Technical Is it still OK to paint a car with Acrylic Enamel?

Nason works good, be sure to use the right temp. reducer for your job. A gravity feed gun worked the best, when you put the first coat on be sure it tacks up good then apply the rest of your paint. Tack coat IE( when you can touch the painted area with your finger tip and it wants to stick [not slide around] that's when it's time to put the next couple of coats. Be sure that your gun has the right size needle and tip and correct air cap to shoot it.Follow the directions and you can make it slick. Always spray a test panel to get your feel for it. Remember a slick paint job is a controlled run. Frank

 

I checked the Mercedes book on what was a acceptable finish. They break the car into 3 Zones. Zone 1 is the hood around the roof about 6in. in down the top edge of the doors and peak of the fenders to the style line and deck lid. Zone 2 is basicly the sides of the car and Zone 3 is the rockers about 6in. up the doors, the front and rear valance panels. They tell you how many dust numbs square meter on each zone. Also to view in maturely light, and Warns you it some times you can create a bigger problem trying to remove them.
It saved me a lot headache when I ran a M.B. Body shop, and a customer would tell me it was not up to M.B. Standards I just pulled the Service Manual out and let them read it.

 

I am with Squirrel on painting. I like the acrylic enamel w/ hardener as I don't paint often but when I do the paint has always turned out perfect. I have been driven to do the body work and paint myself as a younger person. There was no money to take it to a body shop. The body work and paint was to extend the life of a car or truck to avoid laying out money for a new vehicle. I bought the Petersen books back in the day to learn how to repair and paint cars. A friend and I started off making patches for his 70 Econoline and had a friend weld them in for us. The filler ended up paper thin which I saw an indication that we hackers did a good job. My friend painted for a manufacturer and he showed me how to paint on his Econoline. He was showing a group of buddies the size of patches we did and they thought he was feeding them a line. My friend was angry. I told him that if they could not see the patches and did not believe that we did that quality of work then we were successful. Point is to make the repairs solid and the paint to restore the original appearance. I still don't want to pay a body shop and if I get 15 years out of the paint then I have done okay. I paint it to keep it so the work needs to look perfect and last a few years.
We painted an airplane with water based urethane and that was a frustrating exercise until we got the technique. The paint looks really good but it took twice what it needed to get a good gloss. It turned out glassy smooth but was an exercise in patience and a few phone calls the paint manufacturer. Every time we got a different tech person they had a total different method of laying the paint down so there was no consistency in technique. The paint has a very slight color variance and was not consistent so the lesson on that product is to shoot the same color all at once.
Painting is a matter of what a person is comfortable with. At the end of the day if the person is doing it at home & is successful with whatever they use then two thumbs up.

 

Just look at the number of late model cars with de lamination problems and they are not that old.

 

modern paints peel...older paints faded and got thin, and sometimes crazed.

 

And IMO, they do not look like they have enough material on them.

 

Nothing wrong with acrylic enamel with hardener. I have noticed a couple of posters mentioning cut and buff on acrylic enamel. My experience with it even with the hardener is that it is too soft for at least a month to cut and buff. So I am not sure I understand that.
My experience with the urethanes whether base / clear or single stage is that they harden faster and get harder. They are out of dust in as quick as an hour. They can be cut and buffed the next day. I have even sanded and repaired in the middle of the paint job (carefully)

The cottage cheese look for urethanes is to much build too fast. Usually Only clears suffer that.

I have noticed that if doing clear coat, you need better paint booth conditions because it tends to show dirt and lent more because you can look down thru the layers vs a single stage you really only see the dirt on the surface

I greatly prefer the urethane single stages over acrylic enamels. Easier to repair, tougher, more resistance to UVs, longer lasting. Spray the same as acrylic enamel.

Also, you have to wait a month or more to repair acrylic enamel even with hardener because it has not yet hardened up fully.

My thoughts,


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I have seen some talk about orange peel, show cars especially those that win indoor shows cannot have any, period. If you want a car to look factory it needs a little bit of orange peel. I personally would like to have the perfect pant job and do it myself, now there is an oxy-moron.

I can paint a car or a bike and have it presentable enough. I am not a painter, it takes me time. I have to play with stuff and mix stuff and measure stuff. I have known a painter or two in my life, they don't do any of that for them painting is like mechanics is for me, they just do it.

Presentable enough is good enough for me. I just want to drive it, not be embarrassed to be seen in it and hopefully not let it rust down around my ears.

 

In the late 80's they took the lead out. You could paint a door on a Red Porsche and it would match perfect, then they took the Lead out and we had to start matching and blending . Then they had clear coat pealing. All the big 3 had paint pealing problems, when they took the lead out then they took the zink out and we had more problems. Look in a can of clear if it has a yellow cast to it, it has UV protection in it, if it's crystal clear it usually has little UV protection in it. Pick your clears carefully as they will change tint of your base color, that's why we color match and blend now.
But like other have said Acralic Enamel with Hardner in it can be colorsanded and buffed with great results especially on solid colors.

 

All I know is every can of paint I've ever bought had a run inside it.....

SPark

 

That what strainers are for !!!

 

Here in California paint is/was different. I'm no pro painter by any stretch, but I've painted a few parts, bikes and full cars. My take is acrylic enamel is less toxic to spray but takes more products (reducer, hardener) and you most likely will have to color sand if you want a flat finsih (or close). Acrylic urethane is more toxic to spray (you need a great mask or fresh air and full clothing), but it flows out really, really good even with a cheap gun. I personally like the urethane for its flow properties, just spray and go.........I like drivers, so a show gloss won't help me.