A couple weeks ago we made a post about how one of our customers clearcoated the vinyl. We decided to do a little experimenting ourselves in order to try and get a great result. What we found to work best was Valspar Clear Gloss Enamel, which you should be able to pick up at any local home improvement store:
You can see a few samples on the right-hand side of the above picture, here’s a closer shot followed by an explanation of the differences:
As you can see, the piece on the left is DI-NOC as it comes with no clear coat. The other two pieces were clear-coated, the middle has just one coat, while the right piece has three coats. The pictures make it hard to show how it really looks in person because it’s highly dependent on the lighting. You’ll need to take a look at the video below for a better idea. We also tried doing another with five or six coats, but it starts to get a bit blotchy and fills into the texture.
We only tested on these sample pieces so we’re not sure how it will hold up over time or once installed. Upon inspection it seems like it would be just fine. With the three coats it starts to bend back a little (although it’s still bendable without issues), I would suggest clearcoating once the material is installed rather than before. This may seem obvious, but I just want to make that apparent. Make sure and mask off any areas prior to spraying that you don’t want cleared.
For spraying techniques take a look at the below video:
Tags: clear, clear coat, clearcoat, gloss, glossy, valspar, Video
I’m planning to put Di-Noc on my Jetta’s hood, and I love that I can use clear coat (Valspar) to get that shiny look. One question, though.
How would the clear coat hold up against weather, car washes, road grit, etc?
The clearcoat was simply an experimentation we did on our part to see how it would look. We haven’t installed it on anything outside of a sample piece of DI-NOC, so we’re unsure of how it would hold up over time. I would look to the Valspar product (or whatever else you use) to see how it would do, I would assume fairly well. As always, test on a small piece first if you’re ever unsure.
I just bought a 24″x48″ piece and I am planing on clear coating the DiNoc once I install it on my application. Valspar clear is different from PPG 2 stage Clear which I will be using. You mentioned that more than 3 coats, the paint started to “fill in” the texture. But isn’t that what one would want? to make it look like real CF that was resined then clear coated?
You should simply test on a smaller piece to see if it comes out the way you personally want it. The different brands, number of coats, etc are all variables and we can’t say whether one way is more perfect than the other as everybody is looking for their own thing. That’s we always recommend to test first
Do you know any store chains that sell the spray? All I can find are paint containers / cans of it.
Home Depot or Loews should definitely carry that.