Good Evening,

Today I tried applying the single stage urethane paint I purchased from Eastwood and it was a total disaster. When I initially sprayed in on it looked good, glossy and had good coverage but after about 3 minutes it started to separate like oil and water and then just drip/run off the car??? I'm sure it’s something I’ve messed up and there were a few factors at play, but I'm hoping you can help me isolate the underlying issue so I can remedy this and get my car painted.

To start, here is my setup (definitely not fancy):

Eastwood single stage urethane paint (Destroyer Grey) with slow/warm weather activator.
Painting outdoors in a 20x10 Harbor Freight canopy with a 20” box fan exhaust and 10x24” fourecent lights in my driveway (located in northern VA).
I placed a space heater inside the tent 5hrs prior to painting and it was roughly 10* warmer inside.
Husky 1.7HP 32 Gallon air compressor w/Harbor Freight inline desiccant filter, air/water separator, air regulator and plastic air filter.
Harbor Freight purple 6k series HVLP guns - one drilled out to 2mm for primer & another with the stock 1.4mm tip. 65psi at the intake of the gun, measured at 28psi with the trigger pulled.
75ft 3/8 air line
Primed already with Eastwood 2k Urethane tan primer:
Wet sanded with 400 and then 600.
Spot primed a few high spots that sanded through the primer with rattle can PPG self etching primer.
Wiped down with new microfiber towel and then tag rags twice.
I plan to spray Eastwood Urethane European clear coat on top as well.

Here’s where I’m thinking/hoping things went off the rails. The weather conditions when I started painting were 62* and raining so 98% relative humidity. I had read many stories of people spraying in the rain to reduce dust and bugs. Unfortunately the rain stopped right as I started spraying and the dew point immediately spiked to meet the ambient temperature.

I started to spray the paint and it looked good for a few minutes, but then it started to separate and run off all of the vertical surfaces like oil & water. After reading much more online, it seems like painting under 60% relative humidity can be problematic so I will change that when I try this again.

My biggest question is, what else if anything should I change? Most people tend to say the slow activator helps prevent hazing in the clear coat in low temp/high humidity situations but should I get lower temp activator?

I’m on a budget so I can’t afford to get better tools/equipment but is there anything else I should address in my setup or technique?

Pics of the damage:

https://flic.kr/p/2cHxqXM

https://flic.kr/p/NXkfun

https://flic.kr/p/2cD6dN3

https://flic.kr/p/QzKWD9
Thanks in advance!

Chris

nice pictures, I don't think I have ever seen anything that spectacular before.
. i'm thinking you had moisture on the sheet metal. it could be caused from the warm moist air making contact with the cooler metal of the car. I think you would be better off eliminating the heat set up. sweating of the metal can be a problem and its best to try and keep everything near the same temperature. 60 deg is good for painting. drastic changes in temperature and or humidity can do funny things. one other thing after looking at your pictures some more. did you mix or stir the paint after you put the activator in the color? don't be alarmed i'll bet everyone on here has done it at least once. I don't know what you did, but you should have got some rags and reducer and wiped it all off before it dried.
I had a similar problem once before. I had a car in the booth and had just wiped it all down with w/g remover. I was at my bench mixing the paint and for some unknown reason I had opened the booth doors. I finished mixing the paint, closed the doors and got my tack rag ready and started to tack the body off. when I got down to about 20 or so inches from the floor the body was wet it had started to sweat or collect moisture. it was cool in the booth and had just warmed up outside the warm humid air coming in the open door condensed on the lower part of the body as I believe it was the coolest next to the floor.
Jay D.

looks to me like an extremely heavy coat of paint

I think you are both right.... fairly heavy coat of paint over a surface that had hit a dew point situation. You wouldn't even have noticed small amount of moisture on the surface. I always try to stabilize the area temperature I am shooting in for 24 hours before the shoot. I like to use radiant heat in the area I shoot as that warms up the concrete and other objects in the area. Even when the vent fan is on the objects take a long time to cool down getting me better flow out with no moisture problems.

I agree with all of the above possibilities.
Another thing it could be is not having the gun set properly. Combine that with a high temperature activator and it would cause a heavy wet coat.

Did the paint cure out alright or is it still sticky to the touch?

i dont care how heavy you put on paint it wont separate like that from being heavy.

you sir got a water problem in air lines, as well as what was mentioned above, probably a dew point issue. or a very heavily contaminated surface