Finally, the last coat of clear is sprayed. Now is it time to bake it, or let it air dry? My opinion, is to always let the paint air dry.
In the world of ‘high end’ paint, products are pushed pretty far; up to their limits. Usually 5 or 6 coats of clear are used in order to have enough material to sand it completely flat.
With this much clear coat, the heat from force drying it could easily dry the top first, and then force it to solvent pop. If that doesn’t happen, the clear could also loosen up with the heat and run or sag. Either situation is bad news. Air drying minimizes the chances of all this quite a bit.
- After the clear coat is dried, the next day, I like to begin baking it.
- After every grit is sanded, I also like to bake the clear. The more heat cycles it goes through before the sanding is finished the better.
- Some clear coats are baking clears, which means to properly cure they need to reach a certain temperature.