What's the difference between Water-like, clear and white clear coat?

M

Maximus1988

2-part Question.

I'm trying to understand clearcoat a little better. Does anyone know what the difference in appearance is between these three (water, clear, white)?

Also, My cousin had his black car refinished and the finish looks great but when you put it in the sun, you can see the clearcoat looks slightly brown compared to the unfinished panel. why is that?

Thanks to anyone responding.
 
Not all blacks are equal. I dont think what you are seeing is a clear issue rather than a black issue.

The only clears I have messed with that looked "white" as you say were flat clears, or clear that had a flat additive in it.
 
Orange is correct, some blacks have blue tints in the mix some red some yellow some have a mix of 2 or 3 other colors and when you put them in the sun that's when it shows especally when you have panel painted a car and you can clearly see a differance. Some manufacturers have other fillers in their black tints that can make their straight black look off when compared to SPI, which has nothing but pure black in their black there are no off color fillers in SPI.

As for the clear having an effect on the overall color that is possible there are clears out that when you open a gallon and look in the can some have a yellow cast that can be seen, I have personally seen and used that crap before it was a real problem when blending a white car I would have to make my color overly white to compensate for the clears color shift it would introduce only to have an issue when the blend panel was unmasked the color shift would show against the panel that wasn't cleared. Silver is nother problem color that can show that also.
 
Thanks for the reply Orange and DATEC. I thought the difference in appearance on the black could have been linked to different clear used, perhaps I was mistaken.

Regarding the clear, I went through the TDS on SPI Production clear, under the "Uses" section, it states the clear is water-like in color. I thought there may be a difference in types of clear used. It also mentions that water-like clear won't affect white blend jobs, so again I thought there must be a difference.

Any thoughts?
 
I trust SPI. I was just wondering about the different types. I would like to expand my knowledge on clears. Reason for my posting here is that I value what they have to say.

Just curious on the difference between water-like, clear and white colored clear coats. why the distinction?

Thanks
 
Maximus1988 said:
I trust SPI. I was just wondering about the different types. I would like to expand my knowledge on clears. Reason for my posting here is that I value what they have to say.

Just curious on the difference between water-like, clear and white colored clear coats. why the distinction?

Thanks
Click to expand...

If you're talking about solvent based clears I don't think there's any distinction, some clears have a cleaner resin system plus whatever amount of UV inhibitors they use, if I'm correct the UV additives are not clear and will give the clear a bit of yellowish cast, but not enough to worry about changing the final color on whites and silvers.

Whitish looking clear I've read about the water based stuff that goes on looking milky and as it dries it clears up.

Water-like and clear is just different words to say the same thing, just marketing speak I guess.

Also the higher the solid content in a clear the higher the potential to change the appearance of the final color, light goes through the clear then bounces back, the thicker the clear the greater the effect.

Think of it like the shallow and deep end of a pool, the bottom has the same paint and it's the same water yet they don't look the same.

I must be bored to be typing this long lol
 
Maximus1988 said:
I trust SPI. I was just wondering about the different types. I would like to expand my knowledge on clears. Reason for my posting here is that I value what they have to say.

Just curious on the difference between water-like, clear and white colored clear coats. why the distinction?

Thanks
Click to expand...

First of all a lot of factors on making a clear clear and some of the crappiest clears are the clearest for the simple reason is the company making it for the seller cut way back on the UV absorbents.
I have 7 UV additives in plant, My cost ranges from $15 LB to $177 a LB, so you can do the math as to how a company can make a clear for private label, make their profit and the private label guy adds his profit and then the jobber adds his profit and it sell for $50 to $100 a gallon to end user. Its a real winner!

But more factors involved here then just that.
Best resins will have more clarity then cheap ones.
Surface intermediates can play a big part also. do you spend $3 a lb or $13?
Type of UV's used and the amounts make a huge difference.
Also remember the can is lined if an F-style and extra UV and looking through 10 inches of clear can scare you half to death. will make it look off shade the way it reflects, so always look through the clear as you are pouring.
 
In the past, I tried a euro clear from another brand. It was transparent with a slight tint when poured and mixed, but when the leftovers dried, they turned milky, scary. The first and last gallon, I didn't use it on nothing special. I finished by pouring the hardener in the gallon and junking it. On the car it wasn't terrible. The only way I could see it was when I was looking at it in a angle.
 
Maximus1988 said:
I trust SPI. I was just wondering about the different types. I would like to expand my knowledge on clears. Reason for my posting here is that I value what they have to say.

Just curious on the difference between water-like, clear and white colored clear coats. why the distinction?

Thanks
Click to expand...

I am pretty sure that 80% of people spraying clear spray too much, because some looks good, more must look better. If you can get used to spraying most of the water based clears that are milk, I believe you end up using less and getting more even coverage. Think about spraying base coat. It dries flat, so you never have that spraying to wet that you have with gloss paints. Praying the milk whites pretty much allows you to spray the same way you spray the base and I am pretty sure production shops will use far less materials.

The first BC/CC was a hood on an old Lumina. They sold me the Nason fast clear. The way that sprayed just felt like I was completing the gloss on the base color. So I consider the milky whites about the same for coverage except you are just spraying a white coat. You go to these high end clears and no doubt use alot more.
 
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