Frosty Clear Coat Paint

[JohnnyB4439]

well i painted my center console today and went to put on the clear coat and it seemed good at first, then towards the end it kinda had a frosty look to the clear coat. now what do you think caused that? the piece looks aight but im not 100% satisfied.

[papiogagt]

what was the temp and weather like outside? if it was really hot or humid that owuld have cuased it. my guess though is you put it on too thick. it fogs up when it's too thick in one coat. also, i used a clear called "triple glaze" one time, and no matter what, it would go on too thick and fog up.

[Panacea]

Is this the same clear coat you bought a few months ago? If so, did you shake it up well? What kind of paint did you use for the center consol, and what kind of clear coad? How long did you let the paint dry before you put on the clear coat?

[safemode]

temp is very important, it must be cool, around 75 degrees. It must be absolutely dry. Each layer of clear coat must be dry. You should use dozens of small applications to get a mirror like clear coat when spray painting. Also as mentioned, it should be shaken. Your fogging is probably due to tiny air bubbles trapped all within the layer caused by the thickness of the layer and because it dried too fast.

Besides that the only other explanation is some kind of contamination. Maybe the wrong type of clear coat for the paint you're using it on ...maybe too much dust in the air. I'm really leaning towards temp and layer thickness being the issue here. My grandmother was a ceramics teacher and we used the spray paint clear coats all the time. Your coatings should be so thin that you dont even get a shine until like the 6th or 7th application and it doesn't get smooth until after the 10th. For large applications this is an all day affair. Otherwise you're likely to get uneven clear coat surfaces, bubbles, discoloration, stickiness, running and probably more side-effects i'm not thinking of.

[JohnnyB4439]

yeah i think i might of put it on a lil to thick, and the temp wasnt bad around 85, somewhat humid. I dunno it looks aight, but thanks for all the responses.

[safemode]

also, when painting vinyl i heard that using a separate clear coat usually ends up it in yellowing and lifting off the paint after a year. Make sure you got specific non-yellowing clear coat spray paint. They do sell it.