We used Sikkens on my Nova. It was a first time for us too. Seemed to work fine.

Hi Jody, if you're used to painting with PPG then you'll have no problems with Sikkens. Sikkens is a superior paint to Spies-Hecker & PPG in my opinion.Their silver basecoats spray out smoothly without the "mottled" effect that can occur with some other basecoats if you're not careful. You'll find that once mixed to the correct ratios the clear may "seem" a little thinner than other 2K paints, but it sprays on beautifully smooth, with very little surface " 'peel" & will colour sand & cut back easily. Sikkens really is the "new generation" of 2K paints compared to a lot of others. Best of luck.

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evil, there clear is thin?? most european clears are much thicker than american clears, you say it lays out nice, does is harden up real good after a few weeks?? or stay soft and wet sand and buff easily 1 year later?? i prefer a clear that will sand and buff easily for a week or so then harden up real nice, as this makes it very durable, duponts 7500/7600 stays soft and chips easily, it lays on nice but man does it chip and scratch easily, i am a fan of standox ms voc clear, it does just what i like
jake

Standox is some very nice product-the clear gets as hard as a rock after a few weeks very durable

Not to get off the subject but how do you keep a nice black paint job from getting all the swirls? I had a black car once and once you've waxed it and/or washed it you could see all the swirls in the paint when the sun hits it.

When I saw this car the sky opened and the angels sang "HHHHAAAAAAA"!!! :yes: I love black and I'm thinking about painting my 69 Camaro black but I'm concerned about how it looks 6 months later.

Any advise?

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Hi Jake, I agree with you about having a good clear that is hard & durable & Sikkens will fill that criteria.The Sikkens clear does lay out very nicely with good flow charecteristics unlike some clears.It will colour sand & buff easily for up to 5-6 weeks depending on the paint film thickness & after that it will take on it's full cure & become more difficult to sand & buff. Obviously the more that is applied the longer the through hardening will take. Personally I would try to avoid spraying too many coats of ANY clear, as you will get problems with the paint not fully through hardening & will remain soft, especially on a hot day where the paint will try to "re-float" itself. One way to make a paint through harden quicker is to sand the surface within 16 hours of it being painted, ie colour sand prior to buffing. Leave it like this (open coat) for a few days & then buff it as normal. This sanding "opens up" the paint surface that has fully cured & allows the solvents to evaporate throught the paint easier & quicker. You'll find that once the surface has been buffed it will remain very glossy without the need to re-buff at a later stage.

If you look at my original posting I use the words "seem a little thinner" . This is not to imply it doesn't have good "build qualities" by being thin, but to say it doesn't have a very heavy "orange peel" texture to the paint surface.I've found, like you that Standox MS paint system is also very good. MS as you probably know stands for "Medium Solids" It has a higher solid content to the paint than normal paint (the paint is more dense) & will allow you to put a thicker paint film thickness on with each coat of paint applied.You'll find that any of the European MS system paints will seem thicker than the US basic 2K paint systems. Really, the thing with modern paints is that they're all pretty much the same nowadays (with some exceptions). They all have to perform to meet modern auto manufacturers finishes, so once you find a paint system that you like it's probably best to stick with it & in turn you'll get to learn the charecteriistics of the product & make each subsequent paintjob you do easier HTH............Nigel :)

Hi tndude, there could be a number of reasons why the swirls were there. Do you know if was a straight black or had it been clearcoated,was it a fresh paintjob,were the swirls from the cloth used to polish it or from the buffing machine, what wax did you use> Sorry for all of the questions but there could be a number of reasons for the swirls showing...............Nigel :_paranoid

Well it was a Honda Accord I drove in College. Bought the car new so it was clearcoated. Basically they appeared from just typical washing. Used a car wash mit (big square yellow/cream shaggy soft glove) to wash the car by hand with car wash soap. I noticed all the swirls one sunny day. I don't think the glove would do it but who knows, maybe it did.

Is this a common problem with black? Do you do certian things to ensure you don't have this problem when you maintain a black car?

Yeah it's a problem. If you look at black to long, you'll get a swirl mark, lol.

I just hand glaze mine, and it make a world of a difference. But once you wipe any dust off, small swirls are back.

Yeah, black can be a bitch to look after. As MarkM66 says, it's best to hand glaze after washing, never try to glaze/wax a black car without washing it first as any dirt/grit on the body will scratch the paint & will show up badly on black.Try to use as soft a cloth as possible, turning it frequently when wiping the glaze/wax off. Try to use a wax that doesn't have a cutting agent in it, I prefer to wax with Auto Glym products, their resin polishes are very good.Black cars are high maintenance, but look way cool. :cool: