Buddy at the paint supply shop made me rethink my whole clear coat process

I was grabbing some PPG reducer the other day at FinishMaster and the old guy behind the counter asked me how I was laying down my clear. I told him 3 medium coats, wait 10 minutes between each, the usual. He just laughed and said "you're burning all that extra product for nothing, try 2 heavy coats with a 15 minute flash and see what happens." Tried it on a silver Ford F-150 this week and the flow out was way better, less orange peel, used about 20% less material too. Anyone else been doing it wrong for years and had some random shop guy set you straight?

3 comments

3 Comments

jamie_white7d ago

Old guy at the paint store near me told me the same thing about primer once - thicker coats, longer flash, and it cut my sanding time in half. Turns out I was just following what some YouTube guy said instead of trusting someone who's been doing it since the 80s. Made me wonder how much other conventional wisdom in this trade is just wasteful habits.

felix_lane997d ago

I actually disagree with this pretty strongly. The problem I see with that 2 heavy coat method is you have way less margin for error if something goes wrong. One run in a heavy coat and you're sanding the whole panel instead of just a spot. @jamie_white I get what you're saying about the primer thing but clear coat is totally different. You also have to think about how different brands cure. Some of these cheaper clears will trap solvent if you lay them on too thick and then you get micro blisters a month later. I've fixed enough jobs where guys tried to rush with heavy coats and ended up with headaches. Three medium coats gives you more control and lets each layer setup properly. I think a lot of the old timer advice works great on older materials but these new waterborne systems and fast hardeners change the whole game. To each their own though, if it worked on that Ford then maybe it has its place.

oliver_morgan7d ago

Well that's an interesting point about solvent trapping, I hadn't really thought about that with the cheaper clears. But let me ask you this - have you actually tried the two heavy coat method yourself, or are you just going by what you've seen go wrong for other guys? Because my experience has been the opposite, the old timer at my shop showed me that trick ten years ago and I've never had a micro blister issue on any of my jobs. The key is you gotta give it enough flash time, not just ten minutes but really wait until it starts to get a little tacky. I wonder if the guys having trouble are just rushing the flash and then blaming the method. Your point about waterborne systems changing things is fair though, I haven't messed with those much myself.