Clear Coats Used for Painting Car Bodies

The question of applying clear coat only comes up after the car has been painted, the coating has dried and the surface has been prepared for lacquering. Choosing the right clear coat, however, is not easy. There is a huge number of offers from paint manufacturers, running into hundreds of thousands of different options.

Car owners’ opinions also differ. Some prefer expensive clear coats from well-known companies that have long proven themselves and last for decades. Others prefer more affordable coatings which, with proper care, please the owner and everyone around. Let’s look into the «clear coat question» and clear up all the details.

Let’s start with shelf life and storage rules.

First of all, it is worth noting that, unlike other car care products, the price of a clear coat is not always the deciding factor. These days an expensive clear coat may turn out to be a fake made in a nearby garage or basement.

The opposite can also happen. It is important to check the markings on the packaging and look for the appropriate security marks.

Also keep in mind that clear coat is extremely sensitive to storage conditions and has its own shelf life.

The packaging of any car care product, including paint products, states the production date, shelf life and storage conditions. Do not ignore this information.

The shelf life of paint products is usually no more than 4 years, but this only holds true if the required storage conditions are met. Each package indicates the minimum and maximum storage temperatures.

To illustrate, here are a few examples. In some regions, winter temperatures can drop to -25 degrees Celsius. In such conditions even the highest-quality, most heavily advertised clear coat can become unusable in just a month. If you paint your car with such a material, you risk getting a dull finish or, in the worst case, peeling paintwork.

It is also important to remember that storing car cosmetic products at too high a temperature can harm their quality. High temperature affects the hardeners, and after a month of storage in the heat the product may become useless. This can lead to darkening and even peeling of the paintwork in the first rain.

In short, whatever the quality of the clear coat you choose, pay attention to its shelf life and storage conditions, and trust proven, certified stores. Buying paint products at dubious markets is strictly at your own risk.

There are two main types of clear coat used worldwide: hard and soft formulations, designated HS and MS respectively. Each of these types has its own advantages and disadvantages, as well as specific characteristics that should be taken into account.

Hard (HS) clear coat is applied in 1.5 coats: the first coat is applied thinly, followed by a thicker coat of about 50 microns. This type of clear coat is characterised by high density and ease of application, as it practically never runs.

Thinner clear coats require experience to use, and they are usually applied in 2-3 coats with an interval of 10-15 minutes between them.

The main difference between these two types of clear coat lies in the drying and polishing processes. Hard clear coat forms a harder, less flexible layer, which makes it more difficult to polish. On the other hand, it is easier to apply and depends less on the operator’s skill. Nevertheless, the choice of service centre plays an important role in the quality of the final result.

Hard clear coat also takes longer to dry, even with quality hardeners, so infrared drying is often used to speed up the process. Thinner clear coat, by contrast, is easier to polish and dries faster, but applying it takes experience to avoid runs.

There are various types of clear coat, including cellulose, glyptal and acrylic. Cellulose lacquers have been known since the 19th century and are characterised by fast drying. Glyptal lacquers, first introduced in 1930, use synthetic resins and have good covering power, but take a long time to cure. Acrylic clear coats, made from synthetic resins, have a high gloss and dry quickly, which makes them popular in the automotive industry.

These different types of clear coat offer different options depending on specific needs and application conditions.

We strongly advise car owners against applying clear coat in garage conditions, and in some cases we would even flatly forbid it. The dust and dirt that are inevitably present in garages have a destructive effect on the quality of the coating. Specially prepared workshops, where cleanliness and the absence of contaminants are ensured, are a far more suitable place for this work.

Another important aspect concerns the even application of clear coat layers and the correct proportions. Without specialised equipment it is quite difficult to achieve the ideal ratio of clear coat in the spray gun for every square centimetre of surface. It is also worth bearing in mind that using low-quality spray guns, some of which may have already been used to paint 4 cars, can result in an uneven coating.

So, our conclusions are as follows: entrust the application of clear coat to trusted service centres. Carefully check the quality of the materials used for painting and clear coating. Thoroughly assess the condition of the booth where the coating is applied. Do not hesitate to be attentive and demanding when choosing where this work will be done. Otherwise you may have to pay twice as much for a procedure that could have been done right the first time.

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