Will clear coat make a surface harder?

[hope farmer]

Is clear coat only for making the paint finish look better or will it offer any surface protection against nicks and scratches? Also, can clear coat be purchased in a rattle can?
Thanks very much.

 

[CNKS]

Having driven cars and pickups with everything from alkyd enamel and acrylic laquer to urethane base/clear, the answer is no, it does not offer any more protection. It is harder, because removal of scratches requires an aggressive compound along with a buffer. Older paints, unless the scratches are down to the primer can be hand rubbed to remove defects. The main advantage of base clear is that it does not fade, or at least it takes years instead of weeks or months. Nothing will take abuse such as driving under a tree limb. The advantage of clear on tractors is that it can be color sanded and buffed much easier than single stage, with less danger of removing too much down to the base coat, as compared to going to the primer with single stage. Rattle can paint, including clear is inferior to the spray gun type, although I have used it for small jobs on emblems, etc, never on sheet metal.

 

[Anonymous-0]

Yes and no. Clear will improve protection but so will another coat of regular paint.

 

[RandyB(MI)]

Agree with CNKS and will add this. If clear does get scratched , it shows up white wheras a scratch in single stage paint will show up colored. That's why some dark colored cars you see that havn't had very good care , don't look their true color anymore. They are so full of fine scratches that all add a light haze to the paint. Once paint/clear exceeds 4 mils in thickness , it starts losing durability. Clear does 2 important things , it screens out uv rays better than pigmented paint and it forms a weather tight seal over metalic or pearl or any other glamour finishes that by themselves have very little protection from the elements. One other bennie , if you have ever tried to spray single stage high metalic on a car , trust me you will only do it once and switch to base/clear. We are talking 2 component clears here. Rattle bomb clear? None of the above applies.

 

[hope farmer]

Thanks very much for the information/education. I have an old JD B that will (hopefully) be ready for a coat of green one of these years. I'm trying to learn as much as I can about putting on the best and most reasonable coat of green possible. I don't have the equipment (yet) to do much with paint right now. Probably trying to compare apples to oranges but wondered if clear coat might act like urethane that's used for wood finishes. I might be confusing hardener with clear coat.

 

[rustyj14]

I had only worked at my first job, in an outo body and paint shop for 6 months, when our regular painter called in sick (from booze) and wasn't coming to work for a week!
We had a 1951 Ford sedan, bronze in color, all taped and prepared for paint, sitting in the paint booth! And, the boss didn't know anybody else to get to paint it!
So, he asked me if i could do the job! GULP!!
Well, i had not painted regular synthetic enamel as used way back then, and especially a bronze metallic color, but i agreed to try it. Yeah, i was a brave, nervy type back then!
Still am, altho a bit more subdued now!
Well, i painted the car, shoved it into the drying oven, and next day took it back out, and---wow, it turned out very good!
And thats an example of "pure luck", but it got me started on a long period of being a good painter of cars.
Many years later, though, the new paints with hardeners has made me very allergic to auto paints, and i have since quit using them. I use rattle cans which don't affect me. I can't go near a body shop where they use those auto paints!

 

[Anonymous-0]

There are vast differences between types of paint. I once saved on PPG (Industrial)Performer line of poly uri JD green. They mistakenly mixed the lawn mower color for someone needing it for ag. Wow was that good paint. Shiny, tough, easy to paint and not to expensive. The mower's been outside for five years and still looks new.

 

[DickL]

I can tell from past posts that I am not the expurt on this but the Eastwood's Diamond Clear for wheels will give you a tougher surface than regular paint. I started using it about four years ago. The only real test I have done is use. Mowing under low tree limbs.