Water Hose to Enhance Car Paint Gloss?

One thing EVERYBODY seems to agree on here is achieving the best possible gloss out of your paint AND how best to maintain it so it holds up for years.

One of my cars, I had painted by a friend whose work I'd seen and liked. This was summer 1975. I did the bodywork, wet-sanded & tacked the primer, did all the masking, etc. All he did was shoot the paint I supplied. BUT, IT WAS HIS LAST STEP THAT AMAZED ME, AND I'VE NEVER SEEN ANYBODY ELSE DO IT. Have any of you guys SEEN or DONE this?

After we both had a drink and let the paint set up a bit, we pulled the car outside. My friend starts a steady stream from a garden hose, removes his ring and watch so as not to scratch the new paint and proceeds to rub the paint surface with water running constantly. Nothing but water and a human palm touching the paint. After he showed me what to do, I set in too, and soon we had hand-rubbed every square inch of the paint.

He said it was his belief this made the surface smoother and more integral. He didn't used the term "seal" by any means, but years later the paint would still shine like a new penny with Maguire's & soft towels. I'd have sworn it was "sealed," in some sense by the water-rubbing step. (Incidentally, this was years before people started routinely adding a clear-coat.) And, no, I don't use rubbing compounds, either.

As I say, I've never seen or heard of anyone else using this technique (but then, it was a small town). ANY OF YOU HEARD OF, OR DONE, THIS TECHNIQUE TO FINISH A PAINT JOB?

 

Never heard of that, but the next time I shoot some laquer Im goint to try it.

 

when i first got into this trade, the old painter at the shop i worked at used to run the hose over all the fresh enamal jobs, he said it helped the paint lay down smoother before the paint cured. i never saw him rub the finish with his hand though. i used to do it also on dulux and centari paint jobs, i swear it worked!

 

My dad did that to me on a 68 chevy truck hood only he used a chamy (sp) I could not belive it when he was done the hood was slick as gl*** never seen it done again..

 

So, it's sounding like an OLD trick!

Bishop: We sprayed acrylic enamel, as I recall. So I cannot say what water would do for lacquer. Maybe somebody else here has done it with lacquer? Input, please!

 

What kind of paint? Enamal only, or can this be done on laquer and urithane.

I keep picturing dried in water droplet shapes on all the edges. In my head it wont work.

 

20-25 years ago, I can remember people talking about frequent cold water bathes early on after spraying catalyzed enamel. I think the real intent was to help the paint cure since the cat was typically isocyanate which is moisture cured.

In other words, any leftover residual free isocyanate would get good and hard after running it with cold water (kind of the opposite happens with me...)

 

Bishop: Thanks for the Q, but all I know is it worked on enamel, and other guys have waded in saying it worked (at least in the old days and OLDER paints).

BUT, NOBODY has said it works for lacquer, buddy -- much less urithane. Hopefully, osmebody will pitch in with some knowledge, from experience actually doing or witnessing it.

 

Now, THAT said, Senior HAMBer RedlineToys of Indiana just posted a GREAT (and chemically scientific, if I may say so!) post on WHY this friggin' WORKS on catalyzed enamel.

Hell, I HOPE this thread can be a reference resource for HAMBers looking for a way to get paint to last LONGER, yet still retain the original GLOSS. Heck, it just MAY be an OLD trick that has relevance for MODERN-day car nuts!

So far, so good. THANKS paint gurus!!! KEEP IT COMING!

 

In the mid 60's thru early 80's, I used to shoot synthetic enamel (DuPont), by putting it on a hot plate (very crazy) and getting it hot. No reducer, just sprayed hot (Binks model 7) and when it tacked up. would pull the car outside and run cold water over it, as mentioned. Made for a nice gl***y finish, but I must admit to starting at least one shop on fire. Stu

 

Stu: LOL. But there's another vote for enamel.

Lacquer guys? Any input? I'd sure hate to see anybody do this to lacquer, if they have to run around and do the WHOLE sanding process all over.

 

hey,

My money says Lacquer wouldn't work out with this trick, as an enamel would. Lacquer dries via solvents from within evaporateing out of the finish and into the air. Any action that impedes this may cause "blushing" of the finish.
Blushing could best be described as a sort of milky cast to the paint's surface, with little or no gloss.

The old alkyd enamels dried from the outside in via oxidation. The "water trick" work, perhaps because it served to trap solvents beneith the surface of the finish long enough to reflow the enamel to rid the surface of peel?

S****y Devils C.C.
" All great truths begin as blasphemies''

 

I always see fresh water on the parts for sale in the cl***ifieds... I guess it makes them look new?

 

BISHOP!!! NO to water on LACQUER!

PimpinPaint just gave AS scientific an explanation on WHY WATER WON'T WORK ON LACQUER as RedLineToys gave on WHY WATER WORKS ON ENAMEL.

This has been thought provoking and informative. I hope other HAMBers can use all YOUR input as a sort of resource! Paint is just too costly nowadays to do WRONG!

 

Chaddilac: LOL! Yep, that is a trick used in advertising a lot. Sounds like some "creative" HAMBers hit on it too!

 

Is this done with the paint still tacky?

 

I painted enamel and acrylic enamel for years, we did it to cure the paint more than anything. Hardened it up a bit faster, never had anything to do with flow, you do that with the gun while its wet.

 

Never heard of the water trick but when I was a teenager my buddy had a 55 Chevy that his uncle sprayed Camaro Hugger Orange enamel and he heated the can on a hot plate with a thermometer in it.I don't recall how hot he got it before he sprayed it,but he said you could spray it a lot heavier without running.I do remember it was slick as gl*** even though it was sprayed in his old shop.

 

I have also seen it done by 1 old timer. Just running the water on it in the sunlight not the rubbing part.

 

We did it years ago on enamel paint jobs not lacquer. No, it was not done when tacky, but after the paint tacked and not in the sun. Not full force but just running water.
We also heated the paint, but that started in cold climates just to make it workable, and I don't think it made it less runnable.

 

Been a long time agi, 36TBird. But I think we let it set up for about a half-hour before putting the water to it. No, it wasn't tacky by that time.

Please NOTE: The consensus here has been it'll work for enamel but NOT lacquer!

 

HotRod1940: Yup, just a steady, gentle stream of water -- not hi-pressure!

 

Yep, That was the way to do enamel in the 40s & 50s. I never saw them rubbing it down, enamel took a long time to harden, this only hardened the surface. You woudn't lean on, wax it or anything to it for a couple months.

 

I'd bet that heating the paint would cause it to flash off faster, and this would allow you to lay it on a bit heavier without incurring sags.

 

Unclee, I bet you hit the nail right on the head. When I posted the question about water, I didn't guess it would spawn discussion of OTHER techniques for getting certain improved results from paint. BUT, this is great!

I'm abit concerned about fire, though. Somebody mentioned using a hotplate. How about just heating water in a slow-cooker & setting the metal sprayer can in that? Seems to me you could get it pretty darn hot WITHOUT overheating & running a risk (?). Just a thought.

 

I'm abit concerned about fire, though. Somebody mentioned using a hotplate. How about just heating water in a slow-cooker & setting the metal sprayer can in that? Seems to me you could get it pretty darn hot WITHOUT overheating & running a risk (?). Just a thought.[/QUOTE]

dude, heating the paint in a slow cooker, you mean like a potroast? lol. i think we're just saying this is how it was done back in the day, just like nitrostain, washing cars with kerosene, putting a chain around the rear axle to ground the car for dust purposes, and wet sanding laquer with 600 grit paper and rubbing the entire car by hand! very few people still use these methods if any at all. with all the new technologies today, these methods pretty much went out with the hula-hoop!

 

AutoBodyed, yup, out with the Hula Hoop. True. My question started out, whether anybody remembered the water trick, that's all. Maybe I SHOULD have posted in History, though, not Tech. Thanks for your perspective, 'cause -- yeah -- the water and all the other examples you mentioned have been superceded today.

 

Good God, do you have to reply to EVERYONE that replies to your threads?

 

Sorry, TMan. I like the HAMB. To me, it's like sittin' in a bar with a bunch of buddies who all share the same interests. I sure don't mean to whiz in anybody's Cheerios, my friend. Please just byp*** my posts, 'cause I am not trying to get on anybody's nerves, just enjoying the ocmpany, tha's all, bro!

 

No worries, struck me as funny. Thats all.