Color match clear coat yellowing

[hodge-xj]

So I color matched my grill, took my time sanding between each step, did my best to keep lint and hair at bay in my basement. All things were going great till I laid down my clear, went with a light tack coat, than a few nice and heavy wet coats. Had a few sags and runs but nothing i can't wet sand and buff out. That being said it definitely yellowed out. Hard to tell how bad until I get it against the truck. I have a feeling this is how it's gonna be, but is there a slight chance it may gas off and clear out a little. For a rattle can job in my basement I'm proud to say my first attempt at paint was a success aside from yellowing. Nice and smooth, glossy and even. Pigment is off but live and learn. Clear was the hardest to lay down without going too wet. Bleh. You can see in the last 2 pics the pigment is off. [emoji107]

Any ideas or suggestions, like I said I have a feeling I'm stuck with the "off" color, but I'm open to ideas. For 75 bucks and my time it's better than chrome!



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[hodge-xj]

Caught a corner of the sand paper sanding the clear and took an eraser sized piece down to primer off. Got out my touch up paint and it's a huge difference in color. Got pissed and just repaired the gouge, cleared and polished it. Whatever, I'm sure the color will aggravate me enough that I'll end up either buying a proper painted grill or just bedline this one. Not sure why the clear yellowed over the color match spray and not the touch up paint. Fml

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[sbarron]

Looks good. On the grill, you'll never notice after about the 15th rock chip. Carry on.

 

[crash68]

It's been quite a few years but back when I worked in a body shop, clear coat wasn't "clear". Depending on the manufacturer/type, the clear would have a slight yellow or blue tint to it.

 

[hodge-xj]

Thanks guys. Everywhere I've read that aerosol clears for the most part will yellow. Unless I spend the money on a 2 component which would be like $25 a can. That is 1/3 my cost for this. I'll see how this looks and hold up for the rest of the winter. By then I hope to have a few electric tools to make this go a little faster.

I have to throw down some more wax on it today and I'll post a finished pic

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[hodge-xj]

Not as terrible in full sun as I expected. Low light makes it seem worse. Spring time project will be to fix this. For now it works.

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[Ramm5.7]

Well THATS a bummer. Its really not too bad but I'm sure since you put in all that effort n time its horrible to you, especially since its highly visible and up against your bright white hood.
At least now you know what to do and not do.
Maybe find a cheap grill somewhere(I got my primer shell with honeycomb inserts from letgo for 70$) and that way your truck is whole while you redo??

 

[WhiteKnight]

Same thing I did with my emblem on the tailgate. It’s not to noticeable but I KNOW ITS NOT THE SAME!!! haha. I will eventually do the grill an bumpers but I’m debating on taking it somewhere or buying OEM paint for it.


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[TigreST]

Going be doing some color match stuff come spring. Did you go to the local paint vendor or deal with an on-line vendor? I'm gonna give......

https://www.paintscratch.com/

....... a shot.

White would be the real test when it comes to clear coat tint. I was thinking you might have been seeing the effects of florescent lighting perhaps, but maybe not.

T.

 

[hodge-xj]

Apparentally there is a lot at play when it comes to this. My clear could just be too thick, as I erred on the side of wet and heavy when I laid it on, thinking for durability against rocks. Could be different compatibility between brands and chemicals, could just simply be the type of single stage clear. This was a spur the moment thing so I grabbed whatever autozone had. Aside from the yellowing the results were awesome. After all the work I put into this I ordered an orbital sander and proper 2k clear. I'll sand down the clear, possibly add a wet coat of color and than re shoot the appropriate clear. 20$ a can and highly suggested for aerosol clear. And it's supposedly much harder curing as well. After all this sanding the grill is gonna look like.glass!

Honestly this is more of a time investment than anything. And tho I am by no means a body guy, if I'm gonna do it, I'll make sure my end result is done the right way. Lesson learned here, research before jumping into things. ...but that's not ever any fun or informative.

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[likes2build]

Let me tell you that that looks excellent for a rattle can job!!!!! You should be happy with the difference in the way your truck looks, so don't focus on what you think you see because others won't even catch the difference. Paint NEVER matches when you spray just one panel , everything blends and it doesn't even matter if it's brand new off the transporter. The paint manufacturers have variants for most every color out there, because "paint never matches", a good painter just hides it.
You can panel paint a few colors, all others get blended and yes the brand of clear makes a difference.

Last word of advise, it looks pretty cold in your pictures so don't wax it for a long time because you'll trap the unevaporated solvents underneath and it won't cure properly and the paint will fail.

 

[hodge-xj]

Let me tell you that that looks excellent for a rattle can job!!!!! You should be happy with the difference in the way your truck looks, so don't focus on what you think you see because others won't even catch the difference. Paint NEVER matches when you spray just one panel , everything blends and it doesn't even matter if it's brand new off the transporter. The paint manufacturers have variants for most every color out there, because "paint never matches", a good painter just hides it.
You can panel paint a few colors, all others get blended and yes the brand of clear makes a difference.

Last word of advise, it looks pretty cold in your pictures so don't wax it for a long time because you'll trap the unevaporated solvents underneath and it won't cure properly and the paint will fail.

Thank you, I'm gonna try to cut the clear down and use that 2k clear that everyone raves about. I took my time sanding this thing a ton. Gotta be proud of whatever work you do, whatever it is. The grill sat in my house for 3 days, 38-40% relative humidity and about 68*. Wanted it to gas out as much as I could before install. I did my nail test behind the emblem and it is still toothy but hard enough. I only polish compounded it and threw a LIGHT layer of turtle wax hard shell on the flat faces. I am weird and sniff the panel, and it still is gassing off, you can smell the solvents airing out. Friday I'll cut through the clear with 1k grit and see how it looks. The edges with light clear match perfect so it's a clear problem. I appreciate the advice and words. I'll get better pics today. Lighting is tough with all this snow. This clear won't reach full cure for at least a week so who knows, it may gas off and clear up enough I don't mess with it. For the work I put into this thing I want it to be perfect, at least until I either get a rock chip or take it in the dirt.

Not that anyone but me really notices but I have a weird ocd when it comes to stupid things so I have to try to fix this. If the girlfriend only understood. Lol.

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[hodge-xj]

Since my phone won't focus properly here's a few pics up close to show the surface. There's NO orange peel. My hands hate me but it's actually smoother than the factory paint. [emoji16]

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[Jrod]

I've always heard white is the hardest color for body shops to match.

 

[hodge-xj]

I've always heard white is the hardest color for body shops to match.

After this I fully believe it

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[james.price.58]

Man, that looks great! And White is the hardest color to match IMO. I'm looking for an OEM grill to do this with my Blue Streak and I hope it comes out as good as yours! I may just do the inserts in PTM so the chrome ring gives me a buffer and the match won't need to be 100%.

 

[hodge-xj]

Honestly I wouldn't be intimidated. It's just a time thing. The effort you put in is reflected by the end result. I wouldn't attempt those inserts, just because of the shape and all the crazy edges getting them properly sanded for good adhesion would be a chore, as well as sanding between stages would be difficult to not burn through the edges. If you could get like 3 or 4 cans of the color match paint give and a quality 2k (2 component) clear give it a try. Tho I might suggest getting a primed grill shell, as the chrome was the biggest issue to prep properly. I went through 2 cans of white and probably should have laid down another color coat. But I ran out and the store was out of stock. Either way the key to avoiding orange peel is to sand the primer and color coats. That's where I spent the most time. A nice high build sandable primer that I could really smooth out helped A lot. There's no fast way to do it honestly, but it's worth the effort. There's a reason paint jobs cost so much. Put in the prep and the paint will look just as good. Hardest part is not getting excited and rushing once you get close to finished.

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[hodge-xj]

Have a can of this and a palm sander on the way. Friday night I'll get started on clear correction. I'll chew through the clear with the palm sander, than everything else will be by hand again. The clear is so thick in some spots I'll need the electric sander just to assist my hands with fatigue and expedite things with limited time frames. I want to get this thing reshot Friday so it can gas off all weekend. Kinda excited, but worst case I just have to do it again, between this clear coat, and a nice white base to work off I SHOULD be able to get it closer if not match my current paint. Fingers crossed.

Edit- the paint is 0061 (high gloss) clear not a matte finish. The pic is just for brand reference

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[17CrewCab1500]

You don't want to wax for at least 30 days. You'll trap in escaping/drying vapors and you'll get cloudy clear and later will peel.

I've been painting for 20+ years and experience is only learned by doing - so don't be hard on yourself.

 

[BWL]

Your grill looks better than my factory paint. Its too rough under the clear coat to get a good reflection it seems and I've buffed as much as I feel comfortable of the clear coat to try and shine it up. Nice job. Even if you're not happy with it. I use duplicolor paint shop line clear coat for touch ups, but it is a bit yellower than I'd like so I'm curious to see if you find a clear that works better out of a rattlecan.