Can anyone tell me if lacquer spray paint and acrylic clear coat is not compatible.  I've had some issues with the paint bubbling after spraying with the clear coat irregardless of the time frame given between final color coat and the first clear coat (I've tried 24 hours, and I've waited 9 days). 

This is the clear I'm using:
http://www.krylon.com/products/acrylic_crystal_clear/

Here is the paint I'm using:




I've used this paint many times before, however they have recently stopped carrying their own clear coat so this is the first time I've had to use a different brands clear coat.  Here is a small sample of the bubbling its causing:

There is bubbling - which are real bubbles. Then there's wrinkling, which looks like what you have.

Kind of sounds like with primer and color, things weren't fully dry when the clear coat went on. Based on the book, you've probably got layers of dry paint over layers that aren't fully dry. Maybe the primer is not cured or you've got multiple layers of color where the top layer is dry to the tough, but acts like a sealer keeping the lower layers uncured.

I've had parts where I could scrape the paint off with my fingernail. It felt dry. Then I baked that same part. After it cooled, I couldn't do anything to harm that paint. Even where I scraped it off before, that area was hard as a rock.

Another problem mentioned can be applying too much paint or clear coat at a time. More thin coats are better than one thick coat.

What's the temperature and humidity where you're painting? I'm curious.

Page 150 of the book "How to Paint Your Motorcycle": "Wrinkling is usually caused by trapped solvents or repenetration. When this occurs, you've either used reducer of the wrong temperature range, recoated too soon or its way to hot to be painting........The drier top layer acts as a lid, so it cant evaporate the solvents and they just lie there, soaking into the layer below. If you recoat before this layer has dried, you'll have wrinkles at the very least....." and goes on to say "this is especially a problem with urethane paints."

I think baking the parts or waiting a long time would solve it. Baking works for me. I have been experimenting with clear coating plastic tails. (Can't bake them - they'd melt!) I bought some banged up ones to experiment on. One clearcoat may look good. Apply a different one over it that is not compatible and the clear wrinkles up. I see this because I take one tail and do strips of different clears on the same piece to judge the results. My end goal is a heavy clear on the plastics to keep dirt from getting in that edge of the detail tapes. You see that with a white bike (white/blue GS500F 2009 colors). Also to protect the old new stock parts I found for the tail of my '92. Experiment on crap before you take your one chance at doing it right on the good pieces.

The best clear coat I've found is Eastwood's 2k Clear. It is a 2 part urethane clear in a spray can.

Then, it can be a number of problems from improper preparation, poor primer, and yes - incompatible clear over the color coat. Test on scrap pieces until you get it right.

The garage temp during painting was around 55-80 degrees (this was painted over a 6 week span with breaks in between each failed attempt while I cooled off enough to not throw the part through a window).  I would wait about 10-15 minutes between light coats, and after the final coat dried to the touch the part was moved inside the house and sat for 24 hours before the next color was applied.

The picture above with the wrinkling or bubbling occured after the part sat inside my apartment for 9 days drying in 70-80 degree temps.  This was the first clear coat layer and was a light layer.

This is a plastic chin fairing, and the other piece I'm painting is a fiberglass tail permanently attached the seat so I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to "bake" these.  What kind of timeframe would you suggest?  The can says 7 days, I waited 9 and got the results above.

Quote from: utgunslinger13 on April 29, 2011, 08:05:47 AM
Can anyone tell me if lacquer spray paint and acrylic clear coat is not compatible. 

I've used this paint many times before, however they have recently stopped carrying their own clear coat so this is the first time I've had to use a different brands clear coat. 

You've answered your own question. No, they are Not compatible. Look what it's doing.

I'm not a paint expert but isn't the rule of thumb: use a clear coat made by the same manufacturer as the paint.

Call the paint makers Helpline and Ask them what clearcoat to use - or - buy a paint from the clearcoat maker and use that instead.

Michael

Quote from: mister on April 29, 2011, 01:21:35 PM
You've answered your own question. No, they are Not compatible. Look what it's doing.

I'm not a paint expert but isn't the rule of thumb: use a clear coat made by the same manufacturer as the paint.

Call the paint makers Helpline and Ask them what clearcoat to use - or - buy a paint from the clearcoat maker and use that instead.

Michael

My question was more is lacquer paint and acrylic clear incompatible.  My wrinkling could have been caused by something in my technique or could have been from the two types of paint I'm using, hence the question.  The wrinkles themselves do not answer my question or prove they are not compatible.

Also, in the original post it says that colorplace no longer manufactures a clear coat which is why I attempted to use this krylon clear coat.

Thanks!!

If it happened in just one area, it could be preparation (sanding, cleaning, etc.) or the paint or clear was thicker or thinner there. It can be hard to determine the cause without knowing everything about the piece and what was done.

It could be as simple as touching the piece with a dirty palm before the primer or between primer and color coat. You got skin oil there and things didn't adhere very well. Or any number of things. Could be thicker primer or color coat so it didn't fully dry.

There are so many things that can go wrong. I know - I've cleaned off and resanded some parts after they wrinkled when the clear coat was applied. That's one reason I now only use Eastwood's 2k clear. It is a 2 part clear that hardens on its own (after mixed, 24 hours life in the can before it hardens) so it is not dependent on the solvents evaporating. The solvents on one paint can act like paint stripper to an incompatible paint. Or one paint can be totally immune to the solvents in a different type  of paint. That's where the science of paint compatibility comes in and why it is suggested to stay with the same brands and type of primer, paint & clear. That's also why you test for compatibility and proper time between coats.

Back to your piece, if it is just one area, you might be able to sand and repair it. Probably best to sand the while piece and start over since it is a small piece. Try to think of what is different about the spot that wrinkled. Or is that the only spot with clear and you stopped as soon as you saw that first spot start to wrinkle?

Remember to have handy the proper cleaners for oil and grease removal. You need tack cloth, too, as sprays do float around then settle on the surface. That area could have had a bunch of paint dust that prevented a layer from properly sticking. The paint companies have those and tutorials on surface preparation and proper preparation between coats.

or if colour maker quit carrying the clear, find an acrylic clear from another maker. just use same type. acrylic/acrylic