Paint question for those in the know. Lacquer no Bueno, but typical BC/CC too shiny. JMO. Advice please...

[69hurstolds]

As it were, I'm sorta facing a dilemma with future paint plans for the 85 442 eventual restoration.

As people may or may not be aware, the 85 Cutlass line built in Arlington used lacquer paint. My car, as it is original paint, has lacquer on it now. And the stuff cracks over time in spots, I think the term is "crazing" or something like that. At any rate, it just sucks *ss.

So, to all you painters out there, is there a way to maybe, say, use a base/clear with some sort of flattener in it to tone the gloss level down? Like maybe 10%-15% flatter? I mean, it's not supposed to be rat rod flat or anything, but lacquer does have a nice sheen to it when new and polished, but nothing like typical base/clear shiny. Hard to explain what I'm talking about. I thought about a single stage urethane, but that too may cause different issues, and not sure how chip repair, etc., goes on SS urethane. It's mainly black, so you know there's those black cars out there with base/clear that are so shiny it hurts. Which is a bit too much for me. I was kinda wanting to mimic the factory lacquer finish without trying to find one of the 6 or so people left on the planet that still shoot lacquer. Plus I don't want to deal with the potential for crazing again. I know that sounds counter-intuitive, but I was simply wondering about it as a fact of it being possible? Or am I just dreaming?

Thoughts?

 

[565bbchevy]

I have always called it checking.

 

[Drkuhar]

Check with the paint rep that you are getting your base clear from and ask if they have a compatible flattening agent. I know crossfire from napa has a flattening agent that you mix in and there is a ratio to use to get satin or flat.. i painted a truck using it with crossfire single stage. You might have to do a test spray to get the dullness you are looking for

 

[pagrunt]

It may be more of what polishing compound used for the post paint work than the paint used. There are some cheap urethanes in both single stage & bc/cc that could be close to the original shine lacquer can have but keep in mind of the cheap part. With bc/cc it may be go with a good to better base then a fair to good clear that can hold up then buff to a ok shine.
I personally prefer to use lacquer but bc/cc is the next best thing. As for how our cars had the paint crack/checking is because the lacquers out at the time was crap due to the removal of certain key base materials. Look at early '70's & older cars & see how much better they have held up.

 

[69hurstolds]

The paint won't be garbage paint. I do plan on spending the $$$ for high quality, longer lasting paint. I don't want to do it again. I'd like to lean toward a base/clear. Or even a good urethane if it makes sense. I'm afraid to do lacquer again due to the checking fears.

I'm not going to be doing the paint/bodywork on the car, btw (no real bodywork needed as the car is straight and rust free). I just wanted to get people's ideas about it so when I make a request to try and make the bc/cc look more like lacquer, the paint guy doesn't beat me with his spray gun.

Oh, yeah, the early lacquer jobs were way better than the micro-thin 80s trash. Nobody ever thought you'd keep the damn cars for 35 years most likely. There's a few spots on the car when new that I swear you could see hints of primer underneath the black, it was so thin.

The 87 used bc/cc from the factory, but even that's not the greatest stuff in the world. But it sure holds up better than plain lacquer.

 

[pagrunt]

Another thing I forgot was there was also bc/cc lacquer back in the '70's/'80's. So there is a chance (even if small) that a bc/cc car could be painted in lacquer.

 

[Drkuhar]

This is what i used with crossfire single stage. Im sure they have this to add to a clear coat

 

[Rktpwrd]

In short, yes. Absolutely. Any clear in a BC/CC system can be “flattened” using a flattening agent. As said tho, several sprayouts will have to be done in advance to find the amount of flattening you desire.

Go back in Olds Cool’s build thread and see what I did when I clear coated the belt and quarter glass mouldings.

 

[mikester]

I used flattening agent when I was spraying some of the suspension parts on my 81. I felt like a chemist. Maybe because I never used it before but I had a real hard time getting the right gloss. Especially when youre not doing everything at once.
I was pretty happy when I found out SEM made the Hot Rod Black. LOL

 

[69hurstolds]

I may not end up with a choice. I'm seriously doubting a painter will do all that testing to see which one I like the best. Maybe he wouldn't charge too much to take an old panel, paint it base black, then "stripe" it with different flattening levels for comparison. I don't want anything even close to a satin or flat look. Lacquer shines pretty nice, but it's not that candy-like gloss level that many clears exhibit.

I got plenty of time to think about that before I ever get to that stage. But it'll be a hand wringer when it does get there. At that point, I may no longer even care.