Uncured clear coat—how to remove?
I painted my Volvo 240 with base coat and everything was going good. Then I screwed up big time—when spraying clear coat, I accidentally mixed the clear coat with reducer instead of hardener. Sprayed two heavy coats of clear and it’s still tacky 24 hours later.
My understanding is that the clear coat will never cure properly without the hardener and I will need to remove it. Any suggestions on how to do this? Should I assume the base coat will be damaged and need to be resprayed as well?
What should I use to remove the uncured clear coat—the same reducer I used? Acetone? Something else? It’s too tacky to sand so I’ll have to use something to dissolve it.
Can’t believe I did this but stuff happens.
===========UPDATE===========
Finally removed the uncured clear coat! Here’s how:
I sprayed small sections with the reducer, let it soak a bit, then wiped it off with a microfiber towel. After several hours and a dozen towels, I finally got the sticky clear coat off.
The trick was to use my Harbor Freight aerosol sprayer and wipe frequently, always making sure to use a clean portion of the rag.
Unfortunately, it also took the base coat off and there are some swirls but it came off much easier than expected. Just a lot of tedious work.
My plan is to sand it with 600 grit then re-prep it for base and clear.
Note: a pro painter told me that you can’t spray hardener on it afterwards or use more on the next coat because the clear needs to chemically react to actually harden and dry. Otherwise, it will always remain tacky and eventually turn into a giant hairball and ultimately fail.