How to Mix Clear Coat

Video Transcript

"Hi I'm Doug I work with 20 great guys in St. Louis at Doug Jenkins Custom Hot Rods. And we're going to do some work for you today on Expert Village. Our next step in painting is mixing the clear coat. The clear coat provides the final protection and the final gloss. The clear coat is a two component chemical. The first is the one he's pouring in there is actually the clear itself. And you mix it, depending on which clear you've chosen, you mix at different ratios. We're using a slow hardener and more of a spot clear. This is a small job, so we getting a clear that dries a little bit faster, and a hardener that's a normal speed. Mixing this 3-part clear, 1-part hardener and then a little bit of reducer to thin it out enough to go through the gun. The clear has a limited pot life once it's mixed, you have a few hours to get it sprayed or it will turn to a big tennis shoe sole. You mix it up and once those chemical components are together, you only have a little while to apply it. And the clear coat actually has a limited life once you open the container. You have to use the clear within a number of months, it's actually printed on the container or it will get cloudy in the can and be ruined from the moisture that it picks up from the air that you let in the can when you opened it. Andy's grabbing a filter now; we don't want any junk in our clear coat coming through the gun. And he's probably mixed about 20% of more clear coat than we need to use. If you mix a little too much, that's throwing some away, if you mix a little too little you end of ruining your job. You have to apply the clear fast and evenly in order to get the right texture to it. The material you see put in the gun is probably about $40 worth of material. Paint last for a long time we use the best paint in the industry and it's really expensive. So we take good care of it."