How much paint is too much?

[tguil]

Perhaps Ron or some other paint guy would answer this for me.



I may have to have the hood on my Ram repainted because of a small clear coat burn. The burn is very small..1/16"X3/4" and because the truck is white it is darn hard to find. The whole hood has two coats of factory base coat and clear coat, about 1/4 of the hood has an additional base coat blend and the whole hood has a body shop coat of clear coat. The repair base coat is waterborne and the clear coat is urethane. All repainting was done with high solid paint applied using the "coat and a half" technique.



If we decide to "fix" the problem with a repaint, will it be necessary to apply base coat to the whole hood, blend base coat in small burn area or simply scuff/sand the body shop applied clear coat and shoot a new layer of clear?



With these modern finishes, how much paint too much? "Back in the day", I had problems with three of my vehicles that ended up with too many coats of acrylic lacquer...had a lot of crazing and checking.



I getting awfully tired of dealing with this darn repair. It's gone on now for several months.

 

[Ron Ketcham]

In this case, you start over, too many spot repairs

Correct and for long lasting repair-the panel should be taken down to at least the ecoat, then a sealer applied, then a surfacer primer, which would be sanded to asure and even finish, then one to two coats of base coat. (color match number is on the jam sticker in the door, or remove the fuel door flap and take it to the paint supplier).

Then two to three coats of clear coat.

The total film build when all are applied, should not exceed 6 to 8 mil, although it is possible for it to be a bit more and not be a concern.

Refiinish work is not quite as exact as the OEM paint system application, so that is why a larger total film build may occur.

 

[tguil]

Thanks, Ron.



Now I can have a better discussion with the body shop folks.



Tom