Warning about temps and painting for us novice types.

[5.0MX5]

Hello all, I had a thread a few weeks ago "New guy help" and received great advice from Len and others on painting my Monster Miata (5.0 Ford engine).

Well, last Saturday I was ready to shoot color. The car was almost ready to paint, only thing I had to do was mask the the door sills, jambs, and seal off the interior so I could open the doors and, well you know.

I hit the shop at 6 AM, but between draining the compressor tank, fiddling with the new gun, jacking the Miata up and putting on jack stands, pulling the wheels, mixing paint, it was 10:00 when I started to paint outside in front of the shop.

I had bought supplys several weeks eairler and had medium reducer for the PPG Omin MTK 2k urethane Viper Red paint. Reducer was good to 85 degs. By the time I started it was 85 degrees.

I'm thinking "it'll be OK". Started painting and had more orange peel than I wanted so I started laying the paint on, it's looking better. Work my way back to the hood and see lots of textured paint, shoot wetter, go slower with more overlap. To make a long story long, when I finished it looked like a 50' paint job, I would have been happy with a 10 footer.

Get the IR thermoter and check temp on the new paint. IT's 135F. Man no wonder I had texture. Well my 50' paint job dryed to a 1/4 mile paint job. A couple of days later I put the car back together and drove to a detail shop with a good reputation for cutting and buffing, gave em $100 to cut with 800 to 1000 to 1200 and buff.

My car now looks like glass, I could not be happier.

Question, anyone have advice on sanding with 1000 again and shooting Omin clear. Even with sanding will I have to worry about the clear peeling at some future date? As good as it looks now I can't image how it'll look with clear, but I don't want deal with clear coming off in a few years either.

Lessions learned, if you paint outside consider temp of car,not just air temps. Also get ready the night prior to painting.

[Len]

Yep, never paint a car in the direct sunlight.

There's something I don't understand.... If you "couldn't be happier" why would you want to add a clear coat?

It's hard to believe that an experienced detail shop will sand and polish an entire car for $100. You got a real deal.

[5.0MX5]

Len, the only reason I'm thinking clear is to protect the look I've got now. Quick question, I live down a dirt road and the car gets very dusty when I take it out. So far I've used clear water only to rinse and dried with soft white towels (wife not happy). How long to use Dawn when washing and is a couple of weeks long enough to wait for wax? Any recommendations on wax?

On the price, the economy in my area is very depressed. The guy actually said $75 when I asked for an estimate, it is a very small car and I think that may have been all he saw. I gave him a $100 and he was happy, I dropped the car off at 7:30 AM, he didn't finish till 3, times are hard here. I should have paid more but he was happy.

[Len]

Len, the only reason I'm thinking clear is to protect the look I've got now. Quick question, I live down a dirt road and the car gets very dusty when I take it out. So far I've used clear water only to rinse and dried with soft white towels (wife not happy). How long to use Dawn when washing and is a couple of weeks long enough to wait for wax? Any recommendations on wax?

On the price, the economy in my area is very depressed. The guy actually said $75 when I asked for an estimate, it is a very small car and I think that may have been all he saw. I gave him a $100 and he was happy, I dropped the car off at 7:30 AM, he didn't finish till 3, times are hard here. I should have paid more but he was happy.

A "good" clear will be more UV resistant than single stage red but you could also use a good carnuba wax or a polymer like Zaino to help protect the finish. Next time you paint a red car you might want to consider using a better paint because that will also help extend it's life.

If you do decide to go with a clear coat you can sand it with 1000 or 1500 grit and apply two or three coats of good quality clear then take it back to that detailer to sand and polish. The better quality paints (single stage and clear coats) have more of a resistance to UV.