please explain paint, reducer, and hardener to me

Well I'll give it a shot in layman's terms, I can't get to detailed because I work for a paint company(the best company out there ;)) and this is a public forum.

Refinish paint(general public can purchase)

hardener = isocyanates

Reducer = solvent

Hardener creates the chemical reaction(durability,hardness etc) with the resin system in which it is mixed, these hardeners & reducers are carefully formulated to feed off one another to give the best possible results.

Reducer lowers viscosity, over reduction creates less sag tolerance,under reduction creates bad appearance, orange peel,dry spray, near impossible spray conditions.

There is a reason every paint company makes a slow,normal,fast reducer/hardener combination.

Now OEM paint has a 1k & 2k system that is extremely more complex in the chemistry department. OEM coatings can be repaired without sanding a single panel, adhesion is based off a thermo reaction and are applied with a bell cup or recip gun for the best transfer efficiency.
 
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:withstupi

What he said. Under reduced paint will be pretty much impossible to spray with a quality looking finish orange peel dry spray ect no matter how you try to set the gun. Over reduced will run very easily.

With out the proper amount of a catalyst (hardner) the paint may not cure or may not cure all the way and stay soft

Reducers and hardners come almost always in a "Slow, Medium, And Fast" per say depending on what type of project and air tempature your working with. If your spraying a whole car and its 85* air temp your going to want a slow hardner and reducer, Where as if your shooting just a fender and its 65* (which is the lowest recomended temp iirc) your going to want a fast hardner and reducer.
 
Well, this thread has got some darn good answers. My advise. Take your time if you are gonna tackle painting for the first time. Get everything sanded, cleaned/wiped, and taped in one day and spray the next day. You want to paint with a clear head. Mix all the products as follows and don't try and cover the panel in one coat. The first coat always looks like shit because it doesn't cover. After the 2nd coat things start looking great. If a paint covers, I'll usually stop at 3 coats of paint. A couple cars I have had to do upto 4 or 5.
 
SVT32VDOHC said:
Well, this thread has got some darn good answers. My advise. Take your time if you are gonna tackle painting for the first time. Get everything sanded, cleaned/wiped, and taped in one day and spray the next day. You want to paint with a clear head. Mix all the products as follows and don't try and cover the panel in one coat. The first coat always looks like shit because it doesn't cover. After the 2nd coat things start looking great. If a paint covers, I'll usually stop at 3 coats of paint. A couple cars I have had to do upto 4 or 5.
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Very good advise for a beginning painter. I still will put painting things off a day if I've had a long day of prep work.
 
slideways said:
Very good advise for a beginning painter. I still will put painting things off a day if I've had a long day of prep work.
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Thanks, it works everytime man. I still try and and leave paint day for just paint. Anytime you rush things it never works.
 
SVT32VDOHC said:
Thanks, it works everytime man. I still try and and leave paint day for just paint. Anytime you rush things it never works.
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Rushing ANY step of the proccess is the WORST thing you can do, You can almost guarentee it to come back and bite you in the ass.
 
^ +1
Prep is the single biggest factor in the outcome and for something you want to last a long time - it's not worth rushing. These guys already explained everything very well and I couldn't agree more
 
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