paint cracks pls help

[avoidance]

hi every one i hope some one can help me. I have spent 9mths rebiulding a cbr motorcycle finished spray with cellous paint. Used plastic primer then black and red coat then 200micron metal flake in with the clear coat and then 3 coats of clear coat over that, wet flattened whole job looked great. wait a few mths drying final flattening of the metal flake caot (2000 grade) wet then rubbing compound. looked great then i added nxt tech wax o dear now the paint is cracking! it has this crazy pavement look to it and in places it has cracked that much you can see the primer pls help I know i will have to rub the whole job down and start again but im new to meguiars and need to know what the prob is before i start again. It appears to me to me that meguiars might have done this but any sugestions to why or what! would be really appreciated thank you very very much

[Mike Phillips]

How old is this paint?

There are no harsh solvents or ingredients of any type in NXT Tech Wax, it's VOC compliant in the most strictest place in America, and that's Orange County, California.

It will "seal" the paint as that's the purpose of any wax.


How old is the paint?

A day?
A week?
A month?
A year?

[the other pc]

I’m not quite clear what was done. Did you shoot new cellulose (lacquer) paint onto the bike or was there lacquer on the bike already and you shot something new over it?

Lacquer is notorious for cracking. It can be caused by shooting it over an incompatible substrate, by shooting an incompatible material over it, by shooting it too thick, using the wrong thinner, shooting at the wrong temperature or any number of other issues. Even if you shoot it perfectly it’s possible for a lacquer finish to fail simply from environmental exposure.

Without knowing exactly what process and products were involved it’s impossible to say what happened. (Even If I did know the specifics I could only speculate anyway.)

None of that really matters now because the next step is the same regardless. As you said, you’ll need to strip it all off and start over.

If the bike is going to used as a rider (as opposed to a garage queen) I would highly encourage you to consider using a catalyzed urethane.


PC.

[avoidance]

hi all thank u very much for your advice so far. All the paint is about six mths old as it was a new paint job, all the solvents where compatible as i purchased it from a very reputable surplier and informed them what application it was for, (they are also a good friend of mine and have been in the industry for years) I can say that there is two panels that have not been touched with nxt so i am now conducting a experiment as these two panels have not cracked only the panels with nxt on have. I did consider the fact that it may be the flex in the plastic but after looking this morning i can see the tank which is made of metal has also now cracked! I do understand about clear coat and that it does have its problems, but i have done a number of spray jobs with the same clear coat and no problems even years down the line, if it would help i can post a photo, i would really like to get to the bottom of this problem before i strip and respray as you can prob imagine allot of work and a complete waste of time is not nice as i say thank you for any help or advice you all can give rich

[avoidance]

sorry forgot to mention all old paint was removed completly this was a back to scratch job with plastic primiers and all coats as recommended the paint is from custom paints and there was no aditional mixing apart from the recommended amount of cellulose thinners, all paints were filtered as you would expect and sprayed from a HVLP gravity fed gun with a 1.5 nozzel thanks again rich

[Mike Phillips]

If the paint is 6 months old, that is the last layer, or the final topcoat of paint you sprayed is 6 months old, then it should be completely safe to apply wax onto.

There is nothing in our NXT Tech wax that would make cured paint crack. My guess is going to be it would have cracked or crazed with no wax applied because the problem is in the paint system or process.

Even so... I will forward the link to this thread to our Director of Training and he can decide whether or not to escalate this to notifying R&D.

I will also send the link to this thread to Tom McDonald who will also be here to help if needed.

[avoidance]

hi mike
thank u for your kind reply, im not looking for compensation so pls dont think that. I use your products on other things such as your metal polish and have used other polish from the range with complete satisfaction, you are correct six mths is from final layer and the couple of panels i have not used nxt on have not cracked. The fuel tank prior to using nxt looked fantastic then i applied nxt and within 24hours the tank paint has all now cracked. I will be conducting a experiment on the two panels that i have not applied it to yet, ie half with nxt and half with another product to try and rule out or rule in there being a paint problem. As i say i am only after a answer so as i dont repeat the same mistake as i know the whole job has to be done again and that fact i can not change, i just dont want to do it a third time thank u again i do appreciate your help all my best wishes rich

[Mike Phillips]

Keep us updated...

Just to note, our e-mail system is down right now and it seems to have crashed right after I sent out the e-mail about this situation, so I'm waiting for it to come back up for any replies...

Thank you for your patience.

[avoidance]

hi mike
I have good news and bad news good news its not entirely nxt at fault bad news is it is nxt. The problem is and i need some advice on this is its another product i used has reacted with the nxt and wow does it react, nxt on its own is fine no problems but when i used a rubbing compound from another manufacturer and applied nxt the results are almost as good as paint stripper. Heres where i need the advice please, I have a black and red base coat with 200 micron metal flake over the black (wow large aye) and the metal flake is in the clear coat, so to keep things even i then apply clear coat over the metal flake and the red. now just the black sparkles (holigraphic flake that is ) and the red shines no flake but being 200 micron it needs flattening. Now the problem, first i wet sand 2000 grade nice and gentle, once whole panel is flat i need to take 2000 grade lines out, in comes rubbing compound (very fine) but i still wish to use nxt can you suggest a compatable compound from your range that would do the trick and where i can purchase it, I live in england kent and my supplier has closed down. I know im asking allot, but i really could do with the help as my mental state with this problem is not good lol if you are unable to point me in the right direction then i understand but your help would really be appreciated thanks allot all my best wishes rich

[sneek]

hmm rotary with a wool cutting pad and #85 or #84 should do the trick

i have no clue where you could buy it try ordering online from ADS they ship pretty much anywhere