Euro 2020 Clear Without Reducer

J

John Reese

So I may have accidentally sprayed a hood with Euro mixed 4:1 yesterday. I was in a hurry and hadn't used the product in a while and once I mixed in the activator I shot the panel. It was thick and I was having to use more product than usual to get it to flow out flat. Will it cure properly? What should that do to my dry time?
 
Hey if you got it on the panel looking okay, good for you! It's going to have a lot of mils and dry a bit slower, but I don't think it should be a problem at all. @Barry could tell us about any potential issues.
 
It looks good, more orange peel than usual, definitely on there thick :oops:
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What grit of sandpaper, and type/brand of buffing pads and compound would you recommend on the Euro? I can never seem to get all the scratches out when I try to polish this clear.
 
John Reese said:
What grit of sandpaper, and type/brand of buffing pads and compound would you recommend on the Euro? I can never seem to get all the scratches out when I try to polish this clear.
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None of the SPI clears buff good on the very first buffing with a foam pad, need wool to get out scratches and than use the foam if you want.
All the different systems work good if you have proper pads to match the different compounds.

Well you sprayed a clear that's about 73% solids not reduced and for all practical purposes can't be sprayed out of a normal paint gun.
Ramifications? Hey none if you can make it work and good and get over the wasting of material it will take to make it look good.
 
John Reese said:
What grit of sandpaper, and type/brand of buffing pads and compound would you recommend on the Euro? I can never seem to get all the scratches out when I try to polish this clear.
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Biggest mistake most make is not getting all of the coarser grit scratches out. If you start say with 1000 and then go up to 1500, you must make sure all of the 1000 scratches are gone before moving up to 2000 grit.

I agree with Barry, though some can use foam pads on the first go around it has never worked well for me. Get a twisted wool pad and use a rotary buffer with a good compound that will handle 1200 grit scratches. Work the panel a section at a time and be sure to wipe it clean when checking your progress. It should really look nice after first round with wool pad. Then move to foam and polishing compounds.
 
John Reese said:
What grit of sandpaper, and type/brand of buffing pads and compound would you recommend on the Euro? I can never seem to get all the scratches out when I try to polish this clear.
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What grit you finish before buffing?
I sand 1500,2000,3000 (collision) with correct compound and foam pad no problem even on 4-5 days old euro clear no problem..
 
Barry said:
Well you sprayed a clear that's about 73% solids not reduced and for all practical purposes can't be sprayed out of a normal paint gun.
Ramifications? Hey none if you can make it work and good and get over the wasting of material it will take to make it look good.
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Hah! I'm an idiot. I don't normally use my Sata5000 and figured it was just the gun that was making it spray strange. That thing hammers on some clear. I will say that I didn't get any runs ;)....at 24 hours it was still a little soft so hopefully it is dry when I get over to the shop today. I made sure to let the base sit overnight so I wouldn't have issues with trapped solvents. Still looks glossy!

Hmmm see lots of different opinions on sanding/buffing the clear. Hopefully it won't be even harder since there was no reducer. What brand of wool pad would you guys recommend? After only using foam pads I tried a cheap wool one and it just made a mess everywhere almost coming apart. With the Euro on customer jobs I can usually get away without buffing but since I rushed looks like its unavoidable this time.
 
I would be careful sanding that out, if it has urethane wave due to the thickness of the material, a normal sand and buff might make it more noticeable.
 
John Reese said:
Hah! I'm an idiot. I don't normally use my Sata5000 and figured it was just the gun that was making it spray strange. That thing hammers on some clear. I will say that I didn't get any runs ;)....at 24 hours it was still a little soft so hopefully it is dry when I get over to the shop today. I made sure to let the base sit overnight so I wouldn't have issues with trapped solvents. Still looks glossy!

Hmmm see lots of different opinions on sanding/buffing the clear. Hopefully it won't be even harder since there was no reducer. What brand of wool pad would you guys recommend? After only using foam pads I tried a cheap wool one and it just made a mess everywhere almost coming apart. With the Euro on customer jobs I can usually get away without buffing but since I rushed looks like its unavoidable this time.
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Presto wool pads are pretty good. Black for first pass.

Don
 
Well dang makes me feel better about shooting it with no reducer I just don't have the sanding and polishing down yet.
 
So I ended up painting the rest of the car with the euro reduced 4:1:2. I prepped similarly and allowed the base to sit overnight. The Euro clear with the reducer in it sprayed on wet looking but dried with a more fine orange peel than the Euro that wasn't reduced. The whole car just has that look that "its been repainted". Do the reducers affect how the clear dries? I might paint 2-3 whole cars per year and mainly do spot repair at my shop. I had similar results last year when I painted the roof of a station wagon, but I thought I hadn't let the base dry long enough. Any input on how the Euro dries prior to sanding/polishing? Would the UV Clear be easier to lay down slick?
 
Well, I guess you might have been best off at 4:1:1. Euro performs best for me right in that range. Euro gets hard to buff after a while, so you need to get on it after a day or two if you're going to buff. I don't know if Universal is easier to spray exactly, but I have found it to be more consistent appearing in various conditions and almost impossible to solvent pop, for example. I think it's a bit more "idiot proof" and that's why I like it!

Oh, yeah, Universal also will never suck in like what happened to you on the Euro, as long as the base is actually dry. I think that's just the price you pay for stretching out clear with reducer, though.
 
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