Flow coating
- Thread starter dhutton01
- Start date
RosharonRooster
Promoted Users
i like flow coating. when you spray clear on top of clear. you really shouldnt need to start with something aggressive like 600. the objective is not to not have to do that....
now if you have texture or peel on the first 3 coats. and sand them with 6-800...and spray the second session with the same texture or peel, then you just wasted time and materials.......
now if you have texture or peel on the first 3 coats. and sand them with 6-800...and spray the second session with the same texture or peel, then you just wasted time and materials.......
I would suggest everyone try it for themselves and see, clear a panel and then tape off half, block and reclear, then buff the whole thing. There can be a difference IF the clear is properly blocked before re-clearing. Surely results will vary by individual, it might work for some but not everyone. I personally will continue to do it on certain jobs.
Jim C
Oldtimer
i am a flow coat guy. of course in 95% of my cases its not an option as like he said, artwork is involved. you will always be flatter flowcoating since more than half your peel and urethane wave comes from the basecoat, not the clear. get the clear on, block it flat with some 400 and reclear. you will have way less wave and peel allowing you to start your sanding and buffing at a far higher grit with less work. the risk of cutting through on the second round of clear is way less because of it. the biggest issue with flowcoating is you need to be extremely careful to clean the sanded clear. you dont want to trap smudges or anything like that between layers. flowcoating though is not a replacement for sanding and buffing.
'68 Coronet R/T
Oldtimer
I have personally never tried a flow coat.
Lately, my Euro Clear has been flowing out just fine. I do use slow activator and reducer, as well as applying wet coats and letting them flash per TDS.
Lately, my Euro Clear has been flowing out just fine. I do use slow activator and reducer, as well as applying wet coats and letting them flash per TDS.
Vanillagorilla
Professional amatuer
Ive only done it over stripes / flakes. Im not opposed to it in other situations, Ive just never had the need to do it. Plus I really hate having to do any more spraying sessions on a vehicle than necessary. I like to get as much done in one session as possible
dhutton01
Backyard Hack
I did it once. It’s a lot of work to pull it out of the booth, sand it, clean it, and remask it. It’s also a lot of booth time if you are panel painting in multiple sessions. I just shoot four or five coats in one session. The end result is good enough for the drivers I build.
Posted this before but I'll post again. (need to take more pics) This was 5 coats of Universal. I started out doing 4+3 or 3+3 cause that's what I learned years ago, but honestly I don't think there's any difference between 2 sessions and one. This is as straight/flat as I need stuff. Honestly don't think doing it in two sessions would have improved it.
dhutton01
Backyard Hack
@Chris_Hamilton Chris, what was your cut and buff process to achieve that result? What did it look like before cut and buff?
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This isnt going to be much help Don. In that pic I had only compounded it. This was before I switched to the 3D wool pad and 3D 500/520. I think that was Chemical Guys V something (32?) compound which I found I didn't like very much. Lake Country wool pad, followed up with more of the same compound and an orange CG hexlogic pad.
As for cutting/sanding, all by hand. It laid out nice and very little texture but again 5 coats so I started with 800 then just progressed through the grits. I think I was trying out how Shine recommended. 800-1000-1200-1500-2000, then 3000 and 5000 Trizact. I dont like that way as its a lot of work, but doing all by hand till the Trizact does get it nice and flat. I used 2 Durablocks that I modified with .030 lexan glued on them for the sanding.
I've modified my procedures since ( doing some of the Jim C method and of course using the 3D wool pad based off what you said about it) but I'm still getting it flat by hand first. One important thing IMO if using Universal and doing all coats in one session is to not do more than five coats at once. I did six one time and the wave was really bad. Very hard to get out.
Hood of the same vehicle. Thinking about it, I had switched over to the 3D wool pad and 3D 500 midway. This was done with the wool pad and 500/520.( Just compound buildup on the edge not a burn through...lol ) This was one of the pieces I put 6 coats on and fought with it afterward trying to get the wave out.
This was the left 1/4 after spraying the car and prior to cutting and buffing. Sata 5000 RP 1.3 and the pressure turned up some. 36-38 at the wall IIRC. I have found with the 5000 RP and Universal more pressure helps it lay down nicely. Trade off is of course you get more wave the more coats you apply but stopping at five it's manageable.
Jim C
Oldtimer
2 sessions allows you to get it flatter with less sanding. you can certainly get things equally as flat both ways and get it looking like chris's awesome job above but i feel its far easier to block clear flat with 400 and do 2 additional coats vs 1 clear session and hand blocking with an acrylic block or something like that to get it flat.
i would never roll the car out and remask anything to do it. i would do my first clear in the afternoon, come out the next morning, sand it all down right in the booth with 400, wipe it down, blow the booth out and reclear all the same day. from there i can start sanding with a da with 1500, 2500, compound and polish. because its flat already and start with 1500, i can compound and polish a whole car body in one 8-10 hour day. if i did like don said he did it and rolled the car out, sanded and remasked, put it back in, got everything set up to reclear......yeah, totally agree, thats a lot and not worth it. overall the flowcoat is just a time thing. for me its a way to save time and get a flat job so i can do all my cutting and buffing with a sander vs the time it takes to hard block a whole car body down with fine grits.
i would never roll the car out and remask anything to do it. i would do my first clear in the afternoon, come out the next morning, sand it all down right in the booth with 400, wipe it down, blow the booth out and reclear all the same day. from there i can start sanding with a da with 1500, 2500, compound and polish. because its flat already and start with 1500, i can compound and polish a whole car body in one 8-10 hour day. if i did like don said he did it and rolled the car out, sanded and remasked, put it back in, got everything set up to reclear......yeah, totally agree, thats a lot and not worth it. overall the flowcoat is just a time thing. for me its a way to save time and get a flat job so i can do all my cutting and buffing with a sander vs the time it takes to hard block a whole car body down with fine grits.