Learned about Acrylic Lacquer paint the hard way

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Dont believe what you read about it being an easy paint.
I repaired many small very shallow dents in a hood using the red bondo glazing compound which is non catalyzed. It sands smooth very easily.
However, I had at least 5 spots delaminate after spraying Lacquer on top, as in it lifted, bubbled cracked, and also it was refusing to dry, it would smudge when putting a finger on the repaired dent spot while the surrounding paint was hard. NEVER again will I use that awful stuff. It was also so bad I sprayed the hood with an air hose before spraying lacquer to remove dust and several bondo glazed spots simply popped off delaminating from other glazed layers.

I then thought scrape off the few problem spots and just primer and respray some spots a little thicker and in some spots scrape it off and just fill in with some dripped on lacquer. Lacquer melts into prior lacquer.
Well that was a real bad idea. What happened was any underlying roughness under the lacquer continually telegraphs thru the entire layer of lacquer paint. Even if you sand lacquer completely smooth, when you spray fresh lacquer it softens the entire lacquer paint layer all the way to the underlying steel and if that buried surface is rough, it telegraphs that all the way to the surface.

So I learned it is not like a enamel which if you sand it smooth your going to have a working flat base for the topcoat.
I think the only way to repair 2 remaining spots where the paint is undulatingly pocked and rough I have too drip lacquer on the spots and build it up high, then sand down flat with 1000 and 2000 grit. Then machine polish using a foam pad to get a flat smooth shine.

And do not use a wool pad, it generates too much frictional heat and mars the lacquer surface by melting the paint.

My inability to make this stuff work ruined my otherwise decent looking paint job and made my job infinitely harder and take weeks longer and it still is not right yet.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002Q1AHP4/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1


I went on paint forums and this stuff is considered bad stuff today to use with any kind of automotive paint. My experience confirms that.
No doubt some people have great results, but used a different kind of paint.

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Aaargh. My heart goes out to you to work so diligently and get a poor result!

My son is a paint specialist so I know enough to leave this type of stuff to him.

Good luck on the re-try!
 
If you read the Amazon reviews for that non catalyzed bondo glaze they praise it for use on filling interior wood work which will be painted with a water based paint. I could agree with that use.
And there are better cheaper wood fillers you can use for that,

Otherwise it will ruin your day.
 
Please don't blame products or a paint system if you're clueless on how they are to be applied.
 
Originally Posted by dave123
Please don't blame products or a paint system if you're clueless on how they are to be applied.

My cluelessness was in using it all. And I did spray primer filler over the surface and sanded it smooth before spraying the laquer on top.
The places where I used catalyzed polyester bondo held up fine.

If I had then used a primer sealer, maybe the lacquer paint topcoat would not have dug into the underlying bondo glazing which is a lacquer solved product itself.

Smart car painters have abandoned the product years ago as it is a poor product to use. They now use a catalyzed glazing compound that wont melt with paint solvents sprayed on.

I say it is like painting on top of dried clay, that is my experience.
The red stuff I scraped up was powdery consistency which you can see in the photos. Black paint stuck to the top layer, but the red bondo SPLIT or fractured in its middle.

If you value your sanity, dont use it for car painting.
 
That stuff is just very thick primer, you don't need it if you use a quality "pin hole free" filler (they all have holes but thy are very small and easily filled with normal primer).
Lacquer is a hot paint and will go right after the putty as you found out. If you use multiple coats of an epoxy 2K primer and block it out you wont have any problem.
You should really be paying more attention to fine finish work before using a primer, not using putty to correct defects.

Putty will always crack if it is applied thick as it shrinks over time, if you really want to use this stuff apply it less than paper thin and sand it down leaving it only in scratches, it is not a filler.
 
Looking at the surrounding surface, looks to me that your coats were too heavy. Surprised to see anyone using laquer anymore. Getting way too expensive .
 
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Not bad price, I used Automotive Rustoleum Acrylic spray cans, they are $4.59 each.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006ZLT1D0/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

My whole plan is to let it fully cure, then polish it down, so I have many coats on the hood.
I have several more coats on the hood after those pictures were taken.

It looks pretty shiny without being polished down with compounding right now.

I am also thinking to spray it with a 1 part clear coat eventually. Not a lacquer clear, I dont want to soften the black paint again.

I never plan to use the bondo 1 part glazing filler putty ever again on car paint. Being a lacquer type solvent filler, the lacquer solvents in lacquer paint go right down into it, lifting it , ruining it.
It is very depressing to have what is a perfect looking primered hood ready for paint and have it bubble and fall apart all over. I had to fix 10 spots in size from a quarter to 4 inches across where the black paint fractured the bondo putty into loose layers. The big spot I just used the catalyzed bondo and that worked fine.

I was ready to give up and grind everything off to bare metal again. But working on those spots I managed to fill them with paint. Still dont know if in the future like in hot sun, if something is going to pop off.


This hood sat under a walnut tree for a couple years, so walnuts dented it all over like hail would do.
 
I remove small dents and defects with a Paintless Dent Remover. The last resort should be a repaint.
 
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