Here is my mx5 that I have owned for a number of years. Last year I resprayed the engine bay, rh rear wing, bonnet and headlight covers using a solvent base coat and the iso free clearcoat from Jawel. The paint takes a very long time to become even remotely hard. The MOT tester managed to leave fingerprints in the bonnet after about 2 weeks. The paint stayed soft for a very long time and even now I wouldnt say that it was extremely hard.
Here is the engine bay. This was sprayed in February in a poly tunnel using a heater to warm the panels warm.
And the other parts which were sprayed in August
However through the cold weather we had this year the clearcoat has shrunk and cracked in most areas but not the vertical surfaces. I believe could be due to me putting it on too thick or not leaving enough time between coats.
What I plan to do is to wet sand the effected panels down and polish. I tried a test piece on one of the headlight covers and the result would be good enough for now.
I did however manage to burn through the clear when testing how far I had to go so I plan to repaint one of the headlight covers using a base coat and true 2k clear. Then paint the other headlight cover using a base coat and the upol 1k smart clear to compare result.
Im doing all of this in preparation for when I manage to get round and restore my mini. Its been sat for 4 years unfortunately. I will have confidence in the products Im using and will know that they last.
