Ive done this several times especially on a vehicle that customer wants a deep slick shine. But ive never thought about warming the clear up. Im gonna try that soon.
The best thing / hardest to learn is when to walk away from a job. Better to come back and do another coat or 2 then getting a run and having the hassle of rubbing back and potentially getting rub throughs in the process. I've always thought the best finishes are the ones that look great straight off the gun.
simply wow! know that your videos make a strong impact to everyone that watches them. Especialy those begining in trade like me. flow coating as you teach it makes lots of sense. i will be doing this to my 70 chevelle. also i finally know what those tabs on the gallon caps do, lol. no wonder i keep making a mess when i pour into mixing cups, i dindnt know they popped up like that. it was an aaaaaah moment. as always gunny great job and thanks.
You make a huge effort to show us your work plus filming editing narrating uploading and interacting with your followers Thanks really appreciate your effort
+dookieday1 +1 - Really appreciate the effort you put in Gunny. If you were to take on an apprentice, he or she would be the luckiest apprentice in WA!
Hey Tony. I need some help please. What size Tip should I use to shoot the Metallic Base coat. What size tip for metallic flake 00.04 and 00.08 mixed together. Thank you
I have a question I have a problem with my clear laying down after I clear what can cause this problem it shines stays up for about a couple of days and then it just lays down
back in my day we just called it sanding it down and recoating. that is how we did every show car. even single stage. the second time it just flows out so much better and levels down. My buddy does harley tanks uses base clear to level tape lines then urethane clear and second flow coat plus polish. they look absolutely perfect.
We flow coated a 67 Mustang just to fix a few minor flaws in the clear and get rid of some edges of the stripe, turned out WAYYY deeper than I even thought, customer was actually happier with the colour after the reflow. He saw the jams and it looked too light, more clear darkened it just enough!
Ive learned many things from this site. Two things Ive been doing for decades...#1 I ensure the car has a good ground from the car to the earth ground, this will prevent the flakes from orienting themselves via polarity. Second, when shooting flake I use a random pattern, skewed from either vertical or horizontal. There is never a "zebra" or clumping, mottling, striped, or flake standing up.
Gunny, Ive just finished refurbing and spraying my alloy wheels using a spray gun for the first time ever! I can honestly say watching loads of your vids on tips and tricks has seriously helped me out big time, especially the lacquering stage as man that stuff is so hard to get right. Thanks again and keep up the awesome vids!!!!
Needing a good class on candy,,and a good place to buy a gun,just got screwed by spray gun world,600 in equipment. Damn company is run by a crook. You have an extra tekna pro lite laying around lol
Best tip is ensure the panels are properly clean, use top quality 3M sandpaper, it works out cheaper in the long run because you use much less. And make sure the paint is fully cured, if it's not it will clog bad
@@TheGunmanChannel thanks for the advice...yes i use only 3m paper... the panel usually are IR cured with home heater and let to cure a few days.. i do find that when i using 1000 grid paper i get small spirals when sanding with 1000... to get the dist nibs out as i dont have a spray booth...only tarped garage. My sander is no nane da but find if i dont brush my sand paper every so often. i will get hard spec clogging my paper randomly...
Pretty cool and pretty sweet looking job. I'm just trying to understand how the paint doesn't lift as I was always under the impression that recoating paint after it's set usually resulted in that...found that out the hard way myself many years ago with Delclear. So what makes this possible without lifting?
Andork Kuomo as long as it's cured enough you'll be fine. It also has to do with the stengths of the solvents in each type of base/clear/primer. Like if you sand through a clear into the base coat on a not fully cured panel and then try to primer it. Usually the fresh base coat areas you primed over will lift and Winkle.
I wish I had your skills painting and with talking for over 13 minutes without ever taking a breath of air in. LOL. In all seriousness, you are very talented! Great Job!
nice work! what clear coat brand would you recommend, economic yet worth it like the devilbiss sgk spray gun you suggested to me, love the way it sprayed, thanks
Great tip on the heating in a bucket of water!. One of my old mates from Sydney told me how ,on the 1st day of his apprenticeship he was taught how to paint a car!. ( did i say he was old?) They got a big pan of boiling water and popped a can of black enamel into the water to warm up. He then got a brush and painted the car which he said turned out like glass when it set. Some ideas are new some are reminders of stuff we have forgotten . Many thanks!.
You’ll get even better results just by using all products from the same manufacturer and mixing the correct ratio!!!! Not measuring is NEVER a good idea, I see this all the time people mixing and matching solvents with clears and hardeners and then can’t understand why there’s a failure down the road! Beautiful job nonetheless but…
I know this video is several yrs old but i have a question that i hope you will answer for me? When flow coating clear and say you was gonna flow coat the whole vehicle that you did a complete re-spray would you block it or would you just do it like you did your hood say with just your da? The vehicle im doing i have blocked and all that after the primer stage and all that. So hopefully you will give me your opinion as you do killer work man and keep up the awesome videos man!!!!
Hey Gunny,I just did my first Flow Coat a week ago. Had a ton of junk come out on a hood I was painting andalso had some severe orange peel. Sanded it all down and threw two more coats of clear on. Worked absolutely perfect!!! Thanks for the guidance Mate!!!
Some TH-cam friends suggested I try and use this Flow Coat technique to help fix a problem I have. I put like 4 coats of clear on a hood to try and achieve a WET look, and it did, but it fogged. Do you think sanding it back down the flow coating could remove the fog and bring back the shine? I'd like to not respray the basecoat. Thanks, and Great Vid!
You are such a inspiring person..I have done my engineering in Automotive.. But your videos are awesome keeps inspiring me to get my hands on the paint side of automobile.. ..
" The basecot is going to suck some of the life out of the clear" LOL!! Too true. All the best paint jobs get flow coated, some 2 or 3 times! Noice job!
Hello..does it matter on flow coating if your base is metal flake ? Will the sanding and then flow coat hide it (because you are dulling your first clear and then clearing over)? I can see where it would work well on a solid but want to be sure before I do it on my light metallic blue..Thanks !!!! Awesome videos always
Bro i was painting hyundai stardust colour but my spray can got empty just after one coat of clear and now after few weeks can i use this method to repair my paint or redo the whole paint job?
So one of my clears directions say "2 to 3 FLOWING coats" I am guessing this is not what they mean? I have seen wet, medium wet, medium... what is flowing?
In the early days of urethane warming the material gave great flow and nullified orange peel. This worked exceptionally well on large truck body panels giving a flat glossy finish and no orange peel
Can I be the one to ask a stupid question? I do not paint on a regular basis, however I really enjoy working on my projects. Two years ago I painted a 78 Camaro and attempted a flow coat but I had runs all over the car. Fast forward to less than 10 minutes ago, I'm painting my son's GMC Sierra and the same thing has happened again. The outside temperature was roughly 68° fahrenheit, with almost a matching humidity level. The runs are worse than before. What am I doing wrong? Also, I love your videos, and I've watched this particular one at least a dozen times.
The thing about painting is there's so many variables. You don't want the paint too thick or thin, temperature will affect viscosity. Also spray gun settings will play a big part, if pressure is too low the paint will go on thick and lead to runs. You can also try turning the fluid knob in. I apologize for not being able to say much more without seeing you spray.
I've been trying to spray clear coat lately, it's a 2K HS clear (by Mipa, a german brand) and I'm using H25 hardener and V25 Thinner. I spray it on using a conventional spray gun. When spraying it on my panel I get all these small spots, they look like air bubbles. Why do I keep getting these? I'm guessing it's the temperature of the panel, what temperature should I be looking at when spraying?
Here's how you can get a flow coat and a polished look...without flow coating or polishing. You put your vehicle in the booth and keep the temperature around 70 degrees Fahrenheit. You spray your base on with medium reducer, for coverage. You mix your first coat of clear with a medium reducer and regular hardener. As soon as you finish your first coat of clear...turn the booth temperature down to around 65 degrees...let it sit 20 minutes. This puts it one temperature range below the reducer you used. Spray your final coat of clear on with medium reducer and regular hardener. As soon as you finish your final coat of clear , turn the booth down to about 60 degrees and let it stay there for a couple of hours. This puts it well below the temperature range . What will happen is that at higher temperatures, the base will dry well with little solvent trapped. The first coat of clear will have more solvent in it than usual...but ...it will not be trapped because the final coat of clear will take a long time to harden up, and this will allow all the solvent to come up into the top coat of clear and it will allow it to flow for a long time...up to an hour or even more. ( Old school guys in the 70's and 80's used to try spraying straight reducer over their last coat of acrylic enamel to try and produce this same result.) The result will be a very glossy paint job with no runs and little if any orange peel. I know many people fool around with amounts of reducer...but with this method you are using the right amounts of reducer...but using it's characteristics, time and temperature to your advantage. Work smarter...not harder !
I must say I've learned a lot from watching and listening to you and also Franky you guy's have to be the best painters on TH-cam thank you for putting these video's out there I've become a better painter because of it
Can I use this process to refresh an older paint job? I have a black 2007 Chrysler 300. The paint is in good shape, just minor scratches and fading in the clearcoat. Can I wet sand the existing clear and flowcoat over the car to make it shine like new again? Also, what kind of car is that hood in the video for? It's really cool.
Hey Gunnie, Ryan here from South Africa. I have mind boggling problem and would like to maybe get your opinion on this if possible as your are busy and all... I've recently done a pvt job for a friend on a silver Toyota, from the start of the job as the car has been resprayed prior it's been a nightmare. The 2k ms grey primer had a reaction with the existing yellow primer where adhesion was a issue. I managed to rectify the issue, the base coat laid down great. The clear coat did not harden and I then sanded it off, re based and applied a better clear coat. The clear coat fully cured and i wet sanded and buffed 2 days later. A week later today the clear coat is giving off a hazzy( milky) look and some spots looks as if someone has wet sanded and not polished again making it look like it needs a buff( orange peel) but its in the form of lines. Any feedback would be great. Thanks
The more I listen to you the better I'm beginning to understand you! I like the way you explain things in a matter of fact manner. I painted my Jag last night, everything went well until the clear! Here's something everyone can benefit from because it can happen to anyone (I think!). Brand new gun (Iwata W400) and I'm liking it a lot, all I did was add a regulator/gauge combo to it. Base and pearl mid coat go on great. Then I get to shooting the clear and, damn, pressure sounds low. Gauge says I have 29 psi with the trigger on, maybe it's just me. As I'm shooting I'm getting a ton of orange peel ... wtf!! Turns out that all the shooting I was doing all night, it must be my little finger was bumping the screw on the damn built-in regulator in the bottom of the gun handle! You know, the one nobody uses because we just crank it all the way open and forget about it! It was nearly off! So I had 29 psi going in but was probably getting only 5 to 10 psi to the trigger! Bottom line, at least 1/2 the car has this horrible orange peel, wet sanding with 1200# on a DA is barely touching it, have no idea how much clear I really have on the car so I'm deathly afraid of cutting through to base. Now I'm wondering if I can flow-coat it a panel or 2 at a time and how bad minor remnants of orange peel will (likely!) show through. Any comments from anyone are welcome to me ... lol, I really need an expert right now!
A color to hide them line's yes black you would have to block a bit more .good job .I'm from old school of painting lacquer paint's. Yes clear is the way to go, it adds depth to any paint job and can hide any scratches on the surface. Dupont paint's are the best in my book plus 3m has a great line of great products.
That’s Awesome dude I’m getting my car painted now for the Autorama in Detroit next year hope it looks like that 💯💯💯💯CLEAN 👀👀👀👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽this was 2018 Autorama 😁😁😁
can i get some advise i have a car which i think of just re clear coating it and then wet sanding it, its original paintwork what grill do you recommend i should use to sand original clear?
Tried my first flow coat a month ago. Paint booth kept cutting out leaving dust on the finish. So I sand cut it and tried the flow coat with awesome results. Almost no orange peel. Over did it with the PPG clear a little. So I did need to light sand and buff. It was a two stage clear and I hit it five times. It kept looking better till the last. STILL LOOKS SO GOOD PPG ASKED ME TO SHOW MY CAR AT THEIR CLASS. Thanks To the gunman.
To robtubedude1,you have a decision to make. If you go down to bare plastic,you will still have to fill chips in the plastic, plus spend time on re sealing.Once you sand past the sealer the plastic turns fuzzy, like suede leather. You will have to seal up till it's smooth,a few build coats later & sand.It maybe worth the time to fill chips only & not expose too much plastic. You will also use more products to get a finished product.
I just flow coated some of my lambo parts. They came out absolutely amazing. This is my first time doing it and it look like glass. There are a few areas that have some dust. Can I just use a high end polish to polish them out?
Probably slowly knock them down with 2000 first, if it doesn't cut off the dust, slowly go to coarser grits. Then polish out. I've read that if you flow coat, and screw up some how, then try and sand too much off to get it smooth, if you break through to the original clear coats, you'll see a haze around the break through area. Gotta be careful!
does anyone use the stepping out technique? i used to spray single stage acrylic urethanes in an industrial setting on heavy equipment... surely its diff from base/clear applications but i would lay down a wet coat to cover moderately reduced then would increase the reducer and air pressure with the following coats... this would level it out and really do alot for the gloss and finish of the job... is this used in base/clear applications at all?
+The Gunman if I got flaking and bubbling up/pealing of a clear coat and want to correct it what should I do? The care has not be exposed to UV or sunlight yet. Would this work for something like that. I'm gonna have to take the layer of clear coat off. So I was thinking of either spraying the entire fender again with base coat or just doing it where there is a issue? Should I sand the entire panel or is there a way to sand in only one part of the fender and leave the rest untouched and then spraying base coat and clear on that sanded part only and fading it on the rest of the fender? I haven't wet sanded anything yet.
Hey gun man I saw a comment earlier down below I'm not sure if you would have reply or not to my reply comment but the comment said that after you flow coat it has look yellower cause the clear. what my rep told me was that cheaper clear is always going to be more yellow or stain yellowish. not saying your using cheap clear. products never cheap here's the debate to the guy that said it looks yellowish after you flowcoated the hood. customer of mines was having a debate with his mates, when you pour clear into a mixing cup. there's no doubt it has a yellowish tint but how many coats of clear are you looking trough in the cup??... Is two coat really going to effect the color. If it did wouldn't the color you sprayed look more greener then yellow... what's your thoughts
Hi can I ask you if flow coat can be applied over old clear coat? My car has a thin old clear coat with some minor scratches. Can I use the flow coat technique - wet sand the old clear coat with 1500 then 2000, apply a couple layers of clear coats?
what an incredible amount of information you've passed along, thanks for making these videos. Beautiful work. Everything I've watched so far has been new to me, and very useful. 👍
Gday Gunman. I was thinking about this flow coating, have you ever removed the gaurds and doors of a vehicle to lay them flat for that flow coat affect? Shitload more work but i have a project on my hands that im thinking about doing in that manner. I'd have to spend extra time on the quarter panels to match but for a novice like me it might help me to get a really smooth finish
Ive been all over the internet looking into customizing wheels. I have a artic white truck and I want either black wells and white face or crome wells/white face wheels, if I buy crome wheels, how do I finish the face in white? Sand, prime, sand prime, paint, clear or is there another way?
have you ever used 0000 steel wool to get all the dips and orange peel so you don't remove too much of your first coat of clear? I am trying this as a tip. Hope it works out. again nice vid thanks.
This is exactly what I plan to do to my good and trunk kid. I had a lot of trash and started with 1000 grit and now I have scratches that didn't come out after buffing. This should do the trick. Thanks
It came out really good, no fish eyes either ! This arvo prepared front wing and passenger door for basecoatHyundai cape blue metallic, its all masked and ready for paint in the morning, your videos certainly help thanks !!
Question for any body guys what's the after affect difference between sanding and buffing clear and flow coating is their a difference in shine, lifetime of paint, or is it just quicker??
I heard you say more than two coats at a time is to much , I was going tho spray 3 block it flat , spray 3 more after a week and block that flat . I figured after sanding 2 coats off in the blocking process I would have about 4 total coats.what are your thoughts on that?
MrFireman164 ... no need to block it twice, if you do it right the first time around, by hand with paper wrapped sponge will do just fine if you missed anything. Blocking is dangerous moves when at the finishing stages of a work piece.👍
If you have some high gloss color polyurethane (or any direct gloss paint) and you clear it later on once the paint is cured, is it still a flow coat and would it have the same results as per say same color in a base,clear and eventually flow coated?
gunman! love your channel....quick question I think I heard that you use reducer in your clear coat? I use a fast activator now cause of lower Temps but I'd love to try this....my clear is 4:1 mix rate do I keep that rate and do like 4:1:1 with reducer to dry faster?
Mr. Gunman, thanks for fulfilling my curiosity on automotive painting! I am a finisher myself however I am involved in furniture and custom cabinetry here in the United States. It's very interesting to see the similar techniques and also the differences between finishing metal vs finishing wood. thanks, Dave.
Super interesting! Do you think honestly that I can get a glossy "mirror finish" by doing flow coat method using Spay Max 2K Clear? Because I have some motorcycle fairings to paint and I don't want to use the spray gun and compressor just for that (as I'm not super familiar with it). Thanks and best from France ;-)
I will answer my own question: yes it's possible :-) I did it few days ago and the render is like glass! Super happy. The process was to paint -> clear coat -> wet sand clear coat with Trizact 3000 -> re-clear coat 2 heavy coats -> wet sand with 1000-1500 -> Trizact 3000 -> Trizact 6000 -> polish with Sonax Cut Max -> polish with Sonax Perfect Finish. Done! A lot of work but it worth it!
@The Gunman I'm looking for your advice. I'm redoing my old race back to give as a surprise to my daughter. I did opt for spray paint, but took the time for good prep, did self etch primer, primer filler, primer sealer, 3-4 coats of color with sanding and cleaning and tacking, then I went to clear. I used rustoleum automotive enamel gloss for clear and did 4 coats of clear. It looks really good, but I did spot a few runs and it's just not as mirrored as i want it to be. I'm considering sanding it down to remove any runs and texture, and then putting 1-2 coats of the clear again. Do you think I should? If so, what grits? All will be by hand and I have 220, 320, 600, 1000, 1500, 2000, 2500, and those red 3M pads. I figured start wet sanding at either 1000 or maybe even 600, and work my way up to 2500 and the red 3M pads. Any thoughts
It depends on the color u painted the car. Lighter metallics requires a finer grit to be sanded with or else ull see the sand scratches. Remember hand sanding anything will be much coarser than using a machine. With what u have and assuming the color is dark, sanding it with 600 and then 1000 is sufficient. Sanding anything finer after that is simply a waste of time.
What do you recommend for flow coating a vertical panel that has rivets ie helicopter. Looking for the best possible clear that lays down flat. Currently using a Gti pro lite.
![[Live] ศึกมหึมันส์มวยไทยสังเวียนเดือด เวทีมวยชั่วคราวสวนสยาม | จันทร์ 30 กันยายน 2567](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/pM1k6f7JXUc/mqdefault.jpg)
I was going to buff my clear coat but this is a hell of a lot easier and will look so much nicer. Thanks for the info brother.
I have almost no interest in spray paint, but for some reason I find your videos relaxing to watch. You’re the Bob Ross of Spray Paint.
Ive done this several times especially on a vehicle that customer wants a deep slick shine. But ive never thought about warming the clear up. Im gonna try that soon.
The best thing / hardest to learn is when to walk away from a job. Better to come back and do another coat or 2 then getting a run and having the hassle of rubbing back and potentially getting rub throughs in the process.
I've always thought the best finishes are the ones that look great straight off the gun.
simply wow! know that your videos make a strong impact to everyone that watches them. Especialy those begining in trade like me. flow coating as you teach it makes lots of sense. i will be doing this to my 70 chevelle. also i finally know what those tabs on the gallon caps do, lol. no wonder i keep making a mess when i pour into mixing cups, i dindnt know they popped up like that. it was an aaaaaah moment. as always gunny great job and thanks.
New bee!
You make a huge effort to show us your work plus filming editing narrating uploading and interacting with your followers Thanks really appreciate your effort
+dookieday1 +1 - Really appreciate the effort you put in Gunny. If you were to take on an apprentice, he or she would be the luckiest apprentice in WA!
I got nervous when I saw you using the air sander on the Curved parts when sanding the clear. Looks great man!
DUDE thanks for CLEARING that up for me.
That exact same problem w the fan adjustment bit me right in the ass not even three weeks ago. It was with base too, so that was a lot of fun
🤙 thank you for sharing this information
Stunning finish 👍
Still referring back to your video's 7 yrs later, invaluable resource.
it's probably been asked, but what color is that? It's really nice!
I just got to say that is a BADASS hood! And I finally know what Flowcoating is. Thanks!
No problem man thanks for watching.
Hey Tony. I need some help please. What size Tip should I use to shoot the Metallic Base coat. What size tip for metallic flake 00.04 and 00.08 mixed together. Thank you
I have a question I have a problem with my clear laying down after I clear what can cause this problem it shines stays up for about a couple of days and then it just lays down
Cool bro! thanks for the lesson. Good explanation of what flow coating is and how to do it well. Respect!
back in my day we just called it sanding it down and recoating. that is how we did every show car. even single stage. the second time it just flows out so much better and levels down. My buddy does harley tanks uses base clear to level tape lines then urethane clear and second flow coat plus polish. they look absolutely perfect.
We flow coated a 67 Mustang just to fix a few minor flaws in the clear and get rid of some edges of the stripe, turned out WAYYY deeper than I even thought, customer was actually happier with the colour after the reflow. He saw the jams and it looked too light, more clear darkened it just enough!
Ive learned many things from this site. Two things Ive been doing for decades...#1 I ensure the car has a good ground from the car to the earth ground, this will prevent the flakes from orienting themselves via polarity. Second, when shooting flake I use a random pattern, skewed from either vertical or horizontal. There is never a "zebra" or clumping, mottling, striped, or flake standing up.
How do you spot buff 2000 grit??
The ripples are because it's fiberglass anyway, yeah? Kinda to be expected.
Gunny, Ive just finished refurbing and spraying my alloy wheels using a spray gun for the first time ever! I can honestly say watching loads of your vids on tips and tricks has seriously helped me out big time, especially the lacquering stage as man that stuff is so hard to get right. Thanks again and keep up the awesome vids!!!!
Cheers mate, glad they've helped.
yes we are still enjoying this still thanks
Needing a good class on candy,,and a good place to buy a gun,just got screwed by spray gun world,600 in equipment. Damn company is run by a crook.
You have an extra tekna pro lite laying around lol
When you dry sanding your clear do you have a tips to prevent your fine sand paper from gumming up the sand paper then making swirls
Best tip is ensure the panels are properly clean, use top quality 3M sandpaper, it works out cheaper in the long run because you use much less. And make sure the paint is fully cured, if it's not it will clog bad
@@TheGunmanChannel thanks for the advice...yes i use only 3m paper... the panel usually are IR cured with home heater and let to cure a few days.. i do find that when i using 1000 grid paper i get small spirals when sanding with 1000... to get the dist nibs out as i dont have a spray booth...only tarped garage.
My sander is no nane da but find if i dont brush my sand paper every so often. i will get hard spec clogging my paper randomly...
Pretty cool and pretty sweet looking job. I'm just trying to understand how the paint doesn't lift as I was always under the impression that recoating paint after it's set usually resulted in that...found that out the hard way myself many years ago with Delclear. So what makes this possible without lifting?
Andork Kuomo as long as it's cured enough you'll be fine. It also has to do with the stengths of the solvents in each type of base/clear/primer. Like if you sand through a clear into the base coat on a not fully cured panel and then try to primer it. Usually the fresh base coat areas you primed over will lift and Winkle.
Over the years I've learned so much from you, can't say thanks enough.
I wish I had your skills painting and with talking for over 13 minutes without ever taking a breath of air in. LOL. In all seriousness, you are very talented! Great Job!
nice work! what clear coat brand would you recommend, economic yet worth it like the devilbiss sgk spray gun you suggested to me, love the way it sprayed, thanks
Hi sir. Is this method able to remove the orange peel on the first clear coat?
Only if you sand it completely flat
Great tip on the heating in a bucket of water!. One of my old mates from Sydney told me how ,on the 1st day of his apprenticeship he was taught how to paint a car!. ( did i say he was old?) They got a big pan of boiling water and popped a can of black enamel into the water to warm up. He then got a brush and painted the car which he said turned out like glass when it set. Some ideas are new some are reminders of stuff we have forgotten . Many thanks!.
Thank you, think I'll flow coat tomorrow
hi mate why did you put those Clear Coat and Hardener into the water?
I some times use 3 bar for glasurit clear coat 335 becaus is so sticky
You’ll get even better results just by using all products from the same manufacturer and mixing the correct ratio!!!! Not measuring is NEVER a good idea, I see this all the time people mixing and matching solvents with clears and hardeners and then can’t understand why there’s a failure down the road! Beautiful job nonetheless but…
I know this video is several yrs old but i have a question that i hope you will answer for me? When flow coating clear and say you was gonna flow coat the whole vehicle that you did a complete re-spray would you block it or would you just do it like you did your hood say with just your da? The vehicle im doing i have blocked and all that after the primer stage and all that. So hopefully you will give me your opinion as you do killer work man and keep up the awesome videos man!!!!
How to avoid tiger striping and blotching in the clear
Hey Gunny,I just did my first Flow Coat a week ago. Had a ton of junk come out on a hood I was painting andalso had some severe orange peel. Sanded it all down and threw two more coats of clear on. Worked absolutely perfect!!! Thanks for the guidance Mate!!!
Some TH-cam friends suggested I try and use this Flow Coat technique to help fix a problem I have. I put like 4 coats of clear on a hood to try and achieve a WET look, and it did, but it fogged. Do you think sanding it back down the flow coating could remove the fog and bring back the shine? I'd like to not respray the basecoat. Thanks, and Great Vid!
You are such a inspiring person..I have done my engineering in Automotive.. But your videos are awesome keeps inspiring me to get my hands on the paint side of automobile.. ..
Great to hear
So if you Flow coat You Don't have to buff with compound?
" The basecot is going to suck some of the life out of the clear" LOL!! Too true. All the best paint jobs get flow coated, some 2 or 3 times! Noice job!
Hello..does it matter on flow coating if your base is metal flake ? Will the sanding and then flow coat hide it (because you are dulling your first clear and then clearing over)? I can see where it would work well on a solid but want to be sure before I do it on my light metallic blue..Thanks !!!! Awesome videos always
I hate using Sata's because of the fan adjustment. I know they spray really good, but I'm a Devilbiss fan boy.
My Sata now collects dust. Went with IWATA and have never looked back.
Bro i was painting hyundai stardust colour but my spray can got empty just after one coat of clear and now after few weeks can i use this method to repair my paint or redo the whole paint job?
After flowcoating and you wetsand and buff, if you burn through the new layer of clear, will it show the 2 different layers?
So one of my clears directions say "2 to 3 FLOWING coats" I am guessing this is not what they mean? I have seen wet, medium wet, medium... what is flowing?
Good video can you even flow coat with a 2 k rattle can ? Probably have to 75 percent over flow ?
Hey I love your work. Wondering if you could tell us the is bar compare to psi.
In the early days of urethane warming the material gave great flow and nullified orange peel. This worked exceptionally well on large truck body panels giving a flat glossy finish and no orange peel
I always scuff the base coat to nib down any particals and also get that flatter finish for your choice of clear.
I didn't even know the word "float coat" in this context exists.
Hi dude. Have you ever put 2k clearcoat over an acrlic basecoat successfully? I've scuffed with red scotchbrite. Do you think it will be ok?
Its called cutting & buffing where we are from 509.
Can I be the one to ask a stupid question? I do not paint on a regular basis, however I really enjoy working on my projects. Two years ago I painted a 78 Camaro and attempted a flow coat but I had runs all over the car. Fast forward to less than 10 minutes ago, I'm painting my son's GMC Sierra and the same thing has happened again. The outside temperature was roughly 68° fahrenheit, with almost a matching humidity level. The runs are worse than before. What am I doing wrong? Also, I love your videos, and I've watched this particular one at least a dozen times.
The thing about painting is there's so many variables. You don't want the paint too thick or thin, temperature will affect viscosity. Also spray gun settings will play a big part, if pressure is too low the paint will go on thick and lead to runs. You can also try turning the fluid knob in. I apologize for not being able to say much more without seeing you spray.
Yep always accidentally move the fan settings don't even know I did it half the time
Thanks for sharing your trade and skills
Enjoy these a lot, newbie and I'll never work hard enough to get to this level. Love watching your easy to listen to vids mate..
I've been trying to spray clear coat lately, it's a 2K HS clear (by Mipa, a german brand) and I'm using H25 hardener and V25 Thinner. I spray it on using a conventional spray gun. When spraying it on my panel I get all these small spots, they look like air bubbles. Why do I keep getting these? I'm guessing it's the temperature of the panel, what temperature should I be looking at when spraying?
Here's how you can get a flow coat and a polished look...without flow coating or polishing. You put your vehicle in the booth and keep the temperature around 70 degrees Fahrenheit. You spray your base on with medium reducer, for coverage. You mix your first coat of clear with a medium reducer and regular hardener. As soon as you finish your first coat of clear...turn the booth temperature down to around 65 degrees...let it sit 20 minutes. This puts it one temperature range below the reducer you used. Spray your final coat of clear on with medium reducer and regular hardener. As soon as you finish your final coat of clear , turn the booth down to about 60 degrees and let it stay there for a couple of hours. This puts it well below the temperature range . What will happen is that at higher temperatures, the base will dry well with little solvent trapped. The first coat of clear will have more solvent in it than usual...but ...it will not be trapped because the final coat of clear will take a long time to harden up, and this will allow all the solvent to come up into the top coat of clear and it will allow it to flow for a long time...up to an hour or even more. ( Old school guys in the 70's and 80's used to try spraying straight reducer over their last coat of acrylic enamel to try and produce this same result.) The result will be a very glossy paint job with no runs and little if any orange peel. I know many people fool around with amounts of reducer...but with this method you are using the right amounts of reducer...but using it's characteristics, time and temperature to your advantage. Work smarter...not harder !
Great video thanks for sharing your knowledge 🇦🇺
I must say I've learned a lot from watching and listening to you and also Franky you guy's have to be the best painters on TH-cam thank you for putting these video's out there I've become a better painter because of it
Can I use this process to refresh an older paint job? I have a black 2007 Chrysler 300. The paint is in good shape, just minor scratches and fading in the clearcoat. Can I wet sand the existing clear and flowcoat over the car to make it shine like new again? Also, what kind of car is that hood in the video for? It's really cool.
Hey Gunnie, Ryan here from South Africa. I have mind boggling problem and would like to maybe get your opinion on this if possible as your are busy and all... I've recently done a pvt job for a friend on a silver Toyota, from the start of the job as the car has been resprayed prior it's been a nightmare. The 2k ms grey primer had a reaction with the existing yellow primer where adhesion was a issue. I managed to rectify the issue, the base coat laid down great. The clear coat did not harden and I then sanded it off, re based and applied a better clear coat. The clear coat fully cured and i wet sanded and buffed 2 days later. A week later today the clear coat is giving off a hazzy( milky) look and some spots looks as if someone has wet sanded and not polished again making it look like it needs a buff( orange peel) but its in the form of lines. Any feedback would be great. Thanks
Damm! that finish. Cool vid bro, i have to try this shit!
The more I listen to you the better I'm beginning to understand you! I like the way you explain things in a matter of fact manner.
I painted my Jag last night, everything went well until the clear! Here's something everyone can benefit from because it can happen to anyone (I think!). Brand new gun (Iwata W400) and I'm liking it a lot, all I did was add a regulator/gauge combo to it. Base and pearl mid coat go on great. Then I get to shooting the clear and, damn, pressure sounds low. Gauge says I have 29 psi with the trigger on, maybe it's just me. As I'm shooting I'm getting a ton of orange peel ... wtf!! Turns out that all the shooting I was doing all night, it must be my little finger was bumping the screw on the damn built-in regulator in the bottom of the gun handle! You know, the one nobody uses because we just crank it all the way open and forget about it! It was nearly off! So I had 29 psi going in but was probably getting only 5 to 10 psi to the trigger!
Bottom line, at least 1/2 the car has this horrible orange peel, wet sanding with 1200# on a DA is barely touching it, have no idea how much clear I really have on the car so I'm deathly afraid of cutting through to base. Now I'm wondering if I can flow-coat it a panel or 2 at a time and how bad minor remnants of orange peel will (likely!) show through. Any comments from anyone are welcome to me ... lol, I really need an expert right now!
A color to hide them line's yes black you would have to block a bit more .good job .I'm from old school of painting lacquer paint's. Yes clear is the way to go, it adds depth to any paint job and can hide any scratches on the surface. Dupont paint's are the best in my book plus 3m has a great line of great products.
That’s Awesome dude I’m getting my car painted now for the Autorama in Detroit next year hope it looks like that 💯💯💯💯CLEAN 👀👀👀👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽this was 2018 Autorama 😁😁😁
solid video mate. Keep them coming. Great stuff.
can i get some advise i have a car which i think of just re clear coating it and then wet sanding it, its original paintwork what grill do you recommend i should use to sand original clear?
Tried my first flow coat a month ago. Paint booth kept cutting out leaving dust on the finish. So I sand cut it and tried the flow coat with awesome results. Almost no orange peel. Over did it with the PPG clear a little. So I did need to light sand and buff. It was a two stage clear and I hit it five times. It kept looking better till the last. STILL LOOKS SO GOOD PPG ASKED ME TO SHOW MY CAR AT THEIR CLASS. Thanks To the gunman.
To robtubedude1,you have a decision to make. If you go down to bare plastic,you will still have to fill chips in the plastic, plus spend time on re sealing.Once you sand past the sealer the plastic turns fuzzy, like suede leather. You will have to seal up till it's smooth,a few build coats later & sand.It maybe worth the time to fill chips only & not expose too much plastic. You will also use more products to get a finished product.
I just flow coated some of my lambo parts. They came out absolutely amazing. This is my first time doing it and it look like glass. There are a few areas that have some dust. Can I just use a high end polish to polish them out?
Probably slowly knock them down with 2000 first, if it doesn't cut off the dust, slowly go to coarser grits. Then polish out. I've read that if you flow coat, and screw up some how, then try and sand too much off to get it smooth, if you break through to the original clear coats, you'll see a haze around the break through area. Gotta be careful!
jake friesen I’m assuming that’s because you had to sand the original clear coat to then flow coat over it
does anyone use the stepping out technique? i used to spray single stage acrylic urethanes in an industrial setting on heavy equipment... surely its diff from base/clear applications but i would lay down a wet coat to cover moderately reduced then would increase the reducer and air pressure with the following coats... this would level it out and really do alot for the gloss and finish of the job... is this used in base/clear applications at all?
+The Gunman if I got flaking and bubbling up/pealing of a clear coat and want to correct it what should I do? The care has not be exposed to UV or sunlight yet. Would this work for something like that. I'm gonna have to take the layer of clear coat off. So I was thinking of either spraying the entire fender again with base coat or just doing it where there is a issue? Should I sand the entire panel or is there a way to sand in only one part of the fender and leave the rest untouched and then spraying base coat and clear on that sanded part only and fading it on the rest of the fender? I haven't wet sanded anything yet.
Hey gun man I saw a comment earlier down below I'm not sure if you would have reply or not to my reply comment but the comment said that after you flow coat it has look yellower cause the clear.
what my rep told me was that cheaper clear is always going to be more yellow or stain yellowish. not saying your using cheap clear. products never cheap
here's the debate to the guy that said it looks yellowish after you flowcoated the hood.
customer of mines was having a debate with his mates, when you pour clear into a mixing cup. there's no doubt it has a yellowish tint but how many coats of clear are you looking trough in the cup??... Is two coat really going to effect the color. If it did wouldn't the color you sprayed look more greener then yellow... what's your thoughts
Hi can I ask you if flow coat can be applied over old clear coat? My car has a thin old clear coat with some minor scratches. Can I use the flow coat technique - wet sand the old clear coat with 1500 then 2000, apply a couple layers of clear coats?
what an incredible amount of information you've passed along, thanks for making these videos. Beautiful work. Everything I've watched so far has been new to me, and very useful. 👍
Gday Gunman.
I was thinking about this flow coating, have you ever removed the gaurds and doors of a vehicle to lay them flat for that flow coat affect?
Shitload more work but i have a project on my hands that im thinking about doing in that manner.
I'd have to spend extra time on the quarter panels to match but for a novice like me it might help me to get a really smooth finish
Ive been all over the internet looking into customizing wheels. I have a artic white truck and I want either black wells and white face or crome wells/white face wheels, if I buy crome wheels, how do I finish the face in white? Sand, prime, sand prime, paint, clear or is there another way?
Not a good voice can understand clearly what are you saying dude
have you ever used 0000 steel wool to get all the dips and orange peel so you don't remove too much of your first coat of clear?
I am trying this as a tip. Hope it works out. again nice vid thanks.
@manoman0. That's a #fact i learned a new term as well. Im definitely going to start using it ..🤣
This is exactly what I plan to do to my good and trunk kid. I had a lot of trash and started with 1000 grit and now I have scratches that didn't come out after buffing. This should do the trick. Thanks
It came out really good, no fish eyes either ! This arvo prepared front wing and passenger door for basecoatHyundai cape blue metallic, its all masked and ready for paint in the morning, your videos certainly help thanks !!
Good to hear man.
What is up using DuPont reducer in the Standox clear, I thought mixing brands void any warranty from the manufacturer if you have a problem
I’m not sure if this is a dumb question or not but can you paint over chrome? I’m thinking of blacking out my truck....
Question for any body guys what's the after affect difference between sanding and buffing clear and flow coating is their a difference in shine, lifetime of paint, or is it just quicker??
I heard you say more than two coats at a time is to much , I was going tho spray 3 block it flat , spray 3 more after a week and block that flat . I figured after sanding 2 coats off in the blocking process I would have about 4 total coats.what are your thoughts on that?
MrFireman164 ... no need to block it twice, if you do it right the first time around, by hand with paper wrapped sponge will do just fine if you missed anything. Blocking is dangerous moves when at the finishing stages of a work piece.👍
If you have some high gloss color polyurethane (or any direct gloss paint) and you clear it later on once the paint is cured, is it still a flow coat and would it have the same results as per say same color in a base,clear and eventually flow coated?
gunman! love your channel....quick question I think I heard that you use reducer in your clear coat? I use a fast activator now cause of lower Temps but I'd love to try this....my clear is 4:1 mix rate do I keep that rate and do like 4:1:1 with reducer to dry faster?
Mr. Gunman, thanks for fulfilling my curiosity on automotive painting! I am a finisher myself however I am involved in furniture and custom cabinetry here in the United States. It's very interesting to see the similar techniques and also the differences between finishing metal vs finishing wood. thanks, Dave.
Always great videos to watch. I was wondering what's the reason for keeping the clear and hardener in a bucket of water tks.
Super interesting! Do you think honestly that I can get a glossy "mirror finish" by doing flow coat method using Spay Max 2K Clear? Because I have some motorcycle fairings to paint and I don't want to use the spray gun and compressor just for that (as I'm not super familiar with it). Thanks and best from France ;-)
I will answer my own question: yes it's possible :-) I did it few days ago and the render is like glass! Super happy. The process was to paint -> clear coat -> wet sand clear coat with Trizact 3000 -> re-clear coat 2 heavy coats -> wet sand with 1000-1500 -> Trizact 3000 -> Trizact 6000 -> polish with Sonax Cut Max -> polish with Sonax Perfect Finish. Done! A lot of work but it worth it!
I like your focus on climate. It is an issue with house painting also especially when lacquer of built in cabinetry.
Great job! i was wondering how come that you used normal putty and not fiberglass putty at the joints between the metal and fiberglass?
@The Gunman I'm looking for your advice. I'm redoing my old race back to give as a surprise to my daughter. I did opt for spray paint, but took the time for good prep, did self etch primer, primer filler, primer sealer, 3-4 coats of color with sanding and cleaning and tacking, then I went to clear. I used rustoleum automotive enamel gloss for clear and did 4 coats of clear. It looks really good, but I did spot a few runs and it's just not as mirrored as i want it to be. I'm considering sanding it down to remove any runs and texture, and then putting 1-2 coats of the clear again. Do you think I should? If so, what grits? All will be by hand and I have 220, 320, 600, 1000, 1500, 2000, 2500, and those red 3M pads. I figured start wet sanding at either 1000 or maybe even 600, and work my way up to 2500 and the red 3M pads. Any thoughts
It depends on the color u painted the car. Lighter metallics requires a finer grit to be sanded with or else ull see the sand scratches. Remember hand sanding anything will be much coarser than using a machine. With what u have and assuming the color is dark, sanding it with 600 and then 1000 is sufficient. Sanding anything finer after that is simply a waste of time.
What do you recommend for flow coating a vertical panel that has rivets ie helicopter. Looking for the best possible clear that lays down flat. Currently using a Gti pro lite.
I can make shit shine like glass without a flow coat
It looked a bit yellow in the cup though. Won't see that on the car I do know that.