Painting Disaster?

[cob427sc]

I can't believe I did this (professional painters don't laugh) but I think I made a big mistake. I was repainting a panel that I didn't like the finish on. Sanded, primed, sealed, and shot the two color coats (silver mettalic). Only after completing the job did I realize when I mixed the color coats instead of mixing 2 paint: i reducer: 15% hardener I had picked up the wrong can and used Activator instead of reducer! Looks great but after 2 hours has not hardened up and I'm afraid to shoot the clear coats. Do I need to remove/sand and start over?

[hogauto]

If it was my car I would remove it and start over. It probably will never set up .

[Jeff Kleiner]

They aren’t interchangeable so you have a major chemistry mixup—kinda like mixing cake batter and using baking soda instead of flour. It’s going to have to come off. Sorry :(

Jeff

[Kmcallahan]

I can't believe I did this (professional painters don't laugh) but I think I made a big mistake. I was repainting a panel that I didn't like the finish on. Sanded, primed, sealed, and shot the two color coats (silver mettalic). Only after completing the job did I realize when I mixed the color coats instead of mixing 2 paint: i reducer: 15% hardener I had picked up the wrong can and used Activator instead of reducer! Looks great but after 2 hours has not hardened up and I'm afraid to shoot the clear coats. Do I need to remove/sand and start over?

cob427sc,

This is not a disaster, you are just livin and learnin!! I am learning for this also. Thanks for the psot.

[cob427sc]

I'm going to take Jeffs advise and start over. I'm not a chemist or a pro painter but know enough tpo be dangerous. Looking at the chemical makeup of the 2 different products, I can see there is no comparison. This all started with someone pulling into my driveway in a 63 split window vette (which I've always wanted to own) and resulted in me mixing up the cans. Should have done the check twice rule. Now the question becomes how best to remove the paint as it is a tacky mess at this point. Sand paper will surely just plug.

[Jeff Kleiner]

Start by getting after it with reducer before it sets any more.

Jeff