Smoked Tail Lights......
 

well i got some 93-97 tail lights to swap onto my 99. i cleaned them and masked off the reverse part. i sprayed them with the vht untill they were to my liking, everything good so far.... well i went to gloss them and the freaking gloss left huge white spots on them.

i know i didnt do it right? but i did, i followed directions exactly. i sprayed away from it in even strokes but the first coat white'd it for some reason. so know i have to pretty much start over...

My questions are does anyone know why they got all white/blurred? and how i can get this crap off to start over? i think you use rubbing alcohol and elbow grease but im not sure. thanks.

Sounds like you might have sprayed too heavily. Give it some time to dry, it might clear up.

thats what it sounds like but i didnt, i was at least 13-16 inches away and even moderate quick strokes. ive heard alot about clear coat messing up so i was cautious and sprayed back from them.... idk maybe they'll look better in the morning, we'll see.

yes I was with him when he did it. I smoked my tail lights also a couple months ago and the clear would make white spots when spayed to heavily, but we sprayed his and even the slightest bit of clear would turn white, couldn't figure out why thought maybe it was too humid outside here in good old Florida but I'm not sure if that was it I'm not a painter.

Sounds more like incompatible paint types. The reaction between the clear and the VHT is causing the clear to turn white. Rubbing alcohol ain't gonna do a thing for you. You need to sand them down and start over. Use 800-1000 grit wet.

Now that I think of it he used clear that was for like 500 degree heat protection, and it had ceramic in the paint......I wonder if that was it? Should have just used regular clear lacquer.

Another thought was timing. Did you give the base coat ample time to dry before spraying the clear?

yes, the vht was dry to the touch. and i only put one coat of clear on. i didnt even finish the first coat because it started getting all white. there was no ceramic in the paint, so i guess im just gunna have to sand em and give it another try, thanks.

Before I tired it again, I would get a piece of plexy glass and try it out on it. Once you get it they way you want do the taillights.

Paint has a number of different properties in relation with timing and dryness. For instance, when doing black PPG paint you have to wait 15-18 minutes of dry time before spraying clear. If you miss that window you have to wait a full 24 hours.

I would imagine this is working the same way. The milkiness is the clear reacting with the VHT. Spray your VHT and give it a full 24 hours to cure. This leaves no question as to whether the paints are reacting to one another.

ok, ill try that. thanks DrewHMS97SS.

You have a FLASH time in between coats of anything you spray wether its clear or color or primer.whatever. But it is the purge time he is refering to.Wich is the time you wait after spraying base coat.It's usually longer than 18min. More like 40.Unless baked at 140,then it's about 20. Even if the clear is sprayed too heavy when its dry it will not appear white and you can sand it to the flatness of your liking. I think the clear and vht is not compatible if it doesn't clear up when dry.Just my 2cents.(I'm an autobody painter):D

What types of paint do you use. I swear the timing that ppg put down for base coat to clear was 18 min. Its been a few years, but I still try to pretend that I know things.

Flash time on the PPG Omni stuff I used when I painted my truck a few years ago was 15 minutes. I've never heard of flash time being over 20 minutes or so.

Ok let me break this down you have "FLASH" time and you have "PURGE" time.
Yea you are right Flash time is usually 5-10 min on base and aound 15 on clear.
Purge time is the time you wait after your last coat of base.Wich is always longer than your usual flash do to the fact that you want all your solvents to evaporate before you spray clear.If you dont you will experince a wide verity of things.IE solvent pop wich is where you will get pin like holes in the clear,or cloudyness,.loss of gloss.
Hope I'm explaining this good.:)
By the way we use ppg at work,and on my orange camaro I just painted I used matrix system.Flash and purg times were the same on both.If you are not sure what the proper times are you can always get a technical data sheet from your supplier or look it up on line at ppg's website or whatever brand you are using.