Advice for the DIY painters out there.

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Grit dog

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Thought I’d share a little issue I had painting.
While putting down the secondary color base coat over a feather edge of the primary color, already sprayed and cured and re-prepped. (Pic of 2 tone for reference first color laid down “wide” and then taped off for second color.)
First coat of base resulted in a raised edge along the feather edge of the paint below it.
Second coat made it worse, thinking I’d try to “bury” the issue with more paint.
Ended up scraping the new paint AND the previous color back down to primer (right away and then sanded and re painted) and the bottom color was SOFT. Like scraped off with a putty knife soft, clean right down to primer.
The issue, I learned, is base coat doesn’t cure hard enough that the reducer in fresh paint won’t soften or eat it up. And spraying too heavy of an initial coat will cause this to happen.
Makes sense, usually I go light on first coat but this area was awkward to reach and I recall first coat going down heavy. And it ate the base coat under it.
Short story, is 2 stage paint, don’t pile on the first coat of base over other base. A light coat will flash quick enough that it doesn’t sit “wet” very long. Sort of sealing it up and giving successive coats something to bite into.
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Joshua Keith

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Good advice. I had a few spots burn up on mine. All were on spots where the previous coat was thin. It was my first time spraying a car. Base coat is just for coverage. No need to pile it on or can get burn through.
 

fast 99

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That happens fairly often when painting over non-thermoset [non-oem] paint. When painting the thinners go down into the surface then flash off. There are good epoxy sealers that can help elevate that. Always follow the mixing and wait time instructions along with the correct thinners for the temperature. However, best is always stripping to the metal.
 

Grit dog

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^That makes sense. And something I’m not knowledgeable about.
In my case, I could have avoided this by taping off that dark color and painting it neat line but I figured the accepted way was to over shoot and then tape off.
Regardless, it was avoidable. And not something I expected to happen.
Is nice to know why and not be a mystery though.
 

fast 99

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Painting can be very frustrating. The littlest thing can cause problems, like water under trim, silicone, dirt, or even a bug. In my experience if there is a fly in the area it will always land on the hood.
 
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Joshua Keith

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@fast 99 Yepp! That’s exactly what I did. Bought a sealer and never had an issue with that again. Something I did to help with bugs, was I set up my booth (garage 1/4 open with 3 cheap box fans at bottom. Sears rest with a tarp.) covered the truck, then opened a fog bomb and let that sit til the next morning.
 

fast 99

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Be careful introducing anything into the air around a vehicle before painting. I wouldn't have done that.
 

Joshua Keith

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@fast 99 It wasnt anything major. Set it off at 6pm, sprayed the next day around 1pm. Most contaminants will come from your own hands.
 

fast 99

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That's very true. But not knowing what exactly is in it or how it would affect painting be very careful. Really doesn't take much to ruin a paint job.
 

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