Ugh!!!!!! Clear Coat Issues

Craig 85 said:

I used their product on my last truck and had no issues in the 4 years I had it. Last year I painted the dash in my K30 and all was fine for about 6 months, then the clear cracked like old lacquer paint. Back to to square 1...

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Hmmm, I would definately let them know. Might be a bad batch of clear and we both were the lucky recipeients.....

@My78truck,

I know a lot of people don't have much luck with spray can paint. I've been using it since the early '70's. I had some good instruction from car painters on how to use it, and including tests with the instructions on the can. Those instructions are for general conditions and can't be relied on in "your results may vary" sort of thing. And I have seen this very thing when humidity is high. I call it "fogging" and it's when water is drawn into the paint as it's drying. And it's true that the driers in the paint can are the cause of it. But when it says temp. 70 and humidity at 55 you've got to get as close to that as possible. You can go higher with the temp. but not so higher with the humidity, maybe 65 percent.

But here's the deal once the water is in there you will need to remove the paint down to the layer that is affected, and under as best conditions as there can be, then spray. If it fogs again, it's deeper and you'll have to take the paint down past that layer. I know that's not what you want to hear but unless you can find someone who has a booth you may have to build one. And that means you have to get plastic sheet and enclose the truck, or the part you are painting, dehumidify the enclosure and then paint it with the can.

If it does it again then as you are saying, replace the clear paint. Weren't you going to do that anyway? Do that, then enclose the truck and then try it in the enclosure. If you have a heater, try that to reduce the humidity, and there may be other ways and you may need to look that up, I don't know. To be honest I don't know how paint booths are dehumidified. It easy to control the temp by air conditioning the room, and maybe that's how it's done by the A/C being low in humidity as it's blown into the room.
Good luck and I hope your hood turns out okay.

Thanks Raider L - That is exactly what I did. I have been very happy with the results up to this problem. After the 2nd attempt, and worse blushing, I took it down to bare metal and filler. I have since primed and applied 2 coats of base and stopped. I just received today the 2K clear coat that the company was sending for me to try (at no cost to me). At this point, Virginia is into June and humidity is getting stupid and more than 50% any day. So, I am going to wait until the fall to clear coat when mother nature gets over her sweats and the air is dryer.

@My78truck,

Just make sure you keep an eye on the paint so to watch for any rust popping anywhere. Even though it's got paint on it, it's still not sealed. That's what the clear coat is for. Let's see, you're in Virginia, that's a bit North laterally from Louisiana and depending on how far up the mountains you are from me, you will experience cold long before we do down here. As soon as that humidity goes down make sure it's not to cold to shoot either and the you'll have to wait on Spring again.

Now you may look into wrapping your carport or whatever you have and put a heater in there when it gets cooler in the Fall and with the low humidity, some warm air with a heater and that's perfect conditions. Just make sure you're not using a gas heater with flames, you know? Boom!! lol I know you have better sense than that.

Thanks for the tips. Once we get over the hump of this humidity I will shoot the clear coat. I have used a rust convertor, rust encapsulator and then applied a "Heavy Duty Anti-Rust" that cures with a waxy film (All Eastwood products). So at least I have the backside sealed. The filler I used has aluminium in it. I will continue to monitor for rust pop through. We do have a large double car building we use to store equipment. When it gets cooler, I will pull the truck in there and heat that area for application. No electricity to it so easier to heat than cool it.........unfortunately. Thanks again for all the tips.

Consider the possibility of moisture in the can. Can be dry outside but if your can shoots droplets with the clear coat you would perpetually have the same issue. Turn upside down and spray a bit. Infact, let it sit upside down for a while before you spray upside down to let it divide out. Water should be heaviest in the contents and denser? Would be the first to go if that was it