Keystone Clear Coat

Anyone tried Keystone brand clears?

With any of the lo-buck clears, they may look good initially but traditionally you get what you pay for, die off, lack of UV blockers etc are reality. In my mind, if you put all the effort into the bodywork and prep, it deserves the best icing you can put on the cake...lol

Just my experience and two cents...

exactly........you get what you pay for a great majority of the time

Would you also consider the SPI clear everyone here talks about as another Low buck clear? What is the best clear PPG or DuPont?

Every major paint manufacturer has a budget line and a hi-line. As an example, PPG has Omni as a lo-line and Nexa as their hi-line. Today, it's difficult to say which major paint company has the best clears at the premium level. I am currently using Glasurit from BASF. Beautiful product, but I have sprayed Sherwin Williams, DuPont, PPG and Sikkens recently and they all look fantastic, but they were their premium lines. I couldn't tell the difference. On the same note, we have also sprayed Omni and a couple other low end materials and you can see the difference, let alone the long term results that may result from using these cheaper products.

It's very tempting to use a clear that is 1/2 the cost of a premium line, but there has to be a trade off. Why would BASF or PPG have all the various quality levels... Steak or hamburger... It's up to you what you want... That's my honest experience.

Cheers!

I have used SPI clear for a few projects. It is a high quality clear, easy to cut and buff. It is a one for one mix so after mixing a quart of clear and a quart of activator you have 64 oz of sprayable product as comparison I just shot some dupont chroma clear and only had 40 oz of sprayable product (4 to 1 mix). Just my opinion.

eric383 said:

I have used SPI clear for a few projects. It is a high quality clear, easy to cut and buff. It is a one for one mix so after mixing a quart of clear and a quart of activator you have 64 oz of sprayable product as comparison I just shot some dupont chroma clear and only had 40 oz of sprayable product (4 to 1 mix). Just my opinion.

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In all fairness, I know nothing about SPI materials. I see that they are a startup company out of Georgia. Good to see materials being produced in North America. I cannot speak to their quality, but I have seen many inexpensive materials yellow over time or actually break down or die off.

Another thing to consider, is how dissimilar products react with each other, meaning are they designed to chemically cross-link between the base coat and the topcoat. If you are using all SPI's materials (sealer,base and clear) they are chemically formulated to work together, but when you use brand X base coat, and brand Y clear, you may be looking at potential delamination of the clear from the base coat.

It is different however when you sand a cured single stage paint (solid colour) to clear over, as you are providing mechanical adhesion for the materials to link together. But under a wet on wet application such as bc/cc it's a huge risk to assume one product will link with another.

I could go on, but in a nut shell, those are the main concerns...

I usually use SPI epoxy reduced as my sealer then Dupont Chroma base and the SPI Universal clear. I have this on a bunch of daily drivers for at least 4 years with no yellowing. I have never had any problem mixing their products with other base colors.