Paint cure time

[Moparinho]

I'm very interested to know how do you wait the paint to cure  between the coats of a typical two stages paint job.  I know that the clear coat of a metallic color has to be sprayed not more that 1 hour after the base coat.   But I have also seen some guys on this forum who are usual to spray the clear after days....

[Cuda Cody]

Get a tech sheet with your brand of paint.  The paint store will have it.  Everything is spelled out in great detail and will list the wait times and at the correct temp.

[elitecustombody]

It doesn't matter what brand basecoat you're spraying,all of them need about 10-15 minutes to flash between coats and about 25-30 before clearcoat .All require to be topcoated with clear after within 1 hour, if an hour or more passed and the color hasn't been covered with clear,all you need to do is lightly sand with 1000 grit anf shoot a medium coat of color to reactivate the base,keep in mind, some basecoats require activator/catalyst,those will need more thorough scuffing.

[Moparinho]

thanks Stefan.
these are exactly the steps I usually follow.  For my next project I would like to spray a first coat of basecoat when I finish the body work and the second one + clearcoat  when  the car will be completely assembled.  This would avoid any scratch issues due to the assembly work.

My main concern is that I can't estimate how much time it will take between the two coats of basecost  (2-3 months..).  Have you never tried it before ?    Do you see any potential risk / issue in such approach ?

thanks.

[elitecustombody]

I don't see a reason to do that, I would paint it all apart and assemble when everything is painted,if you're concerned about colormatch,paint the jambs underhood and trunk, backtape,mask off the jambs,bolt on all body panels,adjust all gaps, paint the whole car . But if you still want to get the color on the whole car taking your time,you can .Prep,shoot tinted sealer to match your paint color,shoot few coats of color,assemble the car in course of few months and when ready to finish the painting process,lightly sand everything with wet 1000 grit,dip in a bucket sand a square foot or two,wipe down to eliminate a big mess and just keep residue from running off into corners and cracks .

If it were me ,I'd paint it all torn apart,that way every part gets closer attention ,even coverage around all edges ,no dry areas or overspray and no tape line

[MOPAR DREAMS]

Yeah, read your tech sheet closely and stick to it.  Some bases don't need scuffing for up to 24 hours.  Some manufacturers require you to scuff and reshoot the base after 24 hours.  Make sure to allow good flash between coats especially since it is cooling off.