The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Clear coat over enamel flat paint "pros & cons"

My truck was shot with flat black enamel paint and no clear coat over it. I don't care much for the look so I'm wondering if I can have it clear coated to give it some shine or lustre and be easier to take care of? I had one painter tell that he wouldn't do it, but he's the only one I've asked so far.

What are the "pros and cons" of doing this or am I asking for trouble? Any thoughts are appreciated.

Bite or adhesion I think would be the main concern. Did the guy u talked 2 give a reason for not wanting shoot it.
The other thing is combat-ability between the clear and whatever it was shot with before,which you could determine with a test area first.

You would need to find a clear which can be used over a previous paint which is old. I would think that the town your in would have at least 1 or 2 auto paint stores in it, where you could get some info on what clear could do the job.
If not there try online as there are paint retailers there you could order paint from.
The clear that I use says in the product info it can be used over any single stage enamel, but I haven't tried it over just any old paint, but I will the next time I got the gun loaded up just to see the results.

Dan

How about testing a section, by wetsanding then clear coating...the wet sanding would remove a light layer of paint and make the surface ready for clear coat
Craig
46trucker

Do you have enough paint on your truck to wet sand and buff. I tryed it on a panel on my sons car (he painted it with hot hues hot rod black) and it buffed out great with as much shine as you could ever want.

Over the years I have clearcoated over enamels. Your best bet would be to wetsand it down with 1000 grit and a red scuff pad (if you have enough paint on it). But as mentioned above - you may have paint reactions, so try it on a small piece first. Western Select or Nason urethene clearcoats are the most forgiving in my experience. Their both a 4 -1 mix, medium soild.

But truth be told, if your going through that much prep work, I would spring for some basecoat to lay down first.

Ok, I now know that the paint that was used on the truck was a single stage enamel with flatener and hardener added. A guy at the paint store said yesterday that if it had hardener in it, we would probably be ok shooting the clear over it.

Bodyguy, you are probably right about the work and basecoat, I'll give that more thought also...be a good time to change the color too...heheh.