/C. Hope this helps.

I would recommend either PPG or DuPont clears, although any top name brand will serve you well. Hope this helps. Good luck.

luckyguy

Thanks Guitarman.

This is what I thought the process would be. Do you have any suggestions to where I can get the clearcoat and basecoat you mentioned?

What do you think the cost of the materials would be? It looks like the most I would have to do is the f=roof behind the sunroof.

Guitarman

It's getting trickier to purchase automotive base/clear due to VOC laws and regulations, and it varies by state. Some states will only sell to those with a professional liscense. Here in Florida I can still get it, and I always use DuPont Chroma paint when I have the need. It's not exactly cheap, but you could drop down to a mid-level line such as DuPont Nason etc. or PPG 's mid line base/clears and save a bit of $$$. You get what you pay for though, not that Nason is bad, just that Chroma is better. I painted my black '89 T-Bird Supercoupe with DuPont Chroma (7500s) back in 1997, and wet sanded the clear to a show quality finish (I do show the car) and it still looks like I painted it yesterday. PPG, Sikkens, Glasurit, BASF, DuPont Sherwin Williams (yes) among others are all top quality. Hey, it's a Lexus, it deserves good paint right?

A quart of DuPont Chroma clear + activator will run around ~$80. Base color is cheaper (unless it's red) and base reducer is cheap. I don't know how this compares to other brands, but they're in the same neighborhood if they are of similar quality.

You can easily get a lesser amount, say...a pint of clear and a pint of base color and the reducer and activator for the clear for less than $100 depending on which paint line you choose. A pint should work for 1 panel especially if you spray it with a HVLP gun.(I have an old siphon feed gun which uses more paint).

I'm not a pro auto painter, but rather a pro detailer that's painted about 14 cars and trucks, some recent ones of show quality, so I know the in's and out's.I just don't know everything about every product, just what I've used. I'm better at wet sanding and buffing than painting , and with base/clear that's all you really need, because you can remove a lot of paint issues (runs , orange peel etc) in the finishing process. Not so with single stage paint, where you basically "get what you spray" and have to be good with the gun. Hope this helps.

400DGRZ

iTrader: (2)

I know Autovisuals, the company that sells the Autosharp pen, sells clearcoat pens.