Lacquer without clearcoat thoughts?

[Jim R.]

Re: Lacquer without clearcoat thoughts?

Hi Dick I understand what you mean, when this problem started all the car needed was the fender grills on the drivers side needed to be repainted so this would involve the door and part of the front fender ,the paint was blended into the door and most of the fender, when the clear was applied there must have been moisture in the clear because they are cloudy streaks and spots everywhere the clear was applied that cannot be sanded or polished out the clear is contaminated with moisture, so now not only do I have the grill area that was ruined by the clear also the entire fender and complete door so to try and fix it again now what way do you go about it try and paint the door over and blend into the rear quarter panel along with the entire front fender or complete front end or just think about redoing the whole car, and I hate to think about restripping the car again. Jim

[Domenic T.]

Re: Lacquer without clearcoat thoughts?

As I remember, the laquer is ACRYLIC Laquer that we are talking about, not the older straight laquer, and the pigment/metalic settle under the acrylic. If you sand or buff thru the acrylic the paint will oxidize and eventually craze. I remember the first acrylic paint jobs that were block sanded and rubbed out, they didn't last and many would show a metalic line where the paint was sanded or buffed thru.
A dustless paint job buffed out keeping the acrylic thick is great but a final coat or two of clear will let you make a few mistakes and sand them or buff them out.
The OLD straight laquer was great in solid colors and could be buffed till the primer showed and still shine, Acrylic laquer will not live long when it gets thin.
I added metalic to the old laquer and had to clear it to eliminate the metalic line that would show up if you sanded or buffed to deep.
I am almost certain that the straight laquers were only solid colors and the metalic was introduced in acrylic laquer. The acrylic was supposed to help eliminate buffing thru the metalic.

DOM

[Pat M.]

Re: Lacquer without clearcoat thoughts?

Had my 70 painted with straight lacquer (Marlboro Maroon metallic) 5 1/2 years ago. Drive it a few hundred miles a year, stored in heated/cooled garage. No problems whatsoever.

[Jim R.]

Re: Lacquer without clearcoat thoughts?

Had my 70 painted with straight lacquer (Marlboro Maroon metallic) 5 1/2 years ago. Drive it a few hundred miles a year, stored in heated/cooled garage. No problems whatsoever.

Pat what have you done to the car for polishing or waxing since the time it was painted?

[Pat M.]

Re: Lacquer without clearcoat thoughts?

Jim, since I got the shine and orange peel close to TFP I have not polished or waxed it. All I've done from time-to-time is to lightly wash and then clay-bar it.

In my experience, many polishes and waxes have abrasives that smooth out the orange peel and increase the shine beyond TFP. I learned this lesson on the previous straight lacquer paint job on this car, and I don't want to undermine the present TFP finish I tried so hard to replicate. I'll occasionally lightly apply polish to small areas to reduce light scratches, but I'm careful not to create a smooth, shiny "spot".

IMO, after a good cleaning and clay bar treatment the car looks great, and no one's ever said otherwise. And yet it also judged very well, so I think it's a win-win. And the car is never really exposed to harsh elements, anyway. I'm sure many others have many different opinions, but this is what's worked for me.

[Bill W.]

Re: Lacquer without clearcoat thoughts?

Clay bars are made of clay and fine rubbing compound . They were made to remove overspray and rail dust . You can get better results with wax with a cleaner .

[Pat M.]

Re: Lacquer without clearcoat thoughts?

Clay bars are made of clay and fine rubbing compound . They were made to remove overspray and rail dust . You can get better results with wax with a cleaner .

Didn't know that Bill. It must be very fine, because I've used clay several times with no noticeable change to the finish, and don't recall "pulling paint" either, both of which are very noticable with polish and many waxes.

[Michael J.]

Re: Lacquer without clearcoat thoughts?

I use the 3M glaze on my lacquer without CC, it does just fine too.

[Dick W.]

Re: Lacquer without clearcoat thoughts?

Didn't know that Bill. It must be very fine, because I've used clay several times with no noticeable change to the finish, and don't recall "pulling paint" either, both of which are very noticable with polish and many waxes.

Try the clay bar sales trick, take a zip lock bag, put it over your hand and rub the paint on your car. Notice the sandpaper feel? Clay bar the surface and do the same thing. Big difference in feel. Personally clay bar is too much like work, took me a month to wax my pickup, why add another month or two by using a clay bar?

[Steven B.]

Re: Lacquer without clearcoat thoughts?

I use the 3M glaze on my lacquer without CC, it does just fine too.

I also use 3M Glaze on my nitrocellulose and two acrylic paint jobs. Steve

[Pat M.]

Re: Lacquer without clearcoat thoughts?

Dick, I didn't try the zip lock trick, but it did seem to be rough before and smooth afterwards without a zip lock. It seemed to me to be subtly shinier, and with no loss of orange peel, unlike polish and some waxes. And it didn't take me very long to do the whole car. Whatever, to each his own.