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TR2/3/3A Anybody finish their car in laquer?
- Thread starter bnw
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CJD
Yoda
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Same here. Laquer will give you a great finish...for about 3 years. The new urethanes will stay nice for decades. Considering it takes me weeks to prep a car, and only a day to spray it, it's just not worth my time to use inferior paint.
If you don't like the base/clear look, you can get the urethanes in one coat. It will look exactly like the original paint, but will last till you are tired of it.
If you are still stuck on using laquer (and you can still find it), it is by far the easiest paint to spray. If your base is enamel, you must lay a primer coat first. If you have any bare metal, you must prime that. But, aside from that, just sand and spray. Laquers are thin, so finish sand with at least 400 grit before spraying or the sand marks will show. Buffing is pretty mandatory afterwards too.
If you don't like the base/clear look, you can get the urethanes in one coat. It will look exactly like the original paint, but will last till you are tired of it.
If you are still stuck on using laquer (and you can still find it), it is by far the easiest paint to spray. If your base is enamel, you must lay a primer coat first. If you have any bare metal, you must prime that. But, aside from that, just sand and spray. Laquers are thin, so finish sand with at least 400 grit before spraying or the sand marks will show. Buffing is pretty mandatory afterwards too.
Well, here's the deal. First off, I bought and paid for the paint several years ago and never opened the cans. Second off, I've got over $600 tied up in the paints and thinners (Signal Red) so I'm not willing to toss that . Third, and probably my main reason is the super fast flash time and ease of scratch and dent repair. It's dust free in less than 5 minutes. My pole building / garage will NEVER be dust free. I painted my TR6 with Centari enamal with hardener. I was really lucky. It was my first attempt and it came out beautifully. But, I scratched it with a rivet from my genes while leaning over the front wing and the only fix at the time was to repaint the whole front wing. In addition, I had a ton of dust in the bonnet and boot and it took me a year to get up the nerve to wet sand and wheel out the dust. So I lost the hardened finish and had to buff and wax the bonnet and boot periodically anyway. I don't like the base/clear finishes on 50+ year old cars and I don't know much about the urethane finishes but I bet they're not dust free in 5 minutes. No dust, no pot life, paid for, ease of repair. So, I will be down to bare metal. Do I need an etching primer? Do I need to seal before I paint? The paint stores want to sell you everything.
trrdster2000
Luke Skywalker
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bnw, We can see your point and let me give you a few hints. Use the best sealer you can find, lacquer tends to react to a verity of different things, don't touch the car. sweat and skin oil will give you a spider web in that area. Your best bet outside is one piece at a time or as small a section as possible. Sand with 600 wet and dry between coats and use tac cloths by the dozen, (never push down on a tac cloth enough to leave residue) Other than that, GOOD LUCK.
A great sealer is Bar Coat or Bare Coat, made in England, been a while. One more thing, wet the ground and all the bushes with a hose and try to ground each part, it will help keep the static electricity down, which draws dust.
When do you think it will be warn enough to point?
Wayne
A great sealer is Bar Coat or Bare Coat, made in England, been a while. One more thing, wet the ground and all the bushes with a hose and try to ground each part, it will help keep the static electricity down, which draws dust.
When do you think it will be warn enough to point?
Wayne
Brinkerhoff
Jedi Knight
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Barry, you definately need to spray a sealer with a lacquer.
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I'm not a painter, but whenever I've had painting/bodywork questions I've found two sources to be really useful. Both have a number of experienced painters/bodymen that have been doing the work for a long time and are knowledgeable about the older technology. https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=5 and https://autobodystore.com/forum/forum.php Wouldn't hurt to join the forums and ask your questions there. I'd give them details of what brand paint you have, you're not using a booth, etc. and that you're committed to using the lacquer. Otherwise, even the experienced guys will tell you not to use it as the more modern finishes are more durable, long lasting and require less maintenance. After the paint is done, your paint job will last a lot longer if the car is kept inside and is regularly waxed.
CJD
Yoda
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Bare metal must be primed under laquer.
A few years ago I bought a dirt cheap Olds Cutlass convertible. My goal was to restore it just enough to have a blast with the family, so I stayed on the cheap side of everything I could. I spent 2 months prepping for the paint job...removing chrome, trim, priming and sanding. The prep was meticulous and took hundreds of hours till I was satisfied. But, hey, my labor was free!
Then, I topped it with the cheapest Dupont laquer I could buy, to stay within my "cheap" plan. Even in the 1990's the laquer cost $500. It looked absolutely beautiful. After a couple months, the red started to dull, so I waxed it. A month later, same thing, so I waxed it. By the time I sold the car, the finish would not even buff back to beauty. This happened after just a year. The time I spent buffing and waxing was , again, in the hundreds of hours. Worst of all...it never looked right after that first month.
What I learned from this ordeal is that I will never go with a paint just to save money. In my 30's, I looked at my time as "free". In my 50's, I know it is anything but free. The $1,000 it costs for upper end paint is just a fraction of the total cost, when you look at the labor involved in a good paint job.
I understand where you are coming from, but I would not spray the laquer on my cars, even if you gave it to me for free. I'd save it for projects around the homestead.
Also, the new paints can be thinned to flash just as fast as laquer. The clear coats, no, but the one stage, yes.
A few years ago I bought a dirt cheap Olds Cutlass convertible. My goal was to restore it just enough to have a blast with the family, so I stayed on the cheap side of everything I could. I spent 2 months prepping for the paint job...removing chrome, trim, priming and sanding. The prep was meticulous and took hundreds of hours till I was satisfied. But, hey, my labor was free!
Then, I topped it with the cheapest Dupont laquer I could buy, to stay within my "cheap" plan. Even in the 1990's the laquer cost $500. It looked absolutely beautiful. After a couple months, the red started to dull, so I waxed it. A month later, same thing, so I waxed it. By the time I sold the car, the finish would not even buff back to beauty. This happened after just a year. The time I spent buffing and waxing was , again, in the hundreds of hours. Worst of all...it never looked right after that first month.
What I learned from this ordeal is that I will never go with a paint just to save money. In my 30's, I looked at my time as "free". In my 50's, I know it is anything but free. The $1,000 it costs for upper end paint is just a fraction of the total cost, when you look at the labor involved in a good paint job.
I understand where you are coming from, but I would not spray the laquer on my cars, even if you gave it to me for free. I'd save it for projects around the homestead.
Also, the new paints can be thinned to flash just as fast as laquer. The clear coats, no, but the one stage, yes.
Brinkerhoff
Jedi Knight
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I sprayed this in lacquer about 4 yrs ago.
Brinkerhoff
Jedi Knight
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It still looks really good. Couple of dings from being driven but that was the idea. I would suggest cutting all the individual panels in with color then reassembling the car and spraying the final finish . That way the color is more uniform overall and doesn't break at each panel. I wasn't as careful about this as I should've been but the entire job had to take no longer than two months while the main shop was closed in the winter.
glemon
Yoda
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Best time to paint for us garage/shed painters is in the early spring on a day it gets warm before the bugs are out, nothing like a big old bug landing right in the middle of your newly painted hood.
I have painted cars in lacquer and in modern urethane enamels, the modern single stage urethane enamel is kind of best of both worlds, sticks like enamel and goes on shiny, but can be sanded and polished out if you wish. Also for the first month or so will blend in with touch up.
You do need a good mask, I got a gallon of Signal Red from the Autocolor Library TCP Global for I think around $300 for the paint and reducars and catalyst and such and was pleased with the results.
I have painted cars in lacquer and in modern urethane enamels, the modern single stage urethane enamel is kind of best of both worlds, sticks like enamel and goes on shiny, but can be sanded and polished out if you wish. Also for the first month or so will blend in with touch up.
You do need a good mask, I got a gallon of Signal Red from the Autocolor Library TCP Global for I think around $300 for the paint and reducars and catalyst and such and was pleased with the results.
CJD
Yoda
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Brinkerhoff
Jedi Knight
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Bugs give it up like Brando don't they?
GlennG
Freshman Member
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I painted my daily driver MGB with lacquer about 8 years ago. I wax it about once a year and it is still very shiny. I got a couple of blisters almost immediately after painting and spiderweb cracks have developed in a couple of places over the years, but it still looks fine from fifteen feet. My reasons for using lacquer? Modern paints contain cyanide, which can cause nerve damage with enough exposure. Granted, you can wear a paint suit and use forced-air breathing apparatus, but with lacquer all you need is a good respirator. Also, lacquer is very forgiving. It's easy to sand out imperfections and cover them with another coat. Lacquer may be thin, but you can apply as many coats as it takes to get it the way you want it. And all those coats can add up to a finish as deep as you want. I used PPG acrylic lacquer from TCP Global, but it doesn't seem to be available any more. I'm strongly tempted to use Duplicolor lacquer on the TR4, because it is sold in stores here in Texas. I may just buy some and paint a fence with it to see how it holds up. Definitely use lacquer primer and a sealer coat. Also, be sure to get thinner formulated for the ambient temperature you will be painting in.