Which thinner is best for car paint? Auto enamel solvents: classification and principles of use Sadolin auto paint instructions.

The buildings 04.03.2020
The buildings

Car paint thinner is one of the most important and indispensable components in painting work. There are a lot of them and only certain ones are needed for the correct dilution of the paint. So, in order not to be mistaken, how to dilute paint, acrylic or any other, we will consider the main types of solvents and their use.

In principle, diluent and solvent are the same substance. Both serve to bring the material to the required viscosity (paint, primer, liquid putty, base enamel, etc.)
The manufacturer always indicates which solvent is best used for painting cars. Each paint system has its own required hardener and thinner. Be sure to read the instructions on the back of the container before use. It will indicate what type of thinner to use, at what temperature and for what material.

It’s worth saying right away which solvents should not be used in order to dilute acrylic paint - these are organic 646, 647, 650, etc. When diluting paint or varnish with them, difficulties in painting can also arise. Use them only for washing or other tools. The price for them is not great for cleaning the most it.

Types of solvents and thinners, which one to choose?

If you have a question, how to dilute acrylic paint? There is only one answer, use any branded acrylic thinner. Even if it is of a different company than the diluted paint, varnish, primer, etc. Just don't use the ones mentioned above! Branded acrylic thinner is an order of magnitude more expensive than conventional thinners, but for high-quality repairs it is recommended to use them.

If branded acrylic is over or you want to save money, then you can use a domestic manufacturer of materials thinner P12 universal solvent. It has been successfully tested on almost all acrylic materials (lacquers, acrylics, primers, epoxies). There were no problems or defects. It can be safely considered as a universal solvent. P12 is "normal.


And so, the main criterion for choosing a thinner for diluting paint is the ambient temperature. It is necessary to determine the ambient temperature before painting and, as a result, select the right one. Temperature affects the drying time of the material. In hot weather, the solvent evaporates faster and the paint does not have time to spread. Defects appear, large shagreen, overspray. In cold weather, evaporation will be too slow, and there may be more debris.

There are three groups of acrylic thinners:

  1. Slow
  2. Normal
  3. Quick

Therefore, for high-quality work, always choose a material for a certain air temperature.
If it is cold, then use a "fast" thinner at a temperature of 5 to 15 degrees. At normal temperatures from 15 to 25, "normal" is used. And in hot weather from 25 degrees, a slow one is needed. All numbers are indicative, see the manufacturer's instructions for exact definition. In the photo below, a series of thinners from Body 740 741 742.

It should be noted that there is no special thinner for varnish or for primer, acrylic. For their dilution, a universal acrylic thinner is used. But for the base enamel there is a solvent for the base. Although many use the usual universal.


Solvents for transition

In addition to universal ones, there is also a solvent for the transition. They are not designed to dilute varnishes and enamels. Their purpose is to make an inconspicuous transition between old and new paint or varnish. To do this, the transition thinner is applied from a paint sprayer or aerosol can to dry "dust" in the transition zone of varnish or acrylic paint.


It is extremely important to note that the solvent for transitioning over varnish or acrylic paint is "acrylic" and for transitioning through the base, it is also called "Binder" are completely different products. The binder for painting is something like a transparent base. It is used so that the metallic grain does not stick out like a "hedgehog" in the transition zone, but correctly "subsides", which will provide a high-quality invisible transition.

How to mix colors correctly.

For high-quality painting, the paintwork material must be of a certain viscosity, and in order to mix it correctly, there is a special tool:


Each has its own advantages and what to use is purely everyone's choice. The measuring ruler is reusable, it will last a very long time, unlike a measuring cup. Measuring rulers are double-sided (each side has a different mixing ratio). Basically like this: 2:1 and 4:1 and another option 3:1 and 5:1.
How to use a measuring ruler and a glass in the photo below, there is nothing complicated about it.
Be sure to read the instructions on the package before mixing paints, in what ratio to dilute the material. Below I will tell you in what proportions to mix various coatings.

Mixing acrylic paint "acrylic":

For Vika paint, this is a 4:1 ratio with a hardener and 20% -30% thinner. And for Mobihel 2:1 with hardener and 10%-20% thinner.

Base mixing:
The base paint is generally mixed 2:1. That is, the base itself and half of it is a solvent. It can also be mixed 1:1.

Varnish mixing:
With varnishes, almost the same story as with acrylics. Varnish is diluted 2:1 with hardener and thinner from 0% to 20%. Depending on what viscosity you need it.
All the above mentioned figures are approximate, they can change for certain needs and the type of work, and application technique. In general, see the instructions before use and there will be no problems.


To accurately determine the viscosity of paint, there is a special tool called a viscometer. The work of the viscometer: the viscometer is immersed in paint, taken out and noted for how long it takes to empty. As soon as the jet begins to drip, the stopwatch is stopped.
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It often happens that minor repairs to the car cover are not enough. The paint is aging, does not perform protective functions, a grid or cobweb of cracks appears, the presentation is lost. In general, a complete painting of the car is required. To do this, you need to know how to breed car paint.

You will need

  • Car paint, thinner, "Sadolin", dishes for diluting paint, wooden stick for stirring.

Instruction

It should be remembered that the painting of the car is carried out after a number of preparatory work. Before painting, the car must be thoroughly washed and dried.

Any paint is applied in two layers. The first layer is called developing, all surface defects are clearly visible on it. In order to dilute the paint for the first developing layer, take 4 parts of thinner and one part of "Sadolin". Stir the mixture thoroughly. For the first painting of the outer surface of the body, 1 liter will be enough. Teach that just before painting, the surface of the body must be thoroughly degreased and dried again.

Apply the paint with a regular household vacuum cleaner. Remove the dust filter from it, connect the spray gun and hose. Pour 100 grams of solvent into the vacuum cleaner tank to adjust the spray pattern. In this case, the paint should be sprayed without splashing, evenly, and the torch should be vertical. After adjustment, pour the diluted paint into the tank and apply the first coat. First paint the boxes, doorways along the sealed places, then the main area.

Apply the paint with quick horizontal strokes from top to bottom. This will make it easier to avoid leaks. Don't worry if there are minor gaps somewhere - this is only the first layer, it is much thinner than the main one. The paint should dry well for 20-30 minutes.

While the paint dries, prepare the solution for the next layer. The second layer is called decorative, so the paint should be a little thicker. Dilute it with three volume parts of the solvent and one part of "Sadolin". Mix the composition for complete uniformity. Apply the base coat in the same way as the developing one - quickly and efficiently. After painting, leave the car in a closed garage for 2-3 days.

To dilute the paint, use the 646th, 647th or 648th solvent. Keep in mind that the higher the number, the fatter the solvent, and this is an additional opportunity to make more smudges.


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car painting technology

And you need to paint. The time has already come for a complete painting of the car, or a situation has arisen when you need to do it further. Exit? There is always a way out. It consists in painting the car body with your own hands. Don't worry, everything will work out for you. Just before you start painting, practice on the old body parts, which are in abundance around any garages.

Let's start by revealing a "secret" to you. Auto painting technology has general principles of action, it doesn’t matter whether you want to produce or paint in metallic, paint a body part or carry out.

The difference will be only in the selection of materials for painting and the time you spend. Do not forget to include here the material and time for training - training painting. A little more time, a little more materials, but the experience gained is worth it.

So, we will conditionally divide the technology of painting a car into the following areas:

  • Stages of car painting.
  • Car painting process.
  • Vehicle painting technique.

But conditionally, because these areas of action can change or organically complement each other.

Stages of car painting

Preparation of material and equipment. What do you need to paint a car? Painting materials: putty, primer, paint and varnish, depending on the area and your choice of car color. standard.

The main elements of the equipment are: a grinder with circles, a building hair dryer, an airbrush, a compressor, sandpaper, a grinding planer.

Body preparation. This stage includes: washing the body, dismantling everything that does not need to be painted, repairing parts of the body if necessary, preparing the surface for puttying, puttying, priming the surface.

That's it, your car is ready for painting. But this requires preparation. The instructions for painting a car directly indicate the presence of a perfectly clean place when applying paint and varnish. Here we will make such a spray booth from the garage.

Site preparation. A stage that is rarely mentioned is the preparation of a place for painting. This place is the garage. A standard 3x6 garage is not suitable for full painting, but it is ideal for local painting of body parts. The technique of painting a car completely requires at least a space of 4x6 meters.

We remove everything superfluous and perform a general cleaning of the premises. With a vacuum cleaner and "Dichlorvos" in the summer. Thus, we eliminate the possibility of dust, debris and insects to spoil your car painting efforts during the varnishing stage. Wet the walls, floor, ceiling with water. There is no need for puddles, but there should not be dry places either.

As an option: the garage from the inside, after the full preparation of the body for painting, can be covered with plastic wrap. To do this, you just need to have adhesive tape and a film.

Car painting procedure

Each master has his own procedure for painting a car, but, nevertheless, there are basic principles that should be followed. All removable parts must be removed and painted locally. This applies to doors, optics, handles, moldings, etc. Those. the body of the car must remain "naked".

Painting parts should begin with internal or hidden surfaces. Exterior painting is carried out last, and it begins with the roof of the car.

car painting technique

The technique of painting a car for different types of painting is also no different. If you are using an aerosol can to remove chips and cracks, the instructions for use of the can are given on it.

When painting a car with an airbrush, it is important to follow the general rules of painting technique. They do not differ in complexity, but the quality of the layers depends on their implementation, and as a result, the appearance of the car.

  • for applying paint. Recommended No. 1.4. It all depends on the paint.
  • Compressor pressure selection. As a rule, 2.5 - 3 atm is optimal.
  • The distance of the spray gun nozzle from the surface to be painted is 150-250 mm.
  • Application layers. 2-3 coats of paint are recommended. Application movements should be uniform and it is important not to overdo it with the thickness of the layer to avoid smudges. Otherwise, this place will have to be repainted completely. The intervals between applying the layers should be 15-20 minutes to dry the paint.

Expert opinion

Ruslan Konstantinov

Automotive expert. Graduated from IzhGTU named after M.T. Kalashnikov with a degree in Operation of Transport and Technological Machines and Complexes. Over 10 years of professional car repair experience.

After painting, the coating is subject to various influences for several more weeks, despite the fact that the varnish hardens after a couple of days. On average, it is better not to use the car after painting for at least one and a half weeks for optimal paint crystallization and creating a film on the surface. At this time, you can not use brushes for sweeping dust, avoid direct sunlight and precipitation on the coating. If there is no way to meet the deadline, then you should avoid traveling on country roads and over long distances. As for polishing, you can do this procedure only a month after painting. Until then, you can use the usual gentle paint care products containing wax.

Many motorists are wondering when it is possible to wash the car after painting and not harm the paintwork. You can wash the car, and even more so with high-pressure washers, only after two weeks. Someone washes a car after a couple of days, but in this case, there is a high probability of damage to the coating, especially if washed incorrectly. First of all, at least a month you need to exclude detergents with an aggressive chemical composition, you can not use household chemicals. It is advisable to use a soft sponge and clean water at first, it is better if it is flowing. Do not wash the car in the sun, because water drops can become real lenses and heat up certain areas, thus damaging the paintwork.

Here, in fact, such is the technology of painting a car. After painting, in 98% of cases a car is required.

Good luck to you car lovers.

At first glance, the technology of using a solvent for automotive paint does not conceal any difficulties. In the instructions, the manufacturer indicates ratios, recommendations and exact instructions - you can make a mistake here by negligence and nothing more. However, not every instruction printed on paper is the best solution, and writing it stimulates not only the desire to play it safe, but also the commercial component: most manufacturers recommend using their company's products, i.e. solvent is expensive and reliable. Meanwhile, understanding the principle of dilution of enamels, the degree and quality of its influence on the result, allows most of the expensive products to be replaced by domestic numbered products.

The principle of using solvents

The result of painting is a hard coating that protects the metal not only from corrosion, but also from minor mechanical damage. However, car enamel is supplied in liquid form, and for its application to the surface, it must also be diluted. Once an automotive paint is applied to a surface, there is no need for a solvent, i.e. it should evaporate. Evaporation rate is the first parameter by which solvents can be classified:

  • Fast - more often used in winter.
  • Universal - designed for transitional seasons.
  • Long (slow) - it is more logical to use at elevated air temperatures.

The enamel concentration is adjusted by the manufacturer even before the final packaging of the product. The reason lies in the safety net and the need to keep some substances active in the composition before starting work. The abbreviation in the name indicates the degree of enamel concentration: LS (low-filled enamels - Low Solid), HD and HS, MS, UHS, VHS (highly filled enamels - Very High Solid), etc. The best fullness gives the best transfer by an airbrush on a surface. The viscosity of the substances is approximately the same, but the concentration of the polymers is different, therefore, the volatility is also different - strong dilution of the LS systems is not allowed.

Further dilution depends on what diluent the manufacturer used. Properly dilute with a substance with a suitable chemical composition, and even better - with the same one. Much depends on the base: you can dilute acrylic enamel and acrylic varnish in the same way. Limit concentrations and the composition recommended for them are the same, because acrylic lacquer is acrylic without coloring pigment.

Dilution of paint with a solvent

The main components of a standard solvent are toluene, white spirit, solvent, xylene, butyl acetate, nefras, etc. The difference between most diluting compounds lies in the ratio. So, for example, the most popular composition is No. 646, the main advantage and disadvantage of which is aggressiveness, leading not only to dilute the base, but changing its composition. It must be used with great care, although the 646th is quite suitable for acrylic and most primers. Despite the exact composition, the original purity of the substances used in its manufacture can vary, so most painters use 646 only for washing pistols, where its aggressiveness is put to good use.

It will not work to dilute acrylic enamel with white spirit, but it is excellent for dissolving slate, rubber-bitumen and ordinary mastics. However, the main field of application of this substance is the degreasing of surfaces, since domestic white spirit contains a large amount of impurities that precipitate after a year of standing on the shelf. You can replace it with artistic white spirit.

The 647th solvent can be diluted with nitro-varnish and nitro-enamel intended for application to cars. They also need to be used with extreme caution due to the aggressive composition. No. 650 has a slightly softer composition, the use of which is recommended when working with most enamels and varnishes.

Alkyd enamels are recommended to be diluted with a multi-component solvent P-4, consisting of a mixture of toluene, butyl acetate and acetone. It can also be used with enamels based on chlorinated polymers (XC and XB). The latter can be diluted with pure toluene and xylene.

Polar and non-polar solvents

Conventionally, in modern products, two classes of substances can be distinguished: solvent and diluting. The terminology is very vague, but the difference between the substances used to obtain the working viscosity can be serious. Before purchasing materials, you should familiarize yourself with the composition of the enamel and solvent. The substances in them must have the same polarity, since polar and non-polar materials interact with each other in the worst way. The most correct method of dilution is dilution with a substance already used by the manufacturer (which is why it is recommended to use products from the same manufacturer for dilution).

Polar solvents are all alcohols, ketones, and substances that contain oxygen in their molecular composition, such as water. Kerosene, white spirit and hydrocarbon compounds are non-polar substances. Therefore, paint diluted with water (water-based paint, water-soluble acrylic) can be diluted with any ethers and alcohol, but white spirit, which is a non-polar substance, will be rejected. The difference between alcohol (which necessarily contains hydroxyls) and white spirit (nefras - a mixture of hydrocarbons) is huge and cannot be replaced with each other.

Most enamels can be diluted with benzenes, oils, etc. Xylenes have variable polarity and can work with substances of different polarity. But acetone can only be used with other polar substances - it will conflict with classic enamels.

Proper dilution of paint

The ratio of diluting and coloring matter is indicated on each can. For example, if there is an activator in the system, it is correct not to dilute the acrylic heavily, but to add only a small amount of thinner necessary for ease of application. In relation to the finished composition, this is no more than 10-15% of the volume. You can replace the acrylic solvent with P-12.

You need to control the viscosity with a viscometer according to the indicated data, but correctly diluted enamel is the one that fits better. By eye, this moment can be determined as follows: if the paint is pouring - it is diluted too much, it drips - it is diluted normally. The best control is trial staining, i.e. a small test after stirring the hardener and adding thinner. There is no single instruction, each spray gun has its own characteristics: it must be laid in continuous dense layers (drops), which dry already on the surface, and easily dissolve in each other. For the test, you can add a solvent directly into the glass of the spray gun and note the result.

Viscosity is directly related to temperature and saturation of air with water vapor. Before you start mixing, you need to have data on the air temperature in the chamber: if ° C deviates by 4-6 degrees from room temperature, the solution must be diluted more. In addition, it should be borne in mind that the drying of the enamel begins immediately after contact with air, i.e. its viscosity varies from layer to layer: if the temperature is high and the work is slow, you will have to add a solvent to the finished paint.

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