Paint curing question

[MinisterofDOOM]

Paint question:

I painted my grille today. I used black duplicolor body match paint with wheel clearcoat since it's supposed to stand up to impact better.

My question is, how soon is it safe to re-mount the grille on the car?Cans say "dries in to the touch in 1 hour, safe to handle in 3 hours." So does that mean I can drive with it on the car in 3 hours? Or do I need to wait longer to let it cure before driving and subjecting it to ~80mph winds and road debris?

[Dead Serious]

how you applied the paint is a big deal. if you applied alot of thin coats or few thick ones will effect drying/curing time. wait over night to be safe but simple rattle can jobs are handleable after 15/20 mins and dry after about an hour with the wurth paint i use at work. btw powder coat is way more durrable that rattle can and is practical for us enthusiests to get cheap guns. before u know it ur powder coating stuff for everyone u know weather thats a good thing or a nusance. think about it if the elements beat up ur paint job before too long.

[MinisterofDOOM]

Yeah, I did 2 thin coats of black, then 2 thin coats of clear followed by a thicker final coat of clear.

Thanks.

Can't bake plastic, so powdercoating is out.

[E7-S14]

let it cure overnight

throw it on the next dayshould be fine for rattle can..

and powdercoats nice..but nothing beats a 10buck jobof decent quality

[Dead Serious]

these ppl powder coat plastic but u would need to get alot of grille owners to go in on this with u because they mostly do higher volume stuff.

Alliance Surface Finishing144 Sharer RoadVaughan, OntarioCanada L4L 8P4Phone: (905) 265-2273Fax: (905) 265-2274Web: http://www.asf-powder.com

[Dead Serious]

im not arguing cause its not like the bumper or hood are powder coated on his or any other car. i just think that way cause i hate how fragile paint is and i hate those nics i get the first week of driving a freshly painted car.