What Is Spray Paint Lifting?

[Amalan]

dunno if this is in the right section but im looking at this bottle of spray paint and it says "Several thin coats give better finish than one heavy coat. Recoat with in 4 hours or after 1 week to avoid lifting."

i spray painted something yesterday and i want to put a couple more coats on it but what the hell is lifting? should i wait a week now?

[majorpayne]

I would think that lifting would be like the paint bubbling up or chipping off, ive always heard that reffered to as lifting

[Amalan]

huh well why is there such a huge time span why in 4 hours or after a whole week

[lovellsz]

yea lifting is when it ripples up or bubbles up, this usually happens when the surface isnt cleaned well, any slight bit of oil or grease will cause paint to lift, before we painted my car it was scuffed down with some 400 gritt, then i blew the dust off with the air hose, after the dust had cleared i tacked it and then went over the car with asotone, or prep solvent, paint thinner works too, then i tacked it again and then painted. Of course this was with a car and using a gravity gun etc, but its the same principal

[lovellsz]

i mean it wont hurt it to paint it later that day just make sure you give it time to dry and you should be strait

[BAGGEDBIRDS.com]

I read it as telling me if you can get the last coat down within 4 hours it will stick/bond to the paint you applied. After the 4 hour mark the paint will be too dry and it could need to be scuffed to stick and you will want to wait for it to dry totaly before scuffing it.

I know that most quality automotive paints have a "window" of time where you can apply paint to paint without prep. after that "window" you have to scuff the finish. This time also allows some of the solvents to evaporate out I believe.

[Amalan]

I read it as telling me if you can get the last coat down within 4 hours it will stick/bond to the paint you applied. After the 4 hour mark the paint will be too dry and it could need to be scuffed to stick and you will want to wait for it to dry totaly before scuffing it.

I know that most quality automotive paints have a "window" of time where you can apply paint to paint without prep. after that "window" you have to scuff the finish. This time also allows some of the solvents to evaporate out I believe.

well its plastic but the paint has already lifted i guess in two tiny spots where dust landed on it while it was drying (ugh) the plastic im painting is slightly cracked too what can i use to put in the cracks then paint over it? theyre small crack so im thinking like glue or something might work? not sure im new to this

[BAGGEDBIRDS.com]

well lets see a pic. But most of the time you can Ca glue (super glue) the piece back together. What kind of paint are we talking about. A color change, restoring factory color, is there texture on the panel?

before i put anything on plastic i use an adhesion promoter. I use Bulldog then primer and what ever i am putting on it.

[lovellsz]

did you clean it before you painted it? And make sure it was completly dry before you began painting? And for the small cracks sometimes that can be covered up if you use a primer.

[LSN2meBoom916]

So far I concur w/ what they^^ said.

Only other thing: Consider the ambiant temp. If it's cold or humid sometimes the dry/tack time or "window" will change. It's kinda like fiberglassing or gluing, the "nicer" the weather the easier it is and generally quicker to dry.

If it's cold or really humid and you gotta get the drying time down, set up some heat lamps or halogen lights, that should help.

Prepping it IS key tho, clean it really well and let it dry completely before you start in on it. sometimes, if you use a paint that "skins" pretty quickly, and spray some over a layer/coat thats not dry yet you end up preventing the undercoat from fully drying and it will saty wet enough to "slough off" or "lift".

Thats just from my exp.

I've experienced that kind of thing w/ spray paint, undercoat, and rhinoliner too. All seems to work/fail the same.