Painting Saga continued

Now the good news about my painting ordeal. Well today for some reason I decided to reduce all the paint I had and mix just to uniform all the two batches, had nothing else to do. Well then decided to print out the information on the Chroma Premire paint and in reading it seems the reducer I was told I needed and purchased was not the correct reducer at least that whats the literature said. So off to the dupont store to double check, And when the guy got off the phone with Dupont, yes my suspicions were correct I was sold the wrong reducer and I messed up 700 dollars worth of paint, 100 dollars or reducer and 50 dollars worth of activator. and anything painted the factory says will have issues down the road like peeling or lifting. So good news was the duplicolor primer actually saved my bacon, if it hadnt been for that issue I would have painted the car and down the road had paint problems,,,, What a positive thing happend to me today. The dupont guy mixed me a new gallon of Paint gave me a gallon of the correct reducer, gave me a new quart of reducer for the Clear too. all he needed was the mixed paint back. Boy am I lucky. Now for the lesson, always read the directions even when you are getting them from a factory source, and as the rule says read twice mix once.........


Life is good again


Hondo

Wow - good to hear. Pretty good of the paint shop to do that!

I'm glad you've found a silver lining in this.

Redundant labor recompense is off their radar, I'll assume. :madder:

I feel your frustration! You worked too hard on setting up that paint booth to turn back now. Great to hear you found a solution.

That is good news for you and me both, I had been told by a body shop owner I know that a little touch up with rattle can primer as you go through the paint prep process was acceptable, your story was making me nervous about that advice, glad you figured it out.

The sad fact of the matter is that modern paint SYSTEMS are designed to be used by trained professionals.The old days of lacquer and enamel paints put on in the barn are dead and gone.About the best a DIY guy can hope for these days is to do the prep work and find a shop that will finish it out to good quality.
In the next two years or so ALL high VOC paints will be off the market completely and water born colors will rule.The days of the DYI painter will then be well and truly over when it comes to painting outside of a booth!!
Some shops have already made the switch,including sending the painter off to a school at large $$for additional training.Changing out the entire stock of tinting colors,adding fans and dryers to the booth.....The future is fast approaching,and it will be weird for our hobby.(and my business)
As for the "little touch up with a rattle can"comment,works great if you like die-back circles in the finished paintjob!!!GOOD HEAVENS!!!
MD(mad dog)

What are "die-back circles"?

The first DIY paint job I ever saw was in high-school. The kid who did the job had been advised to sand out all the rust spots... which he did. However, no one bothered to tell him to level the paint with spot putty or to block sand the panel using a guide coat. The car looked good from 30+ feet. The closer you got, the more "thumb sized" divots/craters you could see in the top coat. So much effort yet such bad results.

I will miss the days of the DIY paint job but I suspect that you are correct and my current project may be my last painting effort. Still, I hope there will at least be sealer/primers we can apply over our car's bodywork until the pros can apply the final primer and top coats.

MDCanaday said:

In the next two years or so ALL high VOC paints will be off the market completely and water born colors will rule.The days of the DYI painter will then be well and truly over when it comes to painting outside of a booth!!

Click to expand...

MD - I'm not arguing with you but I thought our friends over in Europe and the UK have already made the switch and found that water based was OK to work with?

Dupont actually makes rattle can primer that you can touch up spots and SEM primer is also compatable with Dupont paints, but at 16 dollars a can, its not cheap, also you can bet this will be my LAST paint job I will ever do

Hondo

You're a brave and adventurous soul.

Paintwork is the one thing I will be subcontraction on my restoration. I've already inhaled enough noxious stuff already. Besides, if I make any more mess in the garage area, my wife will cut my...funding off...lol.

And we'd hate to see you running around without your...funding Tab.

Hondo,

Wow, $850 in painting supplies. I'm definitely out of touch when it comes to paint costs these days!

Going through the receipts for my TR4A that I did in 1983-1985, the body/paint work was $1625 using RM SuperMax paint which was supposed to provide a durable finish. This was a rolling tub (suspension and frame already done) and separate panels, hood, doors and trunk (relatively rust free components). I got back a painted assembled car which I completed. This was the single most expensive part of the restoration since I did everything else (except for farming out the engine machine work).

Scott

hondo402000 said:

Dupont actually makes rattle can primer that you can touch up spots and SEM primer is also compatable with Dupont paints, but at 16 dollars a can, its not cheap, also you can bet this will be my LAST paint job I will ever do

Hondo

Click to expand...

Hi Hondo,

Cheer up. Just think of the money you are saving! At least 3 grand by my reconing. Not to mention the good feeling you will get when you can say "I did it myself".

We used SEM products at school, they worked well with the water born paint we were using (Axo Nobel).

Keep up the good work!

Yes Skip a lot of folks have switched to water born already here and abroad.Its not that there is anything wrong with the paint,but it will be terrible for the DYI guy to paint his LBC at home and get a good finish.The issue is in the drying of the base coats,.....temperature,humidity,air flow will all have to be controlled for an even cure of the color BEFORE the clear coats can be applied.The clear is still a VOC based paint that will NOT tolerate water underneath it(in excess).This will be too much for most guys to deal with IMHO.
Dont get me wrong,I know some will take it on as a personal challenge,but by and large most will have to leave it to a pro(not always a bad thing)...
MD(mad dog)

So... I have never sprayed a base/clear system. I have always sprayed enamels and urethanes as a solid color coat (paint/reducer/catalyst). Are there going to be equivalent water based paint systems?

Not to my knowledge,water born base with voc clears will be government mandated with major penalitys aimed at the manufacturers should they continue to produce/sell after a certain date.Mind you that this is what my paint supplier has told me,dont bet the moon as they say,but I have heard nothing to contradict him at all and am making plans to change of the shop to water-born in the next 12 to 18 months.They swear thaT ALL my old paint stocks will be taken in on trade and I wont lose the big $$ that I suspect I likely will.Then again if the crystal ball worked better I would have the numbers for the power ball weds night.
MD(mad dog)