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Picked waterborne over solvent for a Lexus repair last month - still dealing with the fallout
I had to choose between staying with solvent based paint or switching to waterborne for a 2022 Lexus LS 500 in that pearl white. The cost difference was about $400 more for waterborne materials upfront, but my paint rep swore it'd match better. Well, I went with waterborne and the color match was perfect out of the gun (no blending needed). But here's the kicker - my booth humidity was way off and it took me 3 extra drying cycles to get it hard enough to buff. I'm back to solvent for now, but has anyone else had trouble dialing in their booth conditions for waterborne?
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charlie_stone725mo ago
The booth humidity thing is a trap that catches a lot of guys making the switch honestly. Most shops don't realize waterborne needs like 50-60% relative humidity to flash correctly and if you're running a dry booth in winter you're basically fighting physics. Instead of messing with your whole booth setup what worked for me was adding a cheap humidifier right by the intake filter and timing my spraying for early morning when the air is naturally wetter. Also check your air dryers because moisture in the lines kills waterborne just as bad as dry air does. Pearl white is the worst to learn on too because any little mistake shows up like a neon sign, so props for tackling that first.
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