dark basecoat with lighter flakes or light basecoat with darker flakes

Avoid the same mistakes by keeping the common causes above in mind. Once cured, you can sand out any imperfections and reapply the paint. You’ll need to allow the paint film to cure completely. Too much, too quickly: Spraying too much material in full wet coats can lead to cracking.Environmental conditions: Excessive heat or humidity during application and curing can cause surface imperfections such as cracking.Incorrect mixing ratio: If too much activator/hardener is used, or if the correct ratio is not properly mixed, defects may appear in the finished dried paint film.Improper or low quality materials may have an adverse effect on the finished dry paint film. Improper choice in reducer or hardener: Be sure to follow the paint manufacturer’s suggestions on the type of reducers and hardenersto use with each paint.Lifting of substrate: When the wrong reducer is used in a top coat, or when certain materials are top coated before achieving full cure, the undercoat may lift in a way that appears like cracking.Cracking or other imperfections in the surface itself should be removed before the new material is applied. Insufficient surface preparation: Step one in avoiding cracks or many other imperfections is properly preparing the substrate for paint.CrackingĪlso known as wrinkling, splitting, or checking, cracking can include cracks of random size and often resembles the wrinkles on a reptile’s skin. Find out how to avoid (and fix, if necessary) these seven common paint maladies and tackle your next paint job at home.

And neither does your fear of painting your own hot rod or truck. We’ve also included some basic information on how to fix these conditions.īad paint doesn’t have to be permanent. In conjunction with the experts at Kirker Automotive Finishes, we’ve put together a list of some of the most common paint mishaps and how to avoid them.

The good news is they’re all avoidable and fixable. Orange peel, wrinkling, paint curtains-these are all conditions that can ruin an automotive paint job. Most likely, though, people just get scared off by bad paint. Maybe it’s the thought of doing inadequate prep work…the fear of mixing the materials improperly…or just the lack of patience to put in the necessary time. Yet, many of these same people are intimidated by doing their own paintjob. Others can practically rebuild a transmission in their sleep. Some people have no qualms about tearing into an engine.

Dark basecoat with lighter flakes or light basecoat with darker flakes