Why Acrylic paint not shiny?

Hi,

I used Mr. Color Acrylic paint to paint the body of my car. However, after finishing the final coating, the body is still not glossy. I even polished the paint and put tamiya wax on it. still not glossy. Can anyone give me a hint on what I am doing wrong? For the paint to be glossy and reflective, do I need to use Lacquer paint?

Thanks,

Gd8ver2

I have tried many times to paint with acrylic type paints and I suffer the same problems you mention.I just never get a good finish.I stick to lacquer type paints now and find them a lot easier and forgiving to work with.

Try clearing it with Tamiya gloss X-22 in the small bottle than put in a dehydrator
or leave to dry really good for a couple days.
http://images109.fotki.com/v787/photos/2/250280/4238460/PB230801-vi.jpg
I got the body all rubbed out since clearocating it with Tamiya Clear X-22. I wet sanded with Detail Masters polishing cloths (3200-12,000 grit) and did the final polishing with Meguiar's Car Cleaner Wax.

One thing I found out is that you can't put too much of their thinner in the paint as it can actually cause fisheyes. I noticed this when I started to paint the one side.................I didn't like how it was turning out, so I stripped it with Windex, and started over. Car was painted by Bill Geary

The first step is to figure out what kind of paint this actually is. From your description, it sounds like a urethane-based acrylic. If it is, it must be clearcoated to get a glossy finish.

Check this thread: http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/t100522.html. It sounds like a similar paint, and the posters concluded that it was a lacquer-based acrylic - but yours might be a different Mr. Color formulation. Usually - but not always - the term "acrylic" refers to water-based paint that dries glossy, unless it is specifically described as a "flat" or "matte" paint.

Synthetic lacquers like Tamiya's TS-series don't necessarily shine right off, unless they are sprayed very thin. But they do respond well to polishing. Seems like yours doesn't fit the bill.

Regardless of whether your paint is water-based acrylic or lacquer, you can clearcoat it with either Tamiya X-22 acrylic clearcoat, or Tamiya TS-13 lacquer (spraycan). Neither will react badly to acrylic or lacquer, and either one should give you a nice gloss.

Ddms