What did I do wrong?

A

Albtross

I painted and cleared my wheels a few years ago with no issue. I scuffed them a little while putting on new tires, so I decided to repaint and clear the wheels. The first 3 wheel went well, but it appears that the clear wrinkled on the one I did today. The 1st coat went on fine, I only noticed the wrinkling after the 2nd coat. The wrinkles appears to be in the clear and not in the paint.

I let Rustoleum Wheel Paint dry overnight.
Universal Clear with slow activator.
It was about 90 degrees with high humidity today.
After putting the 1st coat on I waited about 20 minutes, when I checked the wheel it was still a little tacky. I decided to give it a little longer and got distracted by a football game, so it probably ended up being 60-75 minutes between the 1st and 2nd coat.

Too much clear? Too long between coats?

I'm trying to figure out what I did wrong, so that I don't repeat my mistake. Also, how long do I need to wait before sanding, repainting & reclearing.

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Get a timer or alarm clock of some kind, easy and effective way to avoid screw ups on flash and induction times.
 
Thanks. That's what I get for sitting down to watch a little football. So how long do I have to wait before I can repaint?
 
thats the rustoleum that wrinkled, not the clear. the solvents from the first round of clear softened up the rustoleum and caused it to lift. that is not a compatible paint system. yes the clear will adhere to it BUT its not a chemical resistant paint so it dries but solvents will soften it right up. since you let the clear sit so long what you have now is a soft layer of rustoleum with a 1/2 hardened layer of clear over it. you went and put another round of clear on which swelled up clear under it. the rustoleum couldnt hang onto the surface because it was soft. and you end up with wrinkles. you see this happening alot when primers or sealers are put over adhesion promoters like bulldog. same thing happens. you would have been ok of you didnt wait so long for the clear 1st coat of clear and just did your 2nd after about 15 min. even of you dont get wrinkles though you are going to have a hardened clear over a paint layer that is soft and soaked with trapped solvents. those solvents will come out eventually but it will be a very long time. could be 6mos could be 2 years. you will have poor adhesion and the wheels will be prone to chipping until the whole paint film hardens. you should really stick with a single stage polyurethane over a sealer coat of epoxy for wheels
 
Jim C said:
thats the rustoleum that wrinkled, not the clear. the solvents from the first round of clear softened up the rustoleum and caused it to lift. that is not a compatible paint system. yes the clear will adhere to it BUT its not a chemical resistant paint so it dries but solvents will soften it right up. since you let the clear sit so long what you have now is a soft layer of rustoleum with a 1/2 hardened layer of clear over it. you went and put another round of clear on which swelled up clear under it. the rustoleum couldnt hang onto the surface because it was soft. and you end up with wrinkles. you see this happening alot when primers or sealers are put over adhesion promoters like bulldog. same thing happens. you would have been ok of you didnt wait so long for the clear 1st coat of clear and just did your 2nd after about 15 min. even of you dont get wrinkles though you are going to have a hardened clear over a paint layer that is soft and soaked with trapped solvents. those solvents will come out eventually but it will be a very long time. could be 6mos could be 2 years. you will have poor adhesion and the wheels will be prone to chipping until the whole paint film hardens. you should really stick with a single stage polyurethane over a sealer coat of epoxy for wheels
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Looking at them again after sanding, you are probably right about the paint wrinkling.

I'm not looking for show car quality. The only reason I repainted the wheels to start with was that they were corroding and the paint was bubbling. I was quite happy with the way the wheels turned out after being repainted and cleared 2 years ago. And they actually held up very well, I think I only had 1 chip in all 4 wheels after 2 years. The only reason for repainting them now is the the few scrapes I made when mounting new tires. Since 99% of my driving is on paved roads, I know that the lack of chips is no indicator of the toughness of the paint job.

Your post seems to imply that when painting over Rustoleum, you would suggest clearing sooner than later. If so, how long would you suggest. I intentionally waited overnight, since I previously had issues with the base coat adhering on my son's car, when I only let the base sit a few hours. I think it was you who mentioned that letting he base sit 24 hours before clearing was preferable. (The repaint on my son's car went great, by the way, thanks for the suggestion). The instructions on the can say that you can clear in 10 minutes, but I assume they are referring to spray can clear.

Also, how long do I need to wait before painting over the clear I sprayed yesterday.
 

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I think even a cheap base coat system like Nason Ful-base would be much better than spray can, and not much more money depending on the color. Trying to perfect a flawed system like clearing over spray can paint is probably not a productive use of time and resources.

Usually Universal Clear is fine to sand and reshoot the next day, but if there is a sensitive substrate involved, some extra time and heat (full sunlight, heat lamp) will probably be advisable.
 
yes waiting overnight once in base is always the best route BUT you are not using base. you are using rattle can paint. it will always be a crap shoot. you have a 50/50 shot. it may come out ok or it may blow up in your face. that is the risk you take when intermixing paint types.
 
My recommendation is don't bother clearing over that paint. You a asking for issues and if this first round of issues haven't taught you anything then your just not listening. Go back and re-read Jim's post, read what he is saying he will not mislead you.
 
I posted somewhere here before about using rust oleum products in place of automotive paint as an experiment;; primer, black & clear, buffed to same shine as automotive paint. They just don't hold out to exterior use in sunlight for long enough to be worth it for my time spent to prep & apply.
I got the same pattern of wrinkling & lifting down to their primer as you got clearing over it.

At this point, if you're just wanting quick & cheap, do as suggested & don't clear over the crap- oleum paint.
 
I just spoke to Barry last week about using a rattle can product with SPI clear. He advised to wait AT LEAST 72 hours before shooting clear over that type of paint (usually lacquer based).
 
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