Basecoat Issue, New Plan of Action Question

[RSchofield10]

Good Morning All,

Last week I had an Issue with my Deltron basecoat wrinkling (see photo below). I sanded the panel with 600, sealed with reduced epoxy (SPI) at 25% using slow reducer (SPI). I left the sealer sit overnight night and sprayed my base the following morning and everything looked great. I came back the next day only to find that the base had wrinkled. The only thing a can attribute this to is that the temperature dropped below 65 degrees the night the sealer was sprayed or I sprayed the base on to heavy, however I tried to spray very light due to the sharp edge of the body line as I didn't want to get a run.

My new plan of action is to sand off all the base and sealer and take it back down to the previous clear coat with 240 since it wrinkled in so many places, I have currently completed this step (see photo below). I plan to shoot an unreduced coat of epoxy to seal in the previous material as well as some burn through on the edges that went to metal during sanding, let it cure for 48 hours at ~80 degrees then sand with 600 to remove any texture. At this point I will shoot a coat of 25% reduced epoxy, let it sit overnight and follow up with base in the morning and clear the following day.

Since I am just a beginner and hobbyist at best I wanted to get some opinions if this is a sound plan of action or if there is a better course to take. Thanks in advance.

Current Condition

 

[dhutton01]

I would lock it down with two coats of unreduced epoxy if stripping it to bare metal is not an option. If you sand it do not break through. If you do, apply more unreduced epoxy.

I hope you are planning on a good time not a long time job…

 

[RSchofield10]

I would lock it down with two coats of unreduced epoxy if stripping it to bare metal is not an option. If you sand it do not break through. If you do, apply more unreduced epoxy.

I hope you are planning on a good time not a long time job…

I appreciate the advice. The only reason I am hesitant to take it down to bare metal is that it appears the quarter has been painted before so I am assuming there is body work underneath. It is just a daily so I didn't want to get in that deep.

 

[MJM]

This is my worst nightmare of that happening to me.

Sorry it happened to you, RSchofiel10

 

[RSchofield10]

This is my worst nightmare of that happening to me.

Sorry it happened to you, RSchofiel10

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't frustrated at the time but learning any new skill there will be ups and downs so I am just trying to make it a learning experience.

 

[Barry]

The mistake you made with epoxy is adding a reducer like Don said.
Depending on the issue epoxy is mild at 1:1
But adding a reducer makes it like the base or a 2k and thus more aggressive.

 

[Chris_Hamilton]

The refinish paint/base is what is cooking up on you. Only thing you can do if you are not going to strip it to metal is to use unreduced epoxy like Don said above. When you do it, spray the first coat very light. Give it an hour or more to flash then spray another very light coat on there. Give it an hour or more to flash then spray a normal medium coat. Let it set the required 24 hours then you will probably want a couple of coats of 2K to even everything out. If you don't care how it looks, then lightly sand and either directly base it or seal it. Once you get the epoxy on there it will lock it down so hopefully it won't cook up anymore.

 

[RSchofield10]

The mistake you made with epoxy is adding a reducer like Don said.
Depending on the issue epoxy is mild at 1:1
But adding a reducer makes it like the base or a 2k and thus more aggressive.

Thanks Barry for the additional information, that makes sense.

The refinish paint/base is what is cooking up on you. Only thing you can do if you are not going to strip it to metal is to use unreduced epoxy like Don said above. When you do it, spray the first coat very light. Give it an hour or more to flash then spray another very light coat on there. Give it an hour or more to flash then spray a normal medium coat. Let it set the required 24 hours then you will probably want a couple of coats of 2K to even everything out. If you don't care how it looks, then lightly sand and either directly base it or seal it. Once you get the epoxy on there it will lock it down so hopefully it won't cook up anymore.

I appreciate the insight. I think the safer course of action is just taking it down to bare metal as suggested, I'd rather mitigate my chance for another issue.

 

[RSchofield10]

The refinish paint/base is what is cooking up on you. Only thing you can do if you are not going to strip it to metal is to use unreduced epoxy like Don said above. When you do it, spray the first coat very light. Give it an hour or more to flash then spray another very light coat on there. Give it an hour or more to flash then spray a normal medium coat. Let it set the required 24 hours then you will probably want a couple of coats of 2K to even everything out. If you don't care how it looks, then lightly sand and either directly base it or seal it. Once you get the epoxy on there it will lock it down so hopefully it won't cook up anymore.

Chris,
Thanks again for the information but I do I have one additional question. Please excuse me if I am missing something obvious but how would sealing over the 2K primer or unreduced epoxy in your guideline be different then what I originally did in terms of sealing then moving to base? If it was the refinish paint/base cooking up over the epoxy sealer wouldn't that just happen again? Or are you suggesting a 2K sealer and not epoxy sealer?

 

[Chris_Hamilton]

Unreduced epoxy first. Then follow up with 2k if neccesary so that you could block/sand the quarter to even out things. Those areas on the quarter will leave rings and outlines in the epoxy. Completely normal. Using the epoxy unreduced forms a barrier of sorts between the old paint and what you will be applying.

 

[Chris_Hamilton]

Or if the epoxy is going on nicely with no cooking up, just spray several more coats of epoxy and wait 24-48 hours before sanding

 

[Chris_Hamilton]

With the epoxy down you now have a barrier coat which will prevent the old refinish paint from cooking up.

 

[RSchofield10]

With the epoxy down you now have a barrier coat which will prevent the old refinish paint from cooking up.

My confusion was thinking it was the new base I was spraying cooking up not the old refinish paint under the epoxy. Got it now.

 

[MJM]

Before I started my project, the car looked good from 20'.......was questionable from 10'......and down right needed new paint due to all the spiderweb and crazing the lacquer paint had over the last 25 years once you stood next to the car.

There was two reasons why I stripped my car to bare metal. One was the thought of fresh material having a reaction with the existing lacquer paint, and the 2nd thought was the existing lacquer paint continuing to spiderweb under the new fresh paint.

I'm glad I stripped to bare metal. I have no doubts in my mind the foundation is solid, and permanent, to accept a fresh topcoat of bc/cc.

 

[elwood]

The new paint would have reacted with the old lacquer. I've already encountered that.

 

[MJM]

The new paint would have reacted with the old lacquer. I've already encountered that.

See, every dog has its day. I made the right call.......couple that with everyone here telling me to strip it to bare metal, lol.