Question about sanding se

[Dave Mcintire]

I want to apply a sanding sealer over a rattle can paint finish. I already tried brushing on a laquer based sanding sealer and it disolved the rattle can paint. Looking at whats available on line most sanding sealers appear to be laquer based. I did find one by Behlen that said it was vinyl, would that work over the rattle can stuff? How about shellac? Would shellac appear yellow? Is there a brand anyone could suggest that would be compatable with this paint?

thanks in advance, Dave

[Jim Becker]

You really cannot apply anything that's a solvent based lacquer product over other finishes for the reason you experienced...the finishes are not compatible and the solvents in the lacquer will mess with the other finish in various and often nasty ways. Vinyl sealer is likely lacquer based. You don't want to mess with these products without a proper finishing environment, too, as they can be quite dangerous to your health as well as dangerous to your shop/home.

"Sanding Sealer" in a non solvent based lacquer world is a pure marketing profit play. SS with lacquer is just a "more solids" product and it's a best practice to use the same brand of sealer that your lacquer top coat is. If your object is to smooth things out a bit before you re-coat with another finish, then you want a primer that's well suited to the finish you want to use. Some primers are water borne and some are shellac based. Both are generally compatible with a variety of finishes you might use in subsequent steps.

[Wayne Lomman]

Jim has pretty much covered it. You are working with incompatible coatings. If you want to keep a painted finish, stick with paint primers and top coats. Cheers