I bought a small bottle of base paint and a small bottle of clear coat (as touchup paint) for my Honda CRV. The bottles came with scotch tape around the lid cover. After I used it once, I sealed the bottle lids tightly but did not reapply scotch tape to the lid cover. I kept them in my closet.
Fast forward a few months. This week I took them out to use again but the base coat had coagulated. The silver had sunk to the bottom, while the clear part stayed at the top. It seems some air may have seeped inside the bottle.
Is that it? Do I have to throw it away and ordered a new bottle? Is there any way to make the paint useable at this point?
I would buy new. Did you try to shake it real well? Metallic will settle to the bottom always, even after sitting for a short while. The longer it sits the longer you will have to shake it (or stir it if you can) to get it back in solution. Thing is, if you don’t get all the metallic back in solution the paint won’t match. I would start over fresh with new paint if I were you.
Yes, you pretty much have to toss it. I put it that way because you could cover the liquid paint with nitrogen (no oxygen or moisture) and seal it so that no air can diffuse into the container. But you really can’t do that at home effectively, so you should just expect it to cure in the bottle. One way to avoid this is to buy it in a spray can if it is sold that way.
You cannot uncoagulate the paint. The paint is history.
I would suggest that if that’s the biggest car problem you have, you should be very, very thankful. No disrespect intended.
Yeah throw it away but get the kit from the dealer. It should have both the clear and base in the same container. Usually it takes a number of years for the paint to dry out but you might try storing it with the cap down to prevent any air from getting in.
Excellent question!
In my town we have a service that picks everything up (with huge, extremely noisy trucks) and takes it to a center where it’s separated. I just throw it in the trash and it’s their problem (or job security for their employees, depending on your perspective). If your town lacks such a service, it should be taken to a distribution center (formerly called “dumps”) for proper disposal.
You can probably throw it out once it is completely dried. You could put it onto newspaper or put dirt or kitty litter into the bottle to absorb it. Check with your local government to make sure, but that is the requirement in MD.
Paint, cooking grease and pool chemicals are not allowed in my trash, these fluids can leak from the truck and cause a road hazard. The city has drop off stations for paint, grease, etc.
I don’t think 1/2 ounce of paint will cause a problem, leave the cap off for a few days so it drys.
We have a bi-monthly hazerdous waste disposal, it would be taken there, amazing stuff comes in, memorable, 4 half pint size jars of mercury, heavy as heck, his dad used to be a lineman and in the olden days I guess they used mercury as a lubricant for pulling wires, more latex paint than you can believe, tons of lacquer thinner, pesticides, water seal, spray cans of paint, many types of acid and pool chemicals, gallons of linseed oil, tiki lamp oil, peanut oil from cooking turkeys, cleaners, strippers, oil based paints and stains, old gasoline flourescent bulbs, the worst part many times is a line, and some sweet old lady will bring in a bag with 6 alkaline batteries, they go in the garbage, but any rechargeable battery is recycled.
Here they take the paint and mix it all together to get 5 gallon pails of some kind of brown that will never match anything else. Free of course but I’m not that cheap.
I had always thought rather than pay to dispose of the stuff, set up shelves of the good stuff and let people take it. I saw some cement epoxy kits, new in the box, never opened, got dumped, but went to buy some for my cement porch floor, $120
