My personal cheap clear failure

[Deleted member 7]

Okay I think this is a perfect example of what I was talking about last week when I spoke out against using cheap inferior products on your resto or even your own daily driver..

5 yrs ago, my truck was wiped out down the side.. I repaired it with DBC base coat and Universal clear.. The moldings on the body side and across the front bumper were repainted too..

As an experiment I used a dirt cheap clear I had picked up from my jobber to do stuff around the house with.. I paint everything at my home with automotive products.. Rocking chairs, front door, shutters etc etc..

Just as I did with the body side, I shot 3 wet coats of clear with proper flash..
Next day I sanded the moldings with 2000 Nikkens paper only.. I didnt want to remove too much material since I knew it was a low solids clear..

Body got 1200, then 2000 then buffed..

Moldings were like concrete.. Its the hardest clear I have ever buffed.. Thought I would never get those 2000 sand scratches out..

They have been on my truck since.. Never given any different treatment than the rest of it..

Last year I noticed the rear wheel lip molding beginning to delam.. This year I see the front bumper molding is delaming everywhere..

I did this as a test.. Its not a big deal for me to remove and repaint with a quality clear..


Proof is in the pudding

 

[barthmonster]

I'm expecting this to happen to my 1st paint job which was done with Kirker Clear for the sole purpose of learning to paint. I didn't like the mottling of the Kirker SS 'base' which isn't a base at all so I bought some Omni base but got the wrong speed of reducer. I was using 'fast' reducer and it was a pretty warm day so the base was dring in my fluid tip..

To top the whole thing off I didn't have adequate lighting and never got full coverage (silver), but the clear looks okay so far. Notice I said 'looks' okay. This stuff has to be wet-sanded halfway off for bird droppings it has the chemical resistance of lacquer (and that might be it's chief component).

Next paintjob I'll be using quality chemicals for a great price, most likely Prospray & SPI...

 

[crashtech]

Thanks for sharing that info, BK. Real evidence of the durability (or lack thereof) of a clear is hard to come by!