Painting over lacquer Paint?

[stevea]

I have a friend who has an early corvette and he wants me to paint base coat clear coat over some lacquer. Should I strip the car, or can I prime over it. Some of the lacquer was just shot on three months ago. I shot a little primer on part of it and it seemed to hold up, but I'm worried about issues down the road. Will the lacquer fall apart under the BC/CC after time? Any suggestions? Thanks

[68ragtop]

Its a crapshoot. The problem with laquer is its never really hardened, so as soon as solvents are brought on top, it can break down & get loose. If it was really old laquer you might get away with it, but if its recent, that would scare me. Are you changing color? Or are you looking to improve the same color on the car? I have already blended a repair on laquer & cleared over all of it with good results, but it was 20+ year old paint..

[Len]

I agree with 68ragtop about it being a risk, personally I'd remove the potential problem.

[Dennis N. Schmidt]

I'd go with an epoxy sealer and go ahead. I don't think epoxy sealed lacquer is going to be a problem. Epoxy can bridge any paint system so that's the way I would go. The concern is the basecoat lifting the lacquer since most non-polyester based basecoat systems (non-BASF) pretty much are urethane fortified lacquers. With the epoxy barrier coat this problem goes away. I think it's worth a try rather than grinding down fiberglass which really blows. Let the customer know the risks but if he accepts them after this potential lifting issue is explained to him I'd give it a go. If the lacquer is in good condition sand the car with P400 - P600 shoot the epoxy and then base/clear wet-on-wet.

[jeremyb]

going through the same thing on a 65 vette. We are stripping and starting with bare glass. That is the only way to ensure a lasting job.

What's been described above, using epoxy, is done all the time over very "cured" lacquer or enamel...but there is always a risk of something happening down the road. Epoxy is certainly your best bet if going over whats there. Your friend needs to know that going in, if you plan on going over the lacquer. It's a crap shoot about how long it will last before you start seeing potential effects. If taken down to the glass...you elimate that problem and he will have a long lasting job.

If he and you can live with those possibilites of SOMETHING happening, then go ahead with epoxy. I only do this procedure with epoxy on re-sale, low budget jobs. Customer knows the disadvantes going into it. The ONLY advantage you are getting here, is the price of the job. To some of these dealers, that's the main thing they care about.

[stevea]

This car is a 63 Vette split window and most of it was stripped. I painted the jams and doors about three months ago, but the owner changed his mind and now wants BC/CC because it more durable. I stripped one of the doors already, but was checking to see about just going over the rest. The guy has lots of money, but always questions things. I don't mind stripping it, but it does take time to do it correctly without messing things up.