Acrylic top coat over alkyd tractor paint?

kylemorley · Feb 8, 2013

I know clear acrylic top coats have been used with acrylic auto finishes for some time, but I notice that some of the companies, like Van Sickle and ZeroRust now have clear acrylic sprays for use over low end alkyd tractor and implement paint, and are claimed to increase durability and reduce fading. Some are even available in rattle cans.

Seems like this might be a cost effective way to get a bit more mileage out of a alkyd paint job (Rustoleum is also an alkyd, so they ought to work on it too). Anyone tried any of these and know if they are worth the extra effort?

Stephen Newell · Feb 9, 2013

You would only get a little extended life out of the paint so I don't think it would be worth it. The only win with alkyd paints is not to use them, especially if it's a color that has red in it.

kylemorley · Feb 10, 2013

I haven't been able to find much more on this - most of the people using clear acrylic topcoats seem to be looking for appearance rather than durability - but I found this intriguing comment in an old post here:

"I don't have pictures but I "accidently"preformed an experiment 8 years ago while cleaning the nozzel on rattle can clear acrylic. I inverted the can and sprayed an old faded red fender. The imediate resulting shine was barly short of stunning. Exposed to the elements the shine finaly started to go away after 5 years and the spot still looks better than rest of fender now. I can't help but wonder what if I had applied another coat and waxed it ocassionaly. Every thing I read says you must sand,seal,prime,base coat with hardener and use hardener in the clear coat or else it is just a waste of time and expense."

(quoted from post at 04:51:40 02/10/13) You would only get a little extended life out of the paint so I don't think it would be worth it. The only win with alkyd paints is not to use them, especially if it's a color that has red in it.

RandyB(MI) · Feb 11, 2013

Clear coating does a few different things. You have to be the judge of whether any of them apply to what you are trying to accomplish. A "quallity" clear coat will be loaed up with ultraviolet screeners which will make the color under it more colorfast and less fade from sun. A "quallity" clear coat will seal over the more porous pigmented or metalic paints and make it less penetrable by moisture/contaminants. Third thing a "quallity" clear will do is build up a desired film build so as to let one wet sand it back to a perfectly smooth surface and then buff out to a perfect show car shine without depleating the UV protection and/or getting down into the base paint. Also lets you get rid of dirt/runs/mosquitoes etc by sanding out and buffing back. The reason I elude to the word "quallity clear" is they are not all going to do what I said they would equally. Spray bombs especially probably have very little UV screeners and very little film build and zero catylist to harden up. (some expensive bombs have a puncturable bag of hardner inside for a one time use catylized paint)

RandyB(MI) · Feb 11, 2013

Almost forgot , one other thing clear lets you do is "feather blend" into the next panel on a car with high metalic or pearl or any of the other glamor type finishes that will never perfectly match panel to panel. After blending the color and it leaves a dry spray halo then you clear the whole panel. Clear is a painters best friend. Back in early '70,s before base clear was official , I used to have my supplier make up clear Centari and with the high gloss 793 hardner (in unlabeled can for liability reasons) and would put it over the high metalic acrylic laquer base cote and had my own base clear system. Worked like a charm. Few yrs later they came out with their "regulation" stuff and didn't have to cheat anymore.

Acrylic top coat over alkyd tractor paint?

kylemorley

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Stephen Newell

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kylemorley

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RandyB(MI)

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RandyB(MI)

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