Paint Problems are driving me nuts

[squonk 41,141]

I had a sandblaster and powder coating guy. Think he charged me $100 for all 4. Then he gave up powder coating because he wasn't happy with the results but still did the blasting. Then I needed some engine tinwork done last year and he wouldn't return my calls. 

[rmaynard 15,509]

I just got the rims back from my new powder coater last night. This is Oyster White, RAL-1013. $50.00.

[sjoemie himself 3,068]

You can not complain about such a finish for that price. Looks smooth as a baby's.. eh.. 'unidrive' 

[rmaynard 15,509]

UPDATE:

I got the rims back, my new tires arrived, and today I mounted them. 

 

What a relief. The color is Oyster White, the tires are Kenda LoadStar. I think that I am finally happy.

 

Edited September 20, 2022 by rmaynard
Added picture

[whtractors24 3,116]

6 hours ago, rmaynard said:

UPDATE:

I got the rims back, my new tires arrived, and today I mounted them. 

 

What a relief. The color is Oyster White, the tires are Kenda LoadStar. I think that I am finally happy.

 

What tires you using?

[rmaynard 15,509]

10 hours ago, whtractors24 said:

What tires you using?

Kenda LoadStar 4.80/4.00 x 8

Since I bought them on 9/6 from Walmart Online for $23.44 each, they have gone up in price to $34.90 each. 

Edited September 21, 2022 by rmaynard

[Handy Don 12,233]

21 hours ago, rmaynard said:

The color is Oyster White, the tires are Kenda LoadStar. I think that I am finally happy

That's a great look.

[rmaynard 15,509]

Moving on from wheel paint to body paint. I'm not going to bore you with all the gory details, but I'll try to make this as short as possible. All sheet metal has either been stripped, sanded, or media blasted. Bare metal has been primed with etching primer. All others have been primed, blocked, sanded, and on and on. So now I attempted to paint using PPG Prime-line, single-stage acrylic urethane. I've painted 6 of my show tractors with the same paint. After applying the first flash coat, I let it sit for 5 to 10 minutes, then applied two more medium wet coats. PROBLEM: solvent pop. It's hard to get a good picture but here is one.

 

My body shop buddy says it's dirt. I say it's not. After final sanding, I washed with mild soap and water. Let dry over night. Then used wax and grease remover. Used new rag until no color came off.Then I tack ragged. 

 

Next step was 2K acrylic urethane primer/sealer. That, went on great. Smooth as silk. Then, after a one hour dry time (manufacturers instructions) I again lightly tacked and shot a flash coat of my Single Stage acrylic urethane. Let sit for 5 minutes, came back and it had already begun to pop.

I'm totally puzzled. Mixed another batch using a slow activator. Same problem. I'm beginning to wonder if there is something going on with PPG paint.

Any help from you paint pros would be appreciated.

 

By the way, outside temp today 75-78. Low humidity. No Canada smoke. Painting in a fine mesh screen room.

Edited June 10, 2023 by rmaynard

[squonk 41,141]

https://www.articlesfactory.com/articles/autos/what-causes-paint-solvent-popping-and-how-to-stop-it.html

[rmaynard 15,509]

@squonk Mike, I have read that. It is a confusing mess. Today I took two pieces that had 2 coats of 2K acrylic urethane, fully cured (painted 2 weeks ago) but was the wrong color. I sanded with 400. Then they were washed with soapy water, dried 24 hours, cleaned with wax and grease remover, then tack ragged just prior to painting. I then shot two coats of 2K acrylic urethane primer sealer. Top coated with the new color after 14 hours. That failed (pops). So again I sanded the pops with a progression of 320 to 500, prepped the surface with 800 grit sanding sponge, essentially creating a base coat. Then, after proper cleaning, I shot 2 coats of 2K clear. I got the same pops. However, what I noticed was that the pops were only on horizontal surfaces. Verticals had none. So, I'm back to trying to find why whatever I spray tries to gas out under a drier surface and creates pops. These two pieces will be sanded again tomorrow and I will clear coat them vertically. If that fails, I quit.

Edited June 11, 2023 by rmaynard

[squonk 41,141]

There wasn't any aerosol can sprayed in the vicinity before you painted was there? That stuff can linger in the air. Even from a neighbor. We had a paint booth at the end of a long shop where I used to work. They were supposed to let us know when they were painting. Well one guy was too important to let anyone know and he started painting when a guy in the prep bay was spraying silicone on a new car weather strip. Fish eyes and bubbles everywhere.

[rmaynard 15,509]

40 minutes ago, squonk said:

 That stuff can linger in the air. 

I use HVLP which tends to have very little overspray. A single tractor is a lot different than a high volume body shop.