This is a question about doing a spot repair on a vehicle that was previously painted with Lacquer Paint and whether it is best to repair with the same type paint or use a newer technology.

I have to touch up a few spots on a car originally painted with lacquer. Should I use lacquer again or use a basecoat/clearcoat urethane? The car is a solid color, not metallic.

Ok so not a ton of detail in that question but we are going to attempt explaining the best method of repair for this person’s vehicle.

The first thing to consider is what type of vehicle this person is restoring. Since it is a Lacquer paint job it is probably an antique vehicle made in the early 1950’s or earlier and since a vehicle that old was probably repainted that work was probably performed before the year 2000.

It could also be a custom paint job but if the work was recent in the past 15 years then the products used would have been slightly different then the original.

This is key.. when you are restoring or repairing a vehicle the type of paint used can dramatically effect the resale value. Although the color may look the same and the clear may make it shine similar people who are willing to pay top dollar or judges if you are showing the vehicle know the difference between Lacquer and 2k Urethane.

With that said and with his willingness to move to a newer product luck is on his side and a urethane or acrylic enamel with hardener can be used over top of his current finish.

Since he is painting a solid color the blended area will be smaller but because it is a probably old paint there could be a color mismatch so he should take the car to the paint supplier for matching.

Any paint that is older then about 5 years really needs to be color matched as a custom paint unless its solid factory white or black.

As a note
You would not want to use an acrylic or urethane over a synthetic enamel. This will often cause substrate failure and is more likely to occur if the synthetic enamel is fresh. The problem shows up as cracking and can result in something that looks like you applied paint remover.

If you need to paint over synthetic enamel then use a primer sealer.