Hello,
I'm a novice painter with a few cars under my belt at this point so user error is still a real strong possibility...but I'm at my wits end. I decided to try something a bit different on my '76 Bronco hard top and went with a semi-gloss product from Advantage called Stealth Gloss mixed 4:1. I have sanded and re-painted this top 5 different times and it looks terrible each time. I have tried different gun settings (DV1 Clearcoat gun), with 10% reducer/without, heavy coats, medium coats, 2 coats, 4 coats, and the results are still garbage. The sides look pretty good but the top ends up with what look like dry streaks. It does this if I lay it on wet or thin. I have never had a problem with gloss clear coat before. Has anyone used this product with success? Has anyone wrestled with an issue like this could offer advice for my 6th round ?

looks typical of, not enough overlap, or tilting the gun ( easy to do even for an experienced painter) to fast of a mix, gun adjustment ( fan set to wide), low air pressure, gun to far back. you say well the sides look good. it happens to a lot of us painters for some reson we can shoot it nice and smooth on the side, BUT not on a top or horizontal surface. i would go with the gun technique and slightly to fast.
Jay D.

By the way, I just sprayed this afternoon so let me know if there is a path to scuff and respray with a new technique tomorrow.

I'm going to throw something out here that may sound a little silly but here goes..... So we do all kinds of crazy shapes with furniture especially some of the more modern shapes. I had some crazy modified pyramid shaped high end speaker boxes that drove me crazy for a bit, also customer wanting a dead flat coating. I find that if I am getting a coating that is laying down better vertically (like those sides of your here) maybe I need to turn that large flat surface "into" a vertical surface instead..... in other words mount that "top" so it is more like shooting a "door." If gun tilting and incorrect lapping is going on it may correct that.....

matte/semi gloss clears need about 90% over lap, sprayed wet.

my guess is the reach is uncomfortable for you so you are both, not giving it the time it takes for proper over lap and like stated above you most likely are cocking your gun a bit.

slow down on that top and dont let the long reach make you hurry

PainterDave and DarrelK I too was thinking it must be technique and inconsistency/speed reaching over the panel. To show you how desperate I am to solve this puzzle I built a jig that I could roll up the top making it near vertical to see if that made a difference. Same results - streaks. Here are some pictures of the jig in the position I used to paint it in the last two rounds. I also included a picture of the rest of the Bronco I painted in case your were curious what the whole project looks like. Maybe I should just order a soft top and be done

Thank you for the ideas, I just hate to think about painting this top again without some confidence on where I am going wrong and what I will do differently this time.

Global D8115 matte clear and be done

Dave gave you some excellent advice. it still looks like its to dry ( your mixture is flashing to quick) and or you're putting it on to dry . those rough streaks you see are the dry edges of your spray pattern from your mixture being to fast for the temperature and or the gun to far away from the surface ( as in tilting) one edge is further from the surface than the other, one is wet the other is dry. you can keep going over it but it just does the same thing. put it back horizontal slow the mix down some (a little slow reducer) then apply it WET hose it on so it looks like you poured water on it. as Dave said slow down and pay attention to your gun technique. it MIGHT help if you would post the materials your useing and the temps when spraying.
this is interesting as i'm about to start spraying some parts for a project thats going to be semi-gloss black.
Jay D.

Thanks Jay and Dave for the replies. I am using this product https://advantagerefinishproducts.com/c ... ss-2-1-voc
mixed in a 4:1 ratio with No reducer this past time. I added 10% medium reducer a couple of rounds ago and didn't notice a difference. I am spraying in a booth in my garage so according to the infrared gun the hard top was 71 degrees when I sprayed yesterday. I can try the 10% slow reducer and see if that makes a difference and lay it on super wet. Thanks again for the advice.

Okay, so now I'm thinking Dave might have the right idea here.... if this last thing doesn't work I'd consider switching clear.... Take a look at how "even" my Tamco Matt clear is on my Charger Ute build..... and Charger hoods are a whole lotta' real estate.....