Lacquer without clearcoat thoughts?

[Jim R.]

Hi I was wondering what others feel about shooting a car with lacquer and not using clear, my car a 1965 nassau blue roadster has Lacquer with clear at present time and a recent touch up job on my drivers fender tunrned out terrible, I was thinking about sanding the entire car and having 4-6 coats of color sprayed on and not using clear this time, I drive it about a 1000 miles a year and store it in a heated garage in the winter.

[Mark D.]

Re: Lacquer without clearcoat thoughts?

This 67 was shot with Marina Blue lacquer with no clear coat. It will be driven about 0.10 miles per year. It came out great.

[Jim R.]

Re: Lacquer without clearcoat thoughts?

Mark how many coats do you use, any sanding in between coats and how do you go about the buffing if some dirt or dust ends up in the paint or do you hand polish it. by the way it does look great. Jim

[Keith B.]

Re: Lacquer without clearcoat thoughts?

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You don't need clear to make it shine or protect. Just a little elbo grease and modern day wax!!!

[Loren L.]

Re: Lacquer without clearcoat thoughts?

Your problem is likely to be finding a painter willing to shoot lacquer - in certain colors, it's an unforgiving medium and if the painter doesn't know his stuff.....I had a '63 FI CV painted in Sebring Silver by a Honeywell employee NCRS friend in my driveway. The pro that I had rub it out commented "He's either a hell of painter or the luckiest SOB in the world who should be living in Vegas.". Top Flight in Reno, so I voted for "hell of a painter".
PS: you may want to bend therules a bit and add a little clear in the last two top coats.....SS is predominantly clear anyway, but....

[Michael J.]

Re: Lacquer without clearcoat thoughts?

And constant attention, the lacquer is so soft and brittle, stone chips, and swirl marks seem to happen just looking at it. Keep a good scratch fixer around constantly.

[Bill W.]

Re: Lacquer without clearcoat thoughts?

Jim ,yes you can paint lacquer without clear. . Solid colors are easy metallic colors are not . The amount of coats "after coverage is not as important as the consistency of your mix and care in buffing . Your problem will be recoating over the old clear ,It tends to lift at all the sand throughs .plus the more material you have the shorter the life .

[Jim R.]

Re: Lacquer without clearcoat thoughts?

Bill I don't think the clear will be a problem, when the car is sanded or blocked I will make sure it goes into the color, and with the paint being so thin already it shouldn't take to much sanding as it was sanded and power buffed the first time. also explain what you mean by care of buffing if you would, I might plan to lean torwards hand polishing it.

[Bill W.]

Re: Lacquer without clearcoat thoughts?

The secret in painting metallic colors is to make sure every cup full of paint is mixed and thinned the same .I mix all my paint at one time and stir between coats . spray each coat the same dont thin the last coats to make it flow . By doing this you have a much better chance of not buffing through layers because all layers are the same . Make sure your paint has the same size metallic as the original . I like to paint all parts and body panels before the car is assembled .after assembly and a week or more of sun I sand with 600 or 1000 and then do my final paint . Hand polishing can be done but its not easy . 3M foam pads are safe and do a good job . Last thing that I think helps is to ground your car when painting and buffing . I use a piece of chain .

[Mike L.]

Re: Lacquer without clearcoat thoughts?

Jim, I have a 64 FI coupe painted Satin Silver with NO clear at all. I buffed out the car by hand (yes no wheel), I left the car not touched half way down the doors, under and around the grill area, and exhaust panel. The car looks as close as I could get it as I thought the factory did it. Never had a problem with it and the judges liked it also. Good Luck!

[Jim R.]

Re: Lacquer without clearcoat thoughts?

Hi Mike this is the way that I would like to do mine, any Idea if one gallon of paint would be enough for the job and did you use ppg or other paint? I know there is better deals on lacquer but just wondering what others use and the quality of other lacquers.

[Ron G.]

Re: Lacquer without clearcoat thoughts?

From my understanding the painter needs to apply the lacquer wet to ensure adequate coverage. When we did a car of mine many years ago, my painter applied 3 coats and tacked cloth in between each coat. This was done with clear mixed in the paint as it was a metallic and no clear coat applied on top. Although the factory lacquer was a free flow and baked, they still applied 3 coats.

[Dick W.]

Re: Lacquer without clearcoat thoughts?

Hi I was wondering what others feel about shooting a car with lacquer and not using clear, my car a 1965 nassau blue roadster has Lacquer with clear at present time and a recent touch up job on my drivers fender tunrned out terrible, I was thinking about sanding the entire car and having 4-6 coats of color sprayed on and not using clear this time, I drive it about a 1000 miles a year and store it in a heated garage in the winter.

I would be very apprehensive about painting over the old paint. If it were mine I would strip the old paint off and start back with modern substrates under the lacquer

[Mike L.]

Re: Lacquer without clearcoat thoughts?

I used PPG paint what I did was purchase two gallons of the same mix batch. Just in case (If you know what I mean). I didn't use any clear on the car BUT if I were to do it again I would use it mixed with color in the last coat.

[Dick W.]

Re: Lacquer without clearcoat thoughts?

Hi Mike this is the way that I would like to do mine, any Idea if one gallon of paint would be enough for the job and did you use ppg or other paint? I know there is better deals on lacquer but just wondering what others use and the quality of other lacquers.

I would not have less than one and a half gallons mixed. That is one of the problems with lacquer, so much of the product ends up in the air.