a buddy of mine painted his interior with the base and a single coat of clear. he waited about 20 min and shot the 2nd coat of clear and now evrything is cracking up. my question is, does he need to sand the clear between coats? if so what grit. thats the only thing i can think of, or maybe should he let the clear completely dry before the second coat? all the prep work will have to be redone again:confused:

Never had experience in it personally, but a good friend who is painting my truck and owns a body shop says that a good rule of thumb is to let the color dry to the touch between coats, but on the clear, let each coat dry 24 hours. If you add a second coat of clear to clear that isn't dry, you'll risk ending up with a wrinkled finish. He said 24 hours may be a bit of overkill, but will about guarantee you have no issues. Maybe this happened to you?

Sounds like he shot the second coat too soon and the clear is lifting the basecoat.

Sounds like he shot the second coat too soon and the clear is lifting the basecoat.



i am with randy

Originally posted by VTKidder
but a good friend who is painting my truck and owns a body shop says on the clear, let each coat dry 24 hours.

This guy is painting your truck and owns a shop???!!!!!!

What brand of crack is he smoking?? I never seen any clear that has 24 hr time between coats. If there was body shops would be backed up for weeks. Depending on the speed of the cure, the recoat time of clears in around 10 to 30 MINS. PPG's 2082 is a fast clear made for doing jams has a recoat time of 10 mins. 2055 made for overalls and spot repairs is 20 mins.

The rule of thumb is recoat the clear when tacky but yet not tacky enough that is sticks to your finger when touched.

YOU NEVER sand clear between coats.

Now this CRACKING UP you sure its lifted paint? If it lifted then it would look like someone placed paint stripper on the finish.

I dont unstand how spraying on the second coat of clear to soon would lift the base? Sovent pop yes but paint cracking, never seen it.

What has most likely happened is that the first coat of clear started to "kick" (slang) or cure. When the coat was partially cured, and only the thickness of one coat it is too soft to hold back the solvents from the second coat. The solvents from the second coat got under the partially cured clear and lifted it.

There is a "window" with cured products. This window is a "window of opportunity" where you can spray the next coat. If you wait too long, then you have to wait a little while longer to allow it to fully cure. This is NOT 24 hours but only an hour or two. But, it is likely that it would not have happened if you could have applied a heavier coat to begin with.

Modern clears are "two coat" clears. Most are applied in a "wet on wet" fashion or close to it.

You really need to get the tech sheets and get all the info there on spraying the product.

Yes, you will have to sand it, re-base and re-clear.

To reiterate Eric's post (sevt_chevelle) the shop where I work shoots about ten cars a day. Three or four coats of base and two of clear apiece. :)