BigJim13 JR.

HI

How long does it take for paint and clearcoat to fully cure?
ive recently begun painting small pieces of the car (minor stuff) and after 2 weeks, the paint still seems kind of soft. enough so that i can scratch it with my fingernail like scratching a really tough lottery ticket. the clearcoat i used is maby about a year old along with the hardner but it is my understanding that it has a long shelf life. also, these pieces have NOT been in the sun at all. is it really take 3-4 weeks for this to fully cure??

THANKS

JIM

7T1vette

Yes.

sperkins

No. You should be able to sand and buff clear very soon. It is ideal to do this within the first two weeks before it gets really hard. Now it WILL still be "soft" after a couple of weeks, but soft is a relative term in relation to it's final cure. You should not be able to scuff it off with your fingernail in the time frame you mentioned. At most you should only be able to dimple it, but not scratch it off. Ultimately, it will take more than 90 days for the paint to fully cure, but you should be able to "work it" within a day or so.

What brand materials are you using and are you sure you followed the suggested mixing ratios?

big_G

You can cut and buff all catalyzed Acrylic Urethane paints the next day. If you used acrylic enamel without a hardener, it will never get really tough. It sounds like the mix ratios were wrong, or there may have been contamination of 1 or more components in the mix.

Paul L

I hate to say it but I agree with big_G. These paints have initial cure times measured in minutes (15 to 90) depending on temperature. They can be buffed within days. Something went wrong .

slowride262

Somethings not right.
Should be able to wet sand it after 3-4 hours after shooting it if done right.
And hardener dose have a shelf live....

BigJim13 JR.

Im using a quart of diamont DC5100 clear with DH14 hardner

the clear has hardend enough to color sand, and i have color sanded everything it just seemed like the paint should have hardened faster. I actually just went out and checked the the very first t-top i did and it has started to harden even more. Very difficult to scratch it right now and i can just barely dimple it (all this is being done on the edge of the t-top btw where the chrome trim goes). it Appears to just be taking a long time to set up. maby not adding enough hardner??

Ratio shown online was 3:1


THANKS

JIM

7T1vette

Be patient....it will harden up. "Everything comes to he who waits!"

BigJim13 JR.

alright thanks for all the replys!
just wanted to make sure everything was alright before i started doing the hood and doors. Didnt want to have to redo everything at the end after finding out that everything was going to come off later because it never hardened

THANKS

JIM

vettepilot68

Along these same lines...how long should you wait after a fresh paint job before you put a car cover on it? does it matter? or should you wait until the paint has completely hardened...

sperkins

A car cover will still allow the solvents to evaporate from the paint so no problem there.

chris75stingray

the hardener is a year old? has it ever been opened to expose it to the air? if so it is no good