Guys,
New to the forum here but I'm searching for a resolve of an issue that just occurred to a freshly painted high end hot rod. I had my 55 Chev painted by a known painter and we used House of Kolor Shimrin paint with UFC35 clear. It's custom painted using BC25 Black and FBC02 Orion silver. The car is based in Black, two toned with 3 base coats of color (noted above), and cleared with UFC35 using a mixture of KU150 and KU151 hardener. It's been painted since July now and I'm just finishing up on the details and assembly to get ready to start showing the car. After all the assembly it had barely a mark on it until yesterday. About 5 weeks ago I sent it out to have a custom stainless exhaust system fabricated. The guy doing the work was being cautious and wrapped the entire car in plastic film to try and protect it, then threw a car cover over top of it. After being there for 4-5 weeks he peeled the wrap yesterday and said it was ready for pickup. When I saw the car, there was a layer of dust on it with what appeared to be a residue from the film. I thought no big deal I'll clean it off when I get home as it looked like some kind of glue or something. Knowing it was new paint with dust on it I didn't touch the surface and was shocked when I got it back to my shop to clean it up. I dusted the car off, then proceeded to wipe it down with Norton Liquid Ice.
What shocked me was that the paint appears to have been etched, or at least the clear coat. There's a marbleized looking haze in the finish that shows everywhere the wrap was applied, but is very noticeable on the top surface because of reflection. Under the lights (fluorescent) it is really obvious and can be seen for 4-5 feet away. I buffed it with the cleaner but to no avail. It cannot be felt in the clear but has obviously etched into the clear coat and perhaps further. I called a technical rep at HOK today and he told me that BC/CC paint should never ever be wrapped in plastic as it's always curing and that the paint has etched. I asked for an opinion of getting rid of this effect and he told me it's going to need to be wet sanded with 2000 ( perhaps all the way down to 1000) and then recut/polished. It's a pretty high end finish that's been color sanded, wet sanded with 3 stages, and then cut/polished with 3 stages and I know how much work this is and was. All trim and stainless is now on the car and I am concerned now that trying to wet sand around the trims is going to create distortions and waves in a show quality finish.
What makes matters worse is that I am three weeks from a show where the car is scheduled to debut and the entire finish on the car appears ruined. The shop that did the work on the car has a lift positioned right beside a radiant overhead heater which also casts radiant heat which was surely right upon the cars surface area. Could the combination of heat and the paint being wrapped have caused this to etch deeper into the clear or perhaps the base-coat itself, and is there a simple way to check how far this has gone without distorting an area of the affected surface? I'm really at a loss here and cannot find much on the web about protective wraps or films etching the clear coat but have now been told by three pro's that wrapping a car is a big DO NOT DO and that it will have surely killed the finish.
Professional opinions and replies appreciated?
Black finish when completed
silver finish when completed
Color combination
Sample of the etching in the paint. It other areas it appears more marbleized
New to the forum here but I'm searching for a resolve of an issue that just occurred to a freshly painted high end hot rod. I had my 55 Chev painted by a known painter and we used House of Kolor Shimrin paint with UFC35 clear. It's custom painted using BC25 Black and FBC02 Orion silver. The car is based in Black, two toned with 3 base coats of color (noted above), and cleared with UFC35 using a mixture of KU150 and KU151 hardener. It's been painted since July now and I'm just finishing up on the details and assembly to get ready to start showing the car. After all the assembly it had barely a mark on it until yesterday. About 5 weeks ago I sent it out to have a custom stainless exhaust system fabricated. The guy doing the work was being cautious and wrapped the entire car in plastic film to try and protect it, then threw a car cover over top of it. After being there for 4-5 weeks he peeled the wrap yesterday and said it was ready for pickup. When I saw the car, there was a layer of dust on it with what appeared to be a residue from the film. I thought no big deal I'll clean it off when I get home as it looked like some kind of glue or something. Knowing it was new paint with dust on it I didn't touch the surface and was shocked when I got it back to my shop to clean it up. I dusted the car off, then proceeded to wipe it down with Norton Liquid Ice.
What shocked me was that the paint appears to have been etched, or at least the clear coat. There's a marbleized looking haze in the finish that shows everywhere the wrap was applied, but is very noticeable on the top surface because of reflection. Under the lights (fluorescent) it is really obvious and can be seen for 4-5 feet away. I buffed it with the cleaner but to no avail. It cannot be felt in the clear but has obviously etched into the clear coat and perhaps further. I called a technical rep at HOK today and he told me that BC/CC paint should never ever be wrapped in plastic as it's always curing and that the paint has etched. I asked for an opinion of getting rid of this effect and he told me it's going to need to be wet sanded with 2000 ( perhaps all the way down to 1000) and then recut/polished. It's a pretty high end finish that's been color sanded, wet sanded with 3 stages, and then cut/polished with 3 stages and I know how much work this is and was. All trim and stainless is now on the car and I am concerned now that trying to wet sand around the trims is going to create distortions and waves in a show quality finish.
What makes matters worse is that I am three weeks from a show where the car is scheduled to debut and the entire finish on the car appears ruined. The shop that did the work on the car has a lift positioned right beside a radiant overhead heater which also casts radiant heat which was surely right upon the cars surface area. Could the combination of heat and the paint being wrapped have caused this to etch deeper into the clear or perhaps the base-coat itself, and is there a simple way to check how far this has gone without distorting an area of the affected surface? I'm really at a loss here and cannot find much on the web about protective wraps or films etching the clear coat but have now been told by three pro's that wrapping a car is a big DO NOT DO and that it will have surely killed the finish.
Professional opinions and replies appreciated?
Black finish when completed
silver finish when completed
Color combination
Sample of the etching in the paint. It other areas it appears more marbleized
Last edited:
