News:

Due to a technical issue, some recently uploaded pictures have been lost. We are investigating why this happened but the issue has been resolved so that future uploads should be safe.  You can also Modify your post (MORE...) and re-upload the pictures in your post.

Main Menu

Lacquer or Acrylic Enamel or Single Stage Urethane or Basecoat/Clearcoat....

Started by Chip (CLC 21875), April 27, 2006, 08:36:16 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Chip (CLC 21875)

Sitting here AGONIZING over how to paint my 1941 Cadillac.  The purist in me says to use Lacquer (two primer coats, then four double coats of color, wet-sanded between each coat with paper ranging from 600 to 1200 grade, no clearcoat).  The pragmatist in me says to use single-stage urethane paint from Color-Ite (www.color-ite.com).  A friend of mine, whose opinion I greatly respect, swears by Acrylic Enamel, also obtained from Color-Ite.  My paintshop really wants to do basecoat/clearcoat.

Everyone agrees that lacquer looks great but they all warn about cracking of lacquer.  The car will live its life in the Northeast, but spend its winters car-bagged in a radiant-floor-heat garage.  Do I really need to worry about cracks in the lacquer?  

I would love opinions.  Thanks!

Harry Scott

My car was painted with lacquer in 1975 and still looks good with no cracking. The key to non-cracking is not to get the paint too thick and to use all compatable products for priming, etc. There is nothing that looks as good as a nice lacquer paint job polished to the hilt.

Bill Gauch

I agree with Harry about the potential cracking being caused by the thickness. More layers is not always better. As for your selection, you can go purist or base/clear or purple metallic if you want. That is really up to you. If you want your car to look like a new new car with its typical deep glossy shine, go with a base/clear. If you want it to look like a new old car with a bright shinny surface, go traditional. One thing I can say... I would rather wash and wax a car than wash, polish and wax. The clear coat would (mostly) prevent the need to polish up the color coat every season.

Wayne Womble

I always use urethane for a solid non metalic color. It is more durable and less trouble than lacquer, and if done right looks just like it too. Now, I have painted for more than 35 years and I have never understood the theory of sanding and buffing between each coat. Hey, you only see the last coat, so why do that stuff. The process to get a nice smooth finish without heavy orange peel, is to color the car with however many coats necessary to color, sand it smooth with 600 paper and then re- coat to finish. Buff as desired.  I have people tell me all the time that they have 40 coats of lacquer and buffed between each coat etc. I just smile and walk away. They either worked way too hard or they just dont have the foggiest.

Chip (CLC 21875)

By urethane, do you mean single-stage urethane?  If so, what kind of primer do you use?  



Wayne Womble

Yes, I mean single stage urethane, for non metalic colors. You will get a thousand different paint proceedures from a thousand painters and I dont want to get into a debate here. But, from a bare metal finish, the first thing you need to do is etch it in some way. There are many etching products, but mostly I just use a self etching epoxy primer. A urethane primer surfacer is usually applied over this and sanded, then paint. If I have any doubts that there may be any lingering rust that cant be removed, I use a Zink Chromate primer as the first coat.