Paint finish!

[handyman]

On my latest acquisition, due to some misguided reasons, the previous owner has been spraying cellulose paint over the original flaking lacquer, making a silk purse into a pigs ear.

Does anybody recommend a way for me to remove this botch job, without doing too much damage to the original factory finish? I am assuming that the spray tin cellulose paint is just 'resting' on the lacquer, as there was no prep or cleaning of the surface prior to application!

I had thought along the lines of using thinners soaked pads to remove as much of the 'foriegn' finish to see just how bad the original finish was, prior to getting any damage repaired, which will included two door skins, so I do have some practice areas.

My real skill in bodywork lies in leadloading , panelbeating, priming & hi-build coating, and plastic welding, but not finish spraying. I know, I should practice more.

Handyman

[Old-Guy]

I suspect that you know more than most on this; but, I would expect the spray can stuff to be much younger and to come off more easily than the original lacquer. Be prepared to be extravagant with disposable pads.

BTW, I've found the heavily advertised 'Plenty' paper kitchen towel to be as good as the silly TV ads claim. Expensive, but worth it where the risk of little bits of paper accidentally left in high-precision assemblies (hydraulics, fuel injection, turbos) is unacceptable. Old cotton sheets in this house are prized for polishing and wiping - only thrown away when totally 'contaminated'.

[Peter.N.]

I would agree, if the paint has been applied recently it might come of without disturbing the original finish, if its then well prepared you should be able to finish it with lacquer.

Peter

[addo]

Not good news, I'm afraid.

The base coat is solvent borne and not polymerised so it is forever resoluble with standard thinners. The best "fix" for the fussy is to whizz the topcoat until all clear is off, then with clean rags and standard thinners, wipe the base coat off to reveal the sanded factory primer. Obviously the rags should not be dripping wet.

The lightest of sands now, and you're on your way back into the booth for a factory-look base/clear finish without excessive dry film thickness or DFT. Note the procedure is somewhat hazardous, and slow.

[handyman]

Thanks for the info. chaps, I will also be consulting the great oracle on paint spraying, Mr Citronut!

I am hoping that with the crappy prepping and the fact the can paint has been applied over the original lacquer, and might still be 'soft' means I can at least get some of it off. I wanted to see if I could recover the factory finish, without doing too much damage to the colour coat beneath the lacquer, and then see about finding a way to add a new lacquer coat to seal the old one and stop the flaking.

I have been in touch with 'an applied finish technology supplier' , (paint manufacturer), who is looking into marine or aircraft type top finishes to stop the rot. I'll post up any info to help other suffers of this disease.

If all else fails, it'll be a respray, but not this year.

H

[addo]

I doubt you'll see any joy there. If there was anything suitable, it'd be used already. There are a lot of cheat fixes that may work briefly including pale shellac and cyanoacrylate; creeping solutions will however often produce a darker area in response to their penetration.

You are facing down two problems - one being a basecoat that is poorly structured for topcoat adhesion (which has also now aged and will likely go into solvent shock), the second is existing clear with varying levels of adhesion and a refractive index of aged material - appreciably different from new (as you may have observed with black light when looking at doctored up "antiques").

If you can get into a downdraught booth, there's probably £1K in name brand materials to refinish the entire outside.