Ben Hart
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Not using Sherwin Williams much longer?
The 1.5 coat application is pretty easy on complete panels. One coat, immediately followed by a lighter coat. Kinda like a drop coat. Blending is where it can get tricky. The wet bed can help. It has been quite a while since I’ve used it…there are new clears, primers etc from when I used it. And I’ve heard the colour matching has improved.
It is kinda nice to only go into the booth once for colour, but it can take a while to flash before clear. That is probably the cause of a large amount if the problems experienced with Cromax. You put a lot of base on all at once (and its quite thick at that point). It will skin over and seem ready to clear before it really is. Having a good booth makes a big difference.
I’ve previously used both. Enviro is a clear winner. Better colour matches, easier to use and I think you will find it cheaper too.
There is some good advice here.
Can you get by without baking? Try doing one and bake it right away after your last coat of clear. Sometimes they will skin over while flashing before bake, then the high heat just boils the trapped solvent.
Some booths take quite a while to get the panel temp up high enough on the bake cycle, giving the clear even more time to skin over, so the flash before bake can be sorta a waste. Every booth is different, but its worth looking into.
I used one for a few years. As Ding said, great for smaller jobs (everyday collision stuff). 3m gave the gun for free. Only downside is you wouldn’t want to spray anything really large and you have to continually buy the tips and cups.
For the sake if convenience it is certainly great.
I use the same gun same tip size. The 55 reducer is too fast for 90 degrees. I don’t imagine you can bring the temp below 80? The 757 has the highest solid content of all the SW low voc clears, so it does take a little more effort to lay it down.
You may want to try the 755 clear, it is slower than the 757 and should work a lot better for you at such high temps.
Can’t say I hord the stuff… But I do keep the still usable paper and scuff pads. I usually throw them on my prep cart where they piss me off enough that I make sure to finish them off on the next job.
Welcome to the site!
Telling you what is the best is kind of difficult. There are a lot of products out there. Generally speaking, using the premium line of any major paint brand will be about equal (Sikkens, PPG, Glasurit/BASF, Sherwin Williams, DuPont).
They all have very durable high quality finishes and all will back these products with a lifetime warranty when certain conditions are met. They all can produce equally great looking finishes that would be acceptable on the most prestigious concours quality show cars.The differences between them can be huge as well. They all require a little different application and each has its own quirks. In the premium lines, the price varies between each company, but none are nearly as cheap as thier economy lines (Nason, Omni, Limco etc). The economy lines are not as durable, usually offer no backing/warranty are very inexpensive and often better suited for people spraying in not so ideal conditions (most premium paints pretty much require a heated paint booth with baking abilities). These products can look pretty good when applied properly and may last a reasonable amount of time. Most will eventually fade and lose some gloss (which might come back with some polishing). There are a lit if success stories with them, but also a lot of failures.
It’s very hard to say what is going to be the easiest for you to spray in your conditions with your equipment and experience. Maybe a good way to narrow it down is to find out what is avaliable to you in your area and falls within your budget.
Rather than doing it as the one visit application for the clear have you tried spraying the clear as two medium wet coats with a few minutes flash inbetween? That may help a bit too, if you haven’t tried it yet.
I always put tape on the back of a hole ( if I have access) or fill the hole with foam tape. I don’t think it really helps with preventing runs, but it helps prevent junk from blowing out onto the panel and stops over spraying from going where it shouldn’t.
All I can suggest is adjusting your technique. Maybe back off just a hair when clearing and/ or allow a little more flash time between coats. A slightly faster clear ( or reducer may help).
I usually don’t have too many issues like this, but I certainly do once in a while and can appreciate your frustration.
Maybe I’m just getting lazy, but if it were me, I’d just buzz the the whole thing really good with 400-500 grit and a red scotch brite pad. It looks to be in pretty good shape. Then spray 2 coats of your favourite 2k single stage and call it a day. I would consider sealer if needed…
I can’t imagine taking that apart, stripping it, priming blocking, then spraying it again. Unless you have unlimited time or want to make a show car out of it…
[quote=”ding” post=31855]sounds like you are clearing before the water is fully evaporated from the base[/quote]
I tend to agree. One of the most accurate ways to ensure all the water is out before clear is to use a temperature gun (the laser pointer things). Check the panel in the booth before applying paint. That temp is your reference point. Apply each coat of base ensuring that the entire panel comes back to that initial temp before applying your next coat. After your last cost let it flash the 15 minutes ( or whatever time you are use to). Check the panel again all over, if it is back to the initial temp you are good to clear. You can use blowers or whatever you do to help the base flash.
You will be surprised at how much the base coat drops the panel temp when you apply it.
Welcome to the site. I spray AWX everyday, so I can do my best to answer any specific questions you have. I have used Cromax pro, AWX is quite different and a very different application. You will find it much faster drying. Colour matching is generally better than Cromax in my opinion, but you really need to use the alternates and colour tools.
Also nice to see another Canadian here.
[quote=”Jayson M” post=31562]Ben gave you excellent advice the only thing I would change is the epoxy and 2k.Just spray poly the snot out of it and finish up with 2k,it works better on fiberglass repairs where the gelcoat is damaged or not there.[/quote]
It’s funny that I’ve never really thought much about using poly primer on fiberglass repairs… Good suggestion.
Like mentioned, V it out and grind back around it for adhesion. Use fiberglass resin (or SMC resin, which is ok ontop of fiberglass). Get some mat and pull off pieces for the repair. You will want several layers with resin inbetween. Make sure to use enough resin (no dry spots) and ensure there is no trapped air. With the mat, overlap and stagger all seams and tear the edges ( don’t cut them straight). Make sure all fibers are coated well with resin at the end. A diuble sided repair is best.
When hard, grind as nicely as possible to the original contour. Fill with normal filler and putty. If it is to the point of needing kitty hair (fiberglass reinforced filler) then you may want a second application of resin/mat.
You should spray epoxy over the repair before proceeding to primer surfacer. Fiberglass will wick up moisture and rot…the epoxy is a must.