73VetteKS

About 12 years ago I stripped my 73 to fiberglass, and repainted with Lacquer, with no clear. Since it is a daily driver, it has a lot of chips and a few scratches, but no additional damage. In reading the archives, it appears that most prefer PPG BC/CC, which leads me to my question. Do I have to strip the lacquer before changing to BC/CC? This will continue to be a daily driver.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions.
Jim

birdsmith

You shouldn't have to strip the lacquer but you SHOULD of course go with a primer/sealer over the lacquer before you lay down the BC/CC. My '70 has a 6 year-old lacquer job that is chipped and has some minor blistering in a couple spots, so if and when I do repaint all three previous paint jobs are gonna come off. The catalyzed paint shouldn't attack the lacquer but any microscopic cooties that may have gotten underneath it over the years could eventually rear their ugly heads...

gator79

I went with urethane over some of the original laquer primer on my 71 and I am currently sanding off $800.00 worth of paint because it started to bubble. get the laquer off of there

CF6873

As was mentioned above urethane, either sealer or primer, will bubble up old lacquer. You may get away with an epoxy sealer to hold down the lacquer. You may want to do one panel with it as a test before putting alot of expensive paint on the car. Or to be totaly safe and give more integrity to the paint job I would strip it.

hnkajnk

I am not an expert but everything I have ever read says nothing goes over lacquer, except lacquer. Make sure you do a lot of research. There are some very good epoxy sealers out there on the market, but not sure how they perform with fiberglass. Good Luck and keep us posted.

big_G

Like the sexy blone, (Melissa Caldwell) said in the old Noxema commercial...."Take it off...Take it all off"

gator79

thats a flashback

73VetteKS

Well, not what I was hoping to hear, but it is what I expected. I’ll keep doing some research, and watching for other suggestions, but it looks like the overwhelming recommendation is to strip down to fiberglass. At least this time it will only be one coat of paint. Guess I just found my 2008 winter project.

Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences and offering suggestions.
Jim.

big_G

That is one of the projects waiting for me, stripping the lacquer paint I put on my '68 Vert' back in 1980 (My first paint job)

19vette80

Yes take the laq off as a custom painter for years its a no brainer. Laq shrinks and expands at diffrent temps than urathane or any other enamels. And sooner or later you will get cracking.

BarryK

strip off the old lacquer!

Darthvetter05

Unless you want that nice crinkle finish, you must strip the laquer off first and all of it! Once you think you have it, lay down a good coat of primer and see if you get any wrinkling anywhere..if not, you are good to go.

DIPPOLD

I am in the process of stripping the 3 coats off mine. Currently have everything off except the paint and I am about to start the stripping process using Captain Lee's Auto Spra-Strip. Then repaint using the BC/CC method. Current 3 coats of paint are 20 years old and beginning to show it's age. I am taking pics along the way.

75coupered

A little late but as I am contemplating this choice staying OE lacquer or BC/CC I'm curious as to the experts opinions of adding flex agent to lacquer top coat, does this help future spider webbing cracking etc? Seems to hold up well in the urethane bumbers, how about on glass?

Also after just stripping 3 coats of paint on my 75 doen to glass I noticed no checkering or paint flaws in the lacquer coats ofter 30+ years in FL sun, just a cheapo top coat in the wrong color caused me to strip the car.

jayr

I just painted my 81 with ppg single stage urethane. Believe me, do not paint over lacquer. It will be the worst mistake you have done in your body work. Even the smallest spot will turn to crap in a very short time, no matter what sealer you use.

73VetteKS

I am convinced to not go BC/CC over lacquer. Now I just need to decide if it is worth stripping the paint again to go BC/CC, or just repaint with lacquer with clear.

Thanks everyone for your input.

vettfixr

If you decide to go with lacquer you're going to have a hell of a time finding it. The EPA (our buddies) outlawed the manufacture of lacquer paint in 2004. What is being currently sold is the remaining inventory. It took me months to find a dealer with a stock of the black and clear that I need to refinish my hood. I went there saturday (70 mile one way trip) and picked up 6 gallons (3 black 3 clear). This should allow for touch ups and at least one repaint in the future. I really didn't want to drop over a grand in paint right now but the only other choice would be to strip and repaint in the future which I didn't want to do. BTW the Dupont 99S Diamond Black went for $176 a gallon and the clear was $102 a gallon so lacquer ain't cheap anymore.

yellow 72

Not so.....go here. http://www.ppgcarpaint.com/
I had them mix the same DDL Duracryl Acrylic lacquer formula and clear I bought locally over 10 years ago. The color match was perfect.
They told me they had no plans on discontinueing lacquer

BBNJKen

I looked up the lacquer paint for my 72 Ontario Orange, $317 per gallon. Make gas @ $3.50 a gallon seem really cheap.



BB NJ Ken

vettfixr

I contacted DuPont directly and they said they were no longer manufacturing lacquer.