I'm repainting my valve covers. Had them blasted down to bare metal. Cleaned them up and shot them with some red duplicolor engine paint on Sunday. First coat turned out great, nice color, etc. Waited two days and this morning shot them again with a second coat. As soon as the paint hit the covers, it started to wrinkle and crackle up. The whole thing. I have no idea why it did that. And I don't want it to happen again. I had them in an enclosed warm room at about 55degrees. I gave them 2 1/2 days to dry. They seemed fine. Anyone have any ideas why this would happen?
You waited too long to apply the second coat. You either have to apply the second coat within 1 or 2 hours or wait a week till the first layer cures
A lot of the new spray paints are like this. There is only a cople hour window to "re-coat". I always look at the directions on the back of the can and look for "re-coat anytime" before I buy a rattle can or follow the re-coat directions carefully or you will run into these problems.
It was the same brand paint correct? I've heard you can get wrinkles from mixing different brands of paint as well.
The only paint I've heard of having compatibility issues with is Rustoleum, so I guess it was just the re-coating issue? o No:
Most of them do say to re-coat within two hours or after 48 hours. I've never seen one that stated to wait a week but then again I probably haven't actually read a paint label for 30 years. Anyway, what this really means is if you screw up and have to do it again you will need to wait 48 hours, or a week, whichever they suggest. What it doesn't mean is to spray each coat 2 days apart. For the best results, spray each coat right after the previous one has tacked up. With engine paint like you are using, two coats are usually sufficient. The more the merrier is great for a car show but it doesn't apply to paint. You can take some laquer thinner and rags and wash all your paint off and start over rather than have them blasted again.
The guy at Auto Zone suggested that the 55 degree temp wasn't warm enough for it to set up correctly and I needed something warmer than that. Any thoughts on that?
Temperature plays a big part in paint flashing and curing properly. Most directions call for 70 degrees minimum, both the paint and the object to be painted. The colder the paint the longer it takes to cure, but once cured it will be fine. The paint blistered on you because of the thinner in the paint softening and lifting the first coat.
You either apply the second coat with an hour or two, or wait a few days till the paint cures. Look it up on the Duplicolor website.
Tom, Been there, done that. I would recommend you start over at this point. Remove the recently applied paint with paint thinner. Wipe down good with a paint prep or thinner will work. Make sure the valve covers are good and dry. Make sure the temp is above 65 and I would recommend putting the Valve covers indoors for awhile to warm them up. Apply the first coat as a "mist coat" or light coat. Apply the second coat within 10 or 15 minutes, again light to medium coating. In 15 to 30 minutes, apply the 3rd coat until you seen a flash point (use a good light) or the gloss coming out. I have had very good success with this method. Good luck!
or wait until your wife goes shopping and sneak them into the oven for 30 minutes. makes for an awesome durable baked finish but also for a pissed off wife. fyi the dishwasher also makes for an excellent parts washer but only when the wife is gone. :laugh:
I was already told not to even try it.:laugh: I painted another part the other day that I didn't have this problem with. But it was warmer when I did the second application.
I gave it a second try. I sprayed the first coat, waited 15 min, hit it with a second coat. No problem. Weird. I never heard of using spray paint that way. THe cool part was the machine shop blasted the covers for me for free the second time. These guys are great. Anyone in the A2 area pm me for the info if you're looking for a good machine shop.
