Tips for VHT Wrinkle Plus paint?

[Macmatic]

Anyone have any tips on how to get a consistent finish with this paint? Its kind of ironic that I can take a paint designed to have a f'up'd finish and have it be almost glossy in places.

I started off with two carb caps painting per the directions on the can. All good! Time to move on to the case covers. Oops! now I've got a finish on one part that ranges from ultra wrinkly to nothing worse than some orange peel nearby.

I've done 3-4 heavy coats, 4-6 light coats, five min between coats, 15 min between coats, baked in the oven and let them sit over night and nothing seems to be working out. At this point I've got almost two cans of paint on the case covers, I've probably added a pound to the bike and I STILL can't get a good wrinkle to come up.

The first batch and parts had the exact finish I was looking for and the second batch of parts had the same finish in places but not in others. All parts were prepped the same and painted at the same time. Well the first batch and the second batch were not at the same time.

I prepped the parts by stripping all the clear coat, scuffing with steel wool, cleaning the last bits of gunk with carb cleaner and then cleaning three times with grease and was remover.

The deeper irony here is that I went with the wrinkle finish to save time and make the job easier.

-/\/\ac

 

[JEEPRUSTY]

I have used this before and find that the shape of what you are painting makes a real diffeerence on how it wrinkles.

Baking it really tightens up the finish but I dont think I could face painting an engine with it its too finicky for me.

the paint tends to slowly run down and that apparently makes for an uneven thickeness and uneven wrinkling.

did you paint in the three directions as instructed and wait the appropriate time between coats?

Some tuner car guys use it with amazing results
http://www.honda-tech.com/showthread.php?t=1362165&page=319
awfully long url sorry

 

[Macmatic]

I have used this before and find that the shape of what you are painting makes a real diffeerence on how it wrinkles.

Baking it really tightens up the finish but I dont think I could face painting an engine with it its too finicky for me.

the paint tends to slowly run down and that apparently makes for an uneven thickeness and uneven wrinkling.

did you paint in the three directions as instructed and wait the appropriate time between coats?

Some tuner car guys use it with amazing results
http://www.honda-tech.com/showthread.php?t=1362165&page=319
awfully long url sorry

Thanks for the link!

Yep, I did the crosshatch thing and waited 5-7min between coats when the temp and humidity were in spec. Its odd, some of the surfaces that won't wrinkle are broad and flat and some are vertical.

I think what I'm going to end up doing is baking everything again to make sure its fully cured and then sanding down the areas with the "loose" wrinkles. Then I'll paint again and bake right away to lock in the freshness...err get a uniform "tight" wrinkle finish.
I pity the fool who strips these down some day but I bet this'll be the quietest GS450 engine around in the meantime.

/\/\ac

 

[Qckslvr]

I happen to have a spare bath room, and I will set a small heater on full blast in it. Paint my item and put it in the bathroom with the little heater. Normally it is about 85-90* in there, come out perfect every time.