Reducer questions ..

[Doug C]

I'll soon be spraying single stage acrylic urethane (AU) paint from TCP Global's Restoration Shop line. It's a cheaper paint and probably has some draw backs but is what I could afford. Some people on-line have recon'd it to be a re-labeled PPG paint since TCP is a PPG distributor. Some suggest it's PPG Deltron DBU (but from my research that's a BC/CC sytem), some say it's PPG Concept DCC (makes more since, AU single stage). Either way, I read somewhere that restoration shop tended to be thin and therefore would run if not carefully applied. I have the hardener already for this paint, but reducers are optional. While I also have a whole new bottle of medium temp reducer on hand, I'm trying to figure out if I should just go ahead and buy the slow/high temp reducer since it's mid-summer now. But I'm not sure if it would even be needed with a paint that's supposed to be on the thin side. Any conventional wisdom or experience to share regarding reducers (while shooting in summer heat)? Thoughts?

Doug C

[buguy]

Are you doing an all over paint job?

[jspbtown]

I have painted maybe a dozen cars in my garage. All of which I would consider back yard paint jobs. I have used Kirker, TPC, Sherwin Williams, Martin Senour, and probably a few others. Some have been BC/CC and others have been single stage.

I have used a reducer only once and I hated it. It made the paint very thin and it eventually ran like crazy.

[Doug C]

[Doug C]

[scubaseas]

Medium temp reducer will work fine. If you have a viscometer follow directions from the manufacturer. Or just wing it. Tip size is important. Try spraying on a test panel and see if it flattens out OK. Wait 10 minutes or so. If you are getting orange peel add some reducer. If it comes out spider webs add a lot of reducer or get a bigger tip.
_________________
Al

08/1970 T2a Westphalia owned since 1980

ASE Master certification. 50 years pushing a wrench
Retired

[Akktung]

The tech sheet is showing an activation ratio of 4:1. I would skip the reducer and mix it according to the tech sheet. Reducing paint that is not meant to be reduced can cause a variety of problems. I've never sprayed this brand of paint before (at work I spray deltron base coat) but ppg offers a cheaper line they call "shopline", this paint is probably similar to that. I have sprayed several cars with shopline and it sprayed nicely.

http://www.tcpglobal.com/restorationshop/docs/techsheet_au.pdf

[Doug C]

[Doug C]

[buguy]

The reducer is just to get it to spray well. I personally would use it. It would probably lay out better with it. High temp reducer will dry slower and help you prevent dry spray. When your doing an all over you want to try to keep a wet edge. You don't want to get around the car and end up spraying over dried paint. I have found most single stage paints to be a little slow drying. More so than base coat. Since you have it and bugs are small, I'd go ahead and use the medium reducer. 1.3-1.4 tip works well with a good gravity feed gun.

[jspbtown]

The biggest piece of advice I can give (as a total rookie painter) is to increase your flash times.

Rushing make runs. I follow a general rule to just really extend the flash times. You are well within the recoat window so its really not going to cause an issue.

I just resprayed the rear bumper cover on my son's old 3000GT. The primer coat had a 30-60 min flash so I went 60 min between coats. The base had 10 so I waited between 15-20. The clear had 10 so I waited 20.

I just went outside to my hammock and relaxed. It makes the day longer but it can save a lot of extra work redoing panels.