I have this sick feeling in my stomach. After almost six months my painter painted my 66 this past weekend. First of all he is a good painter with 26 years experience. Yes it is BC/CC Sikkins paint and clear coat. That's all the body shop he works at (his day job) shoots. Here is my question, he told me today that most paint companies had to change their clears about three years ago ( an EPA thing), he likes to shoot S-W 650 clear but it is not available now, his claim is the Sikkens clear does not lay down good, so I ask you who are knowledgeable on this subject is this a correct statement about Sikkens clear? And is that why I see orange peel and is some orange peel expected with all clears now a days? Man I am bugged after waiting almost six months. Thanks for your replys.

Jesse Robertson

If he put enough coats of clear on, you should be able to "color sand" most of the peel out.
Using 2000-3000 grit wet then buffing back the shine. There is a bunch of good info on this in previous posts and there are some people who know alot more then I do who I'm sure will chime in.
Kevin Tetz has put out some good instructional videos on painting and also has one on color sanding that might be helpfull to you as well
http://www.paintucation.com/index2.html
He also has a board with alot of good info on tech questions
http://pub26.ezboard.com/fpaintucationfrm1

jesse
you should expect some peel with any paint job how much depends on the material, the enviorment and how the material is laid on i used sikkens HS+ autoclear and it came out awesome. the new clears are high solid clears and there has been a change in clears due to epa regulation. im not a professional bodyman but some off my very close freinds are and i have spoken with them in depth about this. when i painted my car in november i wanted to put on more than 2 coats of the clear (old thinking) they kept telling me that the new high solid clears go on heavy and the more you put on the more peel you will get and the more wet sanding and rubbing you will have to do so we put on 2 coats and the peel was minimal. your peel could easily be sanded and rubbed as turbo has said just going to take some elbow grease. your body guys statement it dosent lay down well was missing part off the statement he should of said it dosen't lay down well in my hands but thank god its something that could be fixed

I paint Sikkens everyday in a production shop and it is possible to get a very smooth finish without colorsanding and buffing.Keep in mind that there is a little texture in most paint jobs.Most old painters complain about the new high solids clears and hvlp and fail to change with the times and adapt to new techniques.Martinsr has an excellent post on spray gun set up,check the archives and maybe give your painter a copy.If you have proper gun set up,a slow reducer and overlap, about 60%-75% overlap(HVLP) a smooth paint job can be accomplished.

Hello Turbo,Robert Defalco and Crazy Canuck, thanks guys for the responses and the great info. I really appreciate your help in this matter, it has helped me understand better what is going on with my car. Any after thoughts will also be appreciated.

Jesse Robertson

Hello Turbo,Robert Defalco and Crazy Canuck, thanks guys for the responses and the great info. I really appreciate your help in this matter, it has helped me understand better what is going on with my car. Any after thoughts will also be appreciated.

Jesse Robertson