Clearcoat over Stihl Grey Paint

[blsnelling]

A few months ago, I began clear coating my painted parts with clear coat in order to try and make them more fuel resistant. I colored the parts with the Stihl grey spray bomb and then clearcoated with Rustoleum Crystal clear once dry. It worked good on several saws. Then, the clear started to wrinkle the dried grey when applied. I tried it again tonight with the same results. I don't know if the Stihl paint changed formulations or what. So I'm looking for a clearcoat that won't attack the grey paint. The Rustolem I was using is an enamel. Should I try a lacquer or polyurethane?

 

[Lakeside53]

If you're going to use clearcoat, I'd be using a 2 part clearcoat, but only on top of a 2 part finish...

You could try baking the Stihl polyurethane paint, then wait 30 days... and clear coat with almost anything (except the rattle-can clear coat isn't much more resistant then the base paint...) . I believe your problem with fuel resistance and finish compatibility is simply that you are not waiting for the paint to cure, and an uncatalysed paint takes a long time.


It's not the "clear coat" that's attacking the base paint, it's the solvents... and many of the different paint formulations use the same solvents. There are water-based clear coats, but...

 

[blsnelling]

What's strange is that this clear originally did not attack the color. That was for the first couple of cans I tried. Something had to have changed with one of the paints.

Which is more fuel resistant? Enamel or lacquer?

If I were using a catalyzed two-part paint, this would be a non issue. Matter of fact, I wouldn't even be using a clear. However, I don't care to spend the $75 to repaint some saws as I did my 07S and 08S.

I'm just looking for a better solution than just the Stihl paint for my "working" saws. This is most problematic with the older saws that have a painted fuel tank and is guaranteed to get fuel on it.

 

[Big Neb]

Could temperature be playing a part?

Do you have a heated shop?

Cold weather slows the curing process.

I agree that if you allowed the grey to harden with time and/or high temp I suspect you might get better results.

 

[oneoldbanjo]

If you spray lacquer over enamel it will wrinkle - if you spray enamel over lacquer it will be fine. A fellow once explained to me that enamel is like masking tape - it just sticks on top of the surface.......However lacquer is like putting hot tar on old tar - the solvent melts the underlying paint and bonds with it (but only if the underlying surface is lacquer).

If you have a scrap piece to experiment on you might try putting the clear coat on immediately after the color and not let the Stihl paint dry beyond just being tacky- if it wrinkles you will know that the paints are not compatible. I know that with some paints you either need to coat them immediately - or wait for the paint to fully cure before recoating - or the new top coat will lift and wrinkle the paint beneath (There seems to some "in between" time that the paint cannot be recoated . I once painted some rocker panels for a van and the color was not right - so they remixed the color and I shot another layer of the exact same paint the next day.....only to get a horrible wrinkle finish. Everything had to be stripped and I started over.

 

[blsnelling]

Could temperature be playing a part?

Do you have a heated shop?

Cold weather slows the curing process.

I agree that if you allowed the grey to harden with time and/or high temp I suspect you might get better results.

I shot the color and then put it in the oven at 170F for 2 hours, then applied the clear.

 

[Freakingstang]

I found the same thing happened to me by using the stihl grey and then top caoting it with some dupicolor clear laquer. It did not wrinkle, but turned the white underneath a dark yellow color. I tried another kind of clear that was supposed to be enamal and it wrinkled. The weird part about the enamel clear was that it wrinked on the 2nd coat....

I'm just glad I experimented on a wore out bar before I cleared my rebuilt 084!!!!

 

[Four Paws]

Everyone who responded is correct - incompatible paints is the cause.

Just shoot a high quality urethane 'single stage' base. RM Solo is good stuff, and for the cost conscious shadetree, I have had great luck with OMNI brand (I believe it is a PPG knock-off).

 

[Freakingstang]

Everyone who responded is correct - incompatible paints is the cause.

Just shoot a high quality urethane 'single stage' base. RM Solo is good stuff, and for the cost conscious shadetree, I have had great luck with OMNI brand (I believe it is a PPG knock-off).

Omni is a PPG brand. There base clear is not that bad of paint, but the single stage urethane is crap. well if you are trying to paint a car. Might turn out ok on a saw, or small project where the shine isn't gonna be seen over a large area.

 

[Lakeside53]

I shot the color and then put it in the oven at 170F for 2 hours, then applied the clear.

It's still not "cured"... I bake and wait a few weeks...and it works fine...

You need to choose families of compatible paints from one manf... or ignore the clearcoat idea. Stihl rattle-can polyurethene paint is obviously not designed to be clearcoated with solvent based clearcosts.

 

[West Texas]

I've been using clear coat on the orange plastic parts of older Stihl saws after I clean them up. Makes them look pretty sharp.

 

[Lakeside53]

Which clear-coat do you use? Do you prime the plastic or just clean it well?

 

[Gumnuts]

I for one use spray ,Wattle 2 part Anti- Graffiti U-400, clear over Enamel.3-4 coats.Just fine dust coats.
As has been said its a curing thing when the wrinkles happen( on the paint).As has also been said - 1+ think its the cold weather playing a part in for you Brad.
Curing can take a month or more.Longer the better.




correction - U 400

 

[West Texas]

Which clear-coat do you use? Do you prime the plastic or just clean it well?

Andy, I just clean the covers good with Purple Cleaner, rinse, air hose it and let dry. Then later I spray them with "Color Touch" Spray Enamel. It is an el Cheapo spray can from ALCO. Dry's in 15 min; but, I let it sit in the Sun longer than that just to be sure. It does not look like a brand new cover, but for some of these really old ones, it perks them up quite a bit. No problems of any type so far.

 

[Andyshine77]

I'm pretty sure Andy got it. Solvent flashing "drying" is not the same thing as curing. The gray or milky color your seeing could be a moisture problem, you can't spray clear in a moist environment, it will haze every time.

I was once told that a book on how to paint is 100 pages long, and the book on painting problems is 1,000

 

[northwest saws]

I know this is almost an 11 year old thread but I didn't want to start yet another one on stihl paint. I started using a heavy duty ceramic clear coat from Cerakote over the last 2-3 years with some success. It's a clear coat that is used with a paint gun, not a rattle can type. I had picked up a nice detailing gun a while back and thought I would give this Cerakote stuff a try. I used it on my 056 super a couple years ago and as of today none of the Stihl grey has wrinkled or frayed. It's been very resistant to gas and oil, i've spilled plenty of gas over the side when fueling up and it hasn't affected the paint hardly at all. However the Stihl orange I used on the top cover wrinkled some and it was mostly on top, not on the rear handle. I don't think that happened because of a difference in paints but from contamination. I probably didn't prep as well as I should have. I used that rustoleum clear coat for awhile with some success, it didn't have any ill effects on application but also didn't seem to be very tough. Maybe it was the type of rustoleum I picked up, or maybe that was also a contamination issue as well. I know there is a ford grey/white paint that folks have used that seems to be a little better than the stihl grey. I would be interested to find another option of paint that is much better quality but close to Stihl grey in color.

 

[Ambull]

One thing that works really good is Minwax Helmsman Spar Polyurethane in a rattle can. Doesn't wrinkle and is very resistant to gasoline. I apply it before the base paint is completely dry.

 

[blsnelling]

FYI, I gave up on Stihl paint years ago. It has no solvent resistance at all, and is very prone to chipping, even after being baked in an oven. TSC Ford Grey is a much better option for a rattle can paint job.

 

[northwest saws]

I'll have to get some of that Ford grey and try it out. I would definitely concur with the chipping and resistance to solvents, it pretty much melts when it come in contact with gas. My first time re-painting a couple covers I didn't put anything on top of the Stihl paint....it didn't last long Talk about a bone head move, I never did that again!

 

[TheTone]

Here's my arsenal:



Krylon Gloss Mandarin for Stihl orange, TSC's Ford light gray, VHT clearcoat, and DEI Hi-Temp flat black for mufflers. I just do rattle cans.

Here's a recent restoration using #2 and #3 above on a clutch cover with more than the usual wear and tear: