My boss switched us to a new clear coat system three months ago

We started using the UltraShield 5500 line in our shop after a paint rep demoed it, and the orange peel on hoods went down by about half. I'm seeing way less buffing time on jobs now, maybe 20 minutes saved per panel. Has anyone else tried a different clear that cut their finish work this much?

3 comments

3 Comments

sarah_hart15d ago

Did you guys have to adjust your gun settings much when you switched? We dialed our fan back a bit and upped the fluid by about a quarter turn, and that cut our orange peel even more than the new clear alone. The rep never mentioned that trick but it made a HUGE difference for us.

blair3961mo ago

Man, I was totally against switching our clear... thought it was all marketing talk. But we tried that new JetFlow stuff last year and wow. My guy used to spend an hour just sanding a roof on a classic car. Now it's like thirty minutes, tops. The stuff just lays down flatter right out of the gun. I had to eat my words on that one.

jason3281mo ago

We had the same fight in our shop about switching brands. The owner finally bought a case to shut us up, and the reduction in orange peel was real. Sometimes the new stuff actually works.