Hot take: I was wrong about mixing paint in cold weather

For a long time I figured a heated booth was enough and I could mix paint in my regular shop area. Saw a job come back from a client in Fargo with a weird orange peel texture on a fender I KNOW I sprayed smooth. The shop temp was about 55 degrees when I mixed that batch. My supplier finally laid it out for me: the reducer and hardener thicken up when they're cold, even if the paint itself is warm, and you get a bad mix ratio. It throws off the whole chemical reaction. Now I keep my mixing cups and all the cans on a little warming tray for a solid hour before I even start. The difference in how it lays down is night and day. Anyone else in a colder climate run into this and have a better setup than my janky hot plate?

3 comments

3 Comments

grant1303mo ago

Cold weather is a real pain for paint chemistry. That orange peel from cold materials is such a sneaky problem. Your warming tray fix is actually pretty smart.

campbell.cora3mo ago

My old boss in Duluth swore by just keeping the whole paint locker at 70 degrees, said warming trays add another variable.

stellam892mo ago

Is it really that big of a deal for a single fender though? I mix paint in my garage all winter with just a space heater going and I've never gotten orange peel that bad. Maybe you just got a bad batch of hardener that day. @campbell.cora's old boss might have had the right idea, keeping everything at a steady temp seems easier than messing with a hot plate that could overheat stuff. I feel like people overthink these things sometimes. A warmer paint locker would probably give you more consistent results too.