What is it with acetone that all the touch up paints I use come right off, even after dry, with acetone, but the OEM paint..... not so much? It is like a magical mulligan solution when you screw up touch ups. Couldn't this be an effective reducer based on that property?

I got purple PVC primer on my white bike the other day, and it burned all the way through the wax and clear. I was able to get the OEM clear off with acetone, but I had to literally hold a q tip over the purple spot for 20 seconds and wipe hard. (Obviously looking to just touch the clear spots up and buff out).

Acetone is an extremely "hot solvent." As little as 2.5% in the air can explode with a single spark. It is a solvent for almost any 1k substance (that's what all your touch-up paints are, not being cross linked), can dissolve uncured super glues, and can dissolve a fully cured epoxy resin with enough exposure. OEM paints are a different animal......
I used to work in a plastics plant while in college. We had to do acetone/solvent testing of plastics in the plant and were never allowed to keep more than a few gallons in the entire 100,000 ft. facility. Anymore than that was kept in a separate Acetone Shed far from our main building.
Just an opinion, but I think it's too hot of a solvent to be playing chemist with as a thinner/ reducer generally. I do keep 1 gallon of it in my warehouse which we use for clean up of epoxy, wood super glues, etc.

DarrelK wrote:Acetone is an extremely "hot solvent." As little as 2.5% in the air can explode with a single spark. It is a solvent for almost any 1k substance (that's what all your touch-up paints are, not being cross linked), can dissolve uncured super glues, and can dissolve a fully cured epoxy resin with enough exposure. OEM paints are a different animal......
I used to work in a plastics plant while in college. We had to do acetone/solvent testing of plastics in the plant and were never allowed to keep more than a few gallons in the entire 100,000 ft. facility. Anymore than that was kept in a separate Acetone Shed far from our main building.
Just an opinion, but I think it's too hot of a solvent to be playing chemist with as a thinner/ reducer generally. I do keep 1 gallon of it in my warehouse which we use for clean up of epoxy, wood super glues, etc.

I use acetone for way more things than I should. My wife is obsessed with painting nails, so it is always here somewhere here. I've gotten lucky with a dropper and fixing paint blemishes.

I also use methyl ethyl ketone for some things which is even more aggressive I'd think. That is actually what I used as the reducer for my bathtub resins and clearcoats. PPG said it will not work in auto paint as a reducer on my visit last week to pick their brains. Is that actually true or are they trying to sell reducer?

Around here we use Acetone only a nail polish remover for the wife and thinning/cleaning polyester primer during spraying for me.

It is very dangerous as previously stated and leaves a film on panels (so not good for prep work).

Urethane reducer cleans epoxy just fine and so will lacquer thinner (which is what I use). Lacquer thinner will also remove the 1k products and most mistakes.

When spraying automotive paint use the proper products.
Wax and Grease Remove, Urethane Reducer and the proper activators are a must, not an option. Cleaner grade lacquer thinner is very reasonably priced and can be purchased in 5 gallon containers. It will handle all your clean up needs.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^YES...... Reducers are far more complex than simple solvents like MEK, etc. Shortcutting by trying to substitute what "looks like", kind of "smells like", the right stuff can be downright disastrous with a paint job. What do you end up doing with a paint job that doesn't dry, harden, etc? Hundreds of dollars in chemistry wasted along with all that time sanding everything back off......

DarrelK wrote:^^^^^^^^^^^^^^YES...... Reducers are far more complex than simple solvents like MEK, etc. Shortcutting by trying to substitute what "looks like", kind of "smells like", the right stuff can be downright disastrous with a paint job. What do you end up doing with a paint job that doesn't dry, harden, etc? Hundreds of dollars in chemistry wasted along with all that time sanding everything back off......

Excellent. Thanks! I had forgotten to mention, I'd noticed MEK was (one of the ingredients) in my touch up bottles I got from the dealer, that was why I had asked them over there. But makes perfect sense. Thanks!