#*%& Birds

[Merle]

:mad: I painted a 58 Chevy in Cashmere Blue Lacquer and put on 5 coats of PPG clear Lacquer. The paint is now 6 months old. I know that no one uses lacquer anymore but I have painted 3 cars in the last 10 years with it. It's easy to work with and I didn't need to buy any special masks or breathing equipment. Anyhow, the job turned out great but bird droppings eat right through the clear if not removed in 10 minutes. I havent had this problem with any of the previous paint jobs and I know the original 50's cars were painted with acrylic lacquer and there wasn't any problem with bird poop. Is it possible that PPG has fooled with the chemistry of the lacquer because they don't want painters to use it anymore? Does anyone know if there is a protectant or wax that I could use? Sorry about the long message.

[Len]

I hate to tell you but with 5 coats of clear lacquer that car shouldn't even be outdoors. Clear lacquer is just the opposite of clear urethane, the clear lacquer doesn't like the outdoors and can age very quickly. Wax may help protect it from rain spotting or bird droppings but you'll need a more UV resistant coating for more protection and even then it's a crap shoot.

While I agree that lacquer is easier and safer to spray it's quite delicate and not a good choice for cars that see the outdoors regularly. It's great for show cars because it looks good and is the original paint on most old GM products but they usually don't see much road time.

[Merle]

:confused: I understand what your saying Len but what puzzels me is one of the cars I painted 10 years ago is driven several times a week and goes to a lot of outdoor shows. It still looks great and droppings have no effect on the clear. It also had 5 coats per PPG's data sheet. The sheet states their DCA468 High Performance clear is UV resistant and is a quality top coat for everyday use.

[Len]

Maybe it's different than the lacquer that I know but I've never seen one that comes close to urethane as far as UV or weather resistance. Do they (PPG) state why it's any more "high performance" than other lacquers? As far as I know automotive lacquer is all about the same, a drying (not hardening) process that gets brittle as the solvents escape from the lower layers and the more coats you put on the faster if fails. Clear is usually worse than pigmented colors because it's more brittle but maybe they found a way to make it less brittle as it dries.

I looked on the PPG web site (www.ppgrefinish.com) but couldn't find info on the DCA468.

[Merle]

Len, Here is what I found on the PPG re finish web site. Thanks for your info anyhow. Guess I should switch to acrylic enamal.
http://www.ppg.com/refinishftpsite/d...20Duracryl.pdf

[JimmyPtr]

Merle- I used PPG lacquer (DDL-Duracryl) in the old days. DCA 468 is still the same as it was then. (Len- High Performance Clear -had a chequered flag logo when PPG started sponsoring Indy Car racing-not meaning any higher quality). DCA 468 as well as any of the competitors was always damaged by bird crap. Merle- if paint companies don't want you to use a product, they'd stop making it-not by making it perform crappy. I agree-it's time to move on from lacquer. I think you should bypass Acrylic Enamel & join the rest of us in the 21st century. Spray urethane products. They look as good as lacquer & are almost bulletproof.