I just painted the top on my 59 El Camino yesterday, I used a basecoat and the I sprayed metalflake over it suspended in an intercoat clear mixed with reducer. I got into the mode of things and simply reduced the topcoat clear and totally forgot to add the hardener. How badly did I screw up? It looks great BTW. It's been about 12 hours and the paint has hardened but not as much as I know it should have, it's soft when pushed firmly. It's Shopline JC661.
I wonder what would happen if after waiting a week or more, you sprayed a thinned coat of clear mixed correctly over it. Let it harden, lightly scuff it, and then spray on some more correctly mixed clear. Unless someone with more experience knows for sure that's what I would try.
It will harden just going to take time. if you have a heat lamp put it on it or move it to the sunshine. If you try and spray it with clear again with hardener it will shrink up and crack. been there done that!
What brand of paint? SiKkens and Glasurit dry very hard. You may need to let the paint harden for a month or more.
Ever? Really? I have four good coats over the flake, there's enough material to easily sand down without cutting through the flake. I think I'll just let it sit out in the sun for a good long while and see what happens. Thanks for your help guys.
It's Shopline, PPG's jobber line.......the same type that's been on my 54 Chevy for nearly 5 years and still looks good.
I screwed up and did that to a guy's hood. I had him wait an extra day while I tried to bake it. All is fine now, just took forever to dry.
Whew, I just squirted an itty bit of catalyzed clear over a small section, there's no reaction, but I'm still gonna let it sit a while. I'm clearing the dash now, it looks great. After I polish the paint I can finally put in the windshield.
Don't forget back in the day they did not use hardener and they color sanded them and buffed them but it took a long time to cure, it cures from the outside in.
yes it will dry you will need to get some sunlight on it to promote the drying but give it plenty of dry time if you are in a hurry wet sand the clear that you put on and mix up more clear with hardner this time and lay down 2 coats you'll be fine enjoy
Yeah, the key word is "Eventually." I made the mistake of not using enough hardner once and even months later the paint was still "soft" where I could make a mark with my fingernail. You need to start over.
i did a job a few years back and used the wrong hardner in a single stage ureathane job....stayed tacky not sticky but would print if you touched it....ended letting it sit for a couple weeks and went over it with a hotter batch with double the hardner....seemed to dry out pretty good. might be worth a shot...
Years ago we shot a truck of mine that I was going to sell with single stage enamel (Super Max) without hardener (didn't want to "waste" the money on something I was selling). Well one thing lead to another and I kept it a while and then the guy that bought it became a Friend. He wrecked it 2 years later and that paint still gummed up like crazy. The body shop ended up having to strip it!
My favorite thing to do is accidently put undercoat hardener in my clear. nothing pisses me off more than watching a batch of clear cloud up and gel before my eyes in the mixing cup.
With the sun down there you should be OK, I wouldn't have it out in the rain tho. Wheel it outside and let er bake.
it will eventually dry and be fine, don't reclear with the hardner over it till it dry totally you don't want to trap solvents. if it is urethane base clear moister will speed the cure time. sounds crazy i know but i've noticed this when spraying on rainy days my flash times are shorter and paint doesn't flow out as well.
I did the same thing a while ago, tried the catalized clear over it than baked in an oven, 6 months later there was seperation and lifting between the clears, ended up stripping the whole hood, that was the only place I made the mistake on I agree I would try just letting it cure
I am in favor of not recoating because of the trapped solvents. air dry in the sun for a couple weeks would be my route. jim
I'm just gonna let her be, I've got tons of other stuff to do anyway, I'm always in a rush, it always bites me in the end.
Your paint may eventually dry but it will never harden. The chemicals in the hardener cross-link the ingredients and form something unlike "dried" paint.<o></o> It will never be correct.<o></o> If cost is a problem, and you only did the hood, do what ever you want and when it fails, and it will, do it over.
Yup, Roger Walling is right. It will look OK for a while, but it will never hold up like it is supposed to. It will probably degrade and get a "frosty" look to it sometime in the not too distant future. Sometimes you can save a mistake like this if you catch it in the first coat, but even that is "iffy". It depends on the product. overspray
I might as well spritz on your parade too, Nads..... Might dry, might look okay, but odds are it's doo-doo-bound. Recoat it and it fails...well, you're out more bucks As cool as this thing is, all the work you've done so far, and all the years you've been saying you wanted another Elky.......just bite the bullet, man. Get a bundle of rags and a couple gallons of hot lacquer thinner and wash that shit off and do it again--then you'll KNOW what you've got. I've done it, and it hurts, but it's more prudent than hoping it'll be okay and doing it over later. C'mon, man, I sense you're not a perfectionist but you're not a half-asser either.
The Jalopy Journal
