Do You Have to Scuff the Base Coat Before Painting the Clear Coat? Base coat and
clear coat is a painting system used on cars after 1997. It consists of a base
color paint and a transparent resin coating to protect it. Some resins require
that area to be coated is scuffed, to produce a rough area for the resin to grip
onto. This is not true of clear coat. Base Coat/Clear Coat System The base
coat/clear coat system describes a way to paint cars. Older cars were painted in
just a colored paint. As paint jobs became more complex, with pearl or metallic
finishes autel
md801, these simple paints could not hold up. New paints were developed that
added these finishes to base color paint. A clear coat is added over that paint
to protect it. This is called Preparing for a BC/CC Paint Job Before a car can
be painted with bc/cc autel
ds708 update, it must be sanded, filled and primed. Old paint should be
removed, usually by scraping carefully. Any dents should be filled with body
putty and sanded smooth. Using a urethane primer will expose any areas that need
work, especially with a dark-colored primer. The primer will settle into low
spots, leaving the high spots that need sanding a slightly lighter color. You
can use multiple layers of primer until you are happy with the car body's
smoothness. Base Coat The base coat paint is applied after the car is smoothed
out during priming. Spray the base on in layers, allowing each layer to dry at
least five to ten minutes. This is best done indoors, to reduce dust particles
in the paint. Once the last coat is dry, wash the car with soap and water to
eliminate grease and fingerprints that can cause the following clear coat to
bubble or discolor into "fish-eyes." Clear Coat Wet-sand the base coat before
starting the clear coat. Wet sanding makes the surfaces smoother. It is often a
step in polishing cars and other items. If you wet-sand the base coat, wash the
vehicle with soap and water after this step, not before. Once the base coat is
smooth and clean, starting spraying on about three to four layers of clear coat.
Do not scuff the base coat beforehand. The clear coat goes on a smooth surface,
not a rough one. Protecting the Clear Coat The clear coat is meant to protect
your car, but it needs some special care at first. Do not wax it or take it
through a power car wash for the first thirty days. This gives the solvents and
other chemicals in the paints time to dry and evaporate properly. If these
chemicals do not evaporate, they can cause bubbles in the paint, and the
sanding, smoothing and painting you did could be ruined.
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