clear in the topcoat

i am probably going to do this just for ****s and giggles but, i thought i would put it out there before i do. anyway, i had a car painted by old Earl Scheib about 12 years ago. at the time, i had a single stage white used, the manager said they put the clear in the white topcoat and not as a bc/cc. they did do a bc/cc but it was more money. with the way paint changes i would ***ume it was an acrylic enamel at the time. was he just fooling with me or was this really done back in the day. i have some satin white rustoleum and some of their clear and thought i would give it a test. i will also put some japan dryer in it to harden it up a little bit. so what do you painters out there think?
also, this car has never been under cover, has always been outside and never waxed in all these years and still shines great. say what you want about Earl Scheib's paint jobs but this one is great.

 

Yep used to do that all the time back in the 80's. If you use that satin it will flatten the clear a bit but it should work. mix a small amount and try it on a s**** and make sure they do not react and do funny things. PS on a good note at least you don't need a spray gun...just toss it in the air and let the wind blow it on for you!!!

 

The only clear you can put in Acrylic Enamel at the same time is Mixing Formula Clear.. it just Dilutes the White Pigment and makes the Paint go a little further without adding more Color.. You just got Paint by the sounds of it.. Most clears for a acrylic overlays were Urethane Clears.. and you had to wait 8 hours prior to putting it overtop.. so it would not wrinklie or Go all Gobby.. wasnt Earl Schieb like Maaco ?

 

I never used mixing clear just regular clear, never had any problems.

 

^^^^^^^^^^^^
Same here, with acrylic lacquer. Kept adding a bit more clear (after first half dozen coats) for the next couple coats and then the last coat was straight clear. Don't know if that was right way or not, bur it sure looked good after slicing and buffing.
Cheers
Rod

 

Acrylic Lacquer You can.. not sure you can with Acrylic Enamel though. The hardner needs time to Cure in Acry Enamel.

 

Back in the days of good old Dulux, I used to keep a gallon of clear handy in case I dident buy enough color for the final coat. I would add enough to make one final coat.

(Paint was very expencive for me then, I think it was about $8 or so a gallon)

 

Used to do that to Centari Acrylic Enamel,used to put in about 20% of 7500 clear,it was mixed and ready to spray.Would put the clear in the last coat.This was back in the 90s,Cant get Centari here anymore,been phased out with the new watrborne regs.Used to look pretty good too,looked like base-clear when it was done.

 

Yes...Used to do it with Acrylic Lacquer.. Color coats first, then more or less 40/60 clear to color, then clear as normal. Looked really nice and deep. Haven't had enough balls to even consider it with the new stuff.

 

way back, the maaco near us, used synthetic enamel. they used to add clear in the top coat for an added price. i always thought it was a sales pitch, like the light that came on during a car wash that meant "waxing". i don't know if it made a difference. i do know if we had to do a repair it was tuff to spray over because it would lift or leave "halo's".

 

Used to put it in the last coat of acrylic enamel.....blending clear I think it was called. Made the paint flow out really nice.

 

I painted my model A with PPG "concept"??? its a urathane single stage that can be top coated. the product sheet said single stage or mix clear in the top coat or clear. I know several guys that did mix in the top coat and it looked great.

 

Very cool ! The first gallon of real paint I ever bought was about $8. And it was Dulux too. That was around 1965 and I was about 15 yrs old. Most of my career was with Centauri or other AE's and early polys like Imron and Nitram.

 

These production paint shops used to often start diluting with clear as soon as they had an initial color coverage. Its was a cost saving measure, as the clear was less expensive than the pigmented paint.

 

I've done it with most paint systems. Works well, and gives the paint more depth, which is a very good thing!
Did a few black Centari jobs like that, and caught a couple owners telling folks it was a hand rubbed lacquer job! They did look good!

 

Many painters integrated clear in acrylic enamel a while back .And I've done it plenty of times. I don't know what plodge55aqua is talking about. Maybe he was mixing lacquer with acrylic enamel?