Well I just made my "attempt" at applying this....
story preview.....I'm streaky...and so is the VX's cladding
First mistake: picking the hottest, most humid day. ( I did work in the shade though)
I took the day off work to do this, so I didnt want to wait. I applied first coat with terry cloth disc applicator thingy...definitely needed a second coat. Waited the suggested (on the bottle) 20 minutes max dry time before applying second coat. I now know I should have waited longer.....like a couple hours. Applying the second coat messed with the first (I think). Then I went do use the preval sprayer. HOly crap that messed me up. Mixed the ratio perfect...began to spray and the sprayer was messed up...started spraying out the bottom. Got dye on me and paint thinner on the cladding (similar issue to Grif's RR issues and resolved just as easily). I quickly gave up on the sprayer (half a bottle down the drain) then went to try and repair everything with another coat with the terry cloth applicator. That messed it up more. I waited for it to dry for an hour and tried to apply the little I had left which was probably not enough. SOOOOO sooo frustrating. I got it look "ok" from about 10 feet away.
My plan of attack to fix it is to buy 2 more bottles and apply much more liberally with the roller and maybe foam brush for the crevices.
Hopefuly the next coat with cover the streaks.
The color looks TONS better and it fixed the gas stain on the cladding and the buff job that a PO did. but the streaks are unacceptable in my book. I have to fix it. I can't sleep. Damn VX addiction.
oh no Jon! You're so precise and meticulous.....so sorry to hear this. I think it can still be fixed to your level of acceptable by spraying. Maybe you should order a new Preval sprayer from them, it wasn't too much money.
VX KAT
....the adventure BEGINS ANEW! ...2015......
Remember that life is not measured in the breaths you take, but rather in the moments that take your breath away.
it made it start to look kinda "thicker" like it was becoming a coating. I know the sprayer is diluted so I believe a lesser amount of product is being applied, so maybe spraying a 3rd and even 4th coat would be fine.
When doing coating #1, I got so frustrated and stretched the product. I learned clearly NOT to try to stretch it, so on subsequent coats, I think I went pretty heavy, with this past problem in mind. Soooo....my 4th coat may well have caused it to reach a saturation point, for lack of a better term, and that's why it started looking a little thick. When I recognized that, I backed off some. My gauge was if I could still see the native texture of the cladding.
If I had been doing the SAME COLOR mixture as 1,2,3...I would have STOPPED as soon as I perceived it was looking kinda thick...but being the rocket scientist I am, I had wanted it darker, so coating #4 had to be completed or it would be a 2-tone.....
I just re-read this entire thread, and I think the sprayer is the way to go for you. Grif and Child's Play both did it with the sprayer, so I'm sure they can give you some tips.
The other pointer I want to make....it really does change after 6-8 hrs, and overnight....I don't care what the label says about drying time.....so if you just did it today....at least wait until tomorrow to see how it looks, so you can decide if spraying is the way to go.
Come on, remember these pics...I thought I was going to have a heart attack when I saw these streaks.....but they dried up and blended....and this was when I was doing vertical strokes with the roller, vs. horizontal with the sponge cloth.
Grif and Child's Play-
you guys have any tips on using the preval sprayer? I am having difficulty.
I did it yesterday morning. I really think the dry time is a big factor in what got me. I am hoping that if I put a good coat on it and "LEAVE IT ALONE JON!!!!" then it will look better. Even with the roller or foam brush.
I let it dry to their spec and rubbed it with a dry terry cloth and black came off.
I will probably try the preval sprayer again in a small area to see if that helps. I am taking back the one and getting another one tomorrow.
One other point after I re-read your post....the roller spews the dye out the edges after it's saturated and you can NOT HELP BUT GET STREAKS....since it spews it out in a line on both sides of the roller....you have to address that or those "thicker streaks" will remain....... So....since you're already at coating 1.5 ish...I would NOT use the roller....the terry sponge thing did far, far better.
what about the sponge brush?...
I feel like when I put the stuff on the terry cloth applicator, after I made the top pass, and came back with the next row, it rubbed the top pass and created a streak....
if that makes sense....
I need practice cladding