hard clearcoat

Jim C

Jim C

Oldtimer
can any of you guys that have used alot of different clear coats over the years recommend a good, hard clear coat. i am really looking for something that gets rock hard rather quickly. no clear that spi makes is fitting the bill on this one. i have tried the speed clear and while it gets harder faster, its still a softer clear. doesnt have to be a primo top brand clear either. need to be able to do 4 coats and in maybe 2-3 days have it be like a rock. i am finding all these clears anymore to be softer and more flexible for bumpers etc. i need the old $hit that used to spider crack as soon as you picked up a bumper to install on the car lmao! could even be an industrial line. locally i can get anything akzo, axalta, keystone. i might be able to get ppg too if i dig a little.
 
I dont know about rock hard, but recently I have went back to the cheapo FC720 as I can just get it to lay flatter than the Euro and it takes less time to knock it down and polish it out. It seems to harden up real fast and doesnt really mark at all after 2 or 3 days.

This is for all the golf carts I have been paitning....cars and high end jobs still get the Euro.
 
Years ago when I used Transtar any of their clears at the time would fit the bill. They still make the High Gloss which got hard to buff pretty quick.



Whether that would fit your criteria, I don't know. Any of the cheap urethane clears would be probably work as they all seem to get rock hard (buffing wise) pretty quick.
 
so i am using this on fiberglass table tops. its a dark color when done so in the sun these get smoking hot like a black car in the florida summer sun. problem i am having with all the spi clears is they are hard enough to handle in my shop but as soon as it warms up in the sun its like soft rubber. a customer will never be able to put anything on the table and i cant tell them oh, leave it in the sun for 6 mos then you can use it. they will prob end up using it when the clear is maybe 2 weeks old.
 
I was clearing the side steps on a 53 pickup and didn't want something that would scuff easily like UC. Barry suggested adding 10% more clear than instructed for Euro 2020. So I did that and it was noticeable harder, but more brittle. I dropped something on it and it chipped easier, so that's the downside.
 
Chris_Hamilton said:
Years ago when I used Transtar any of their clears at the time would fit the bill. They still make the High Gloss which got hard to buff pretty quick.



Whether that would fit your criteria, I don't know. Any of the cheap urethane clears would be probably work as they all seem to get rock hard (buffing wise) pretty quick.
Click to expand...
Like Chris stated Transtar.
 
Another one would be the SMART clear from finish master... I think its just rebadged NASON though. I have used that and after a few days it sands and polishes like a brick...
 
Jim, look at cheap private label stuff; because of the cost of one of the iso's to make it inexpensive for everyone to get their mark up, they leave out the one iso, and also they use cheap resins, the result hard as a rock overnight.
The downside, stone chip prone and worse, the most expensive thing to put, in a clear is UV's, so guess what gets cut?
If you're doing this for a customer, beware, as I'm getting calls now on some of these miracle private label stuff of red deck lids and flat surfaces
Fading in six months, this just started this year where before it was a year in a half to two and a half years on cars driven daily, if parked inside and not driven, no problem.
 
yeah i dont mind using the cheaper stuff and it doesnt have to last 10 years or anything BUT i do need to get atleast some life out of it. maybe a few years would be nice. all this crap just for a stupid table top that will prob see nothing more than a beer can sat on it
 
The Nasson brand clear I used years ago got rock hard really fast.
You had to buff it out within the next day or it got like concrete.
I don't know if it's the same today but maybe one to look at.
 
The only problem I ever had with NASON stuff was that it always pinched up real bad for me. It would lay out slick and the next day it would look like crap. I am not sure on the UV holdout on it, but I painted the drivers side of my black trailblazer with it back in like 2010 and its never been waxed or anything and to this day still hasn't chalked up. Seems to have lasted far longer than I ever expected.
 
well thats good news it hasnt failed. this would be something where i put 2 coats on, block it out with 400, let it cook in the sun for a day, put on another 2 coats, let it cook in the sun again for a day then sand and buff the next day. after all that it should be done shrinking up. if i take it up to 8000 grit it shouldnt be too hard to buff at that point.....i guess.
 
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This is the stuff I used when I was in a major pinch from finishmaster and I swear its just re-labled nason..
 
Jim , whether for this project or others, may want to sample one of the Cerakote air dry clears, such as mc160. I have yet to get together some polished metal projects to try on, but yet to hear much negative about it. Labeled ok for over paint. Just need a really fine strainer, such as theirs & a decent touch up sized gun to spray. N- butyl or tert butly acetate is the solvent, which you'd have from your cabinet stuff. Gun people, including military swear by this stuff, so it must be tough.

Smart products are pretty decent knock offs, too bad our Finishmaster stores closed up here.

www.cerakote.com

Cerakote - HIGH GLOSS CERAMIC CLEAR

Shop Cerakote HIGH GLOSS CERAMIC CLEAR MC-160. Find the coating that fits your application. Choose from a wide variety of coatings with specific attributes and specialties.
www.cerakote.com www.cerakote.com
 
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