Painting super white and clear coat

So I just spent the past week priming, painting and clear coating my new gas filler door super white with the Duplicolor paint and clear. I think I have 4 coats of paint and 4 coats of clear on the outside and 3 coats of each on the inside. I wet sanded the prime coat and in between the paint coats to try to keep it smooth. It came out looking great when I was done with the clear this morning, but late in the day, I took it outside to compare it with the truck and it now looks off-white and I can see it's not as bright compared to this morning. Does the clear really dull down the brightness of the white that much? I was planning on wet sanding the clear after it has time to cure (20-30 days) but now I'm not sure if it will really brighten back up or not. Anyone with super white run into this with the clear dulling the brightness of the white? I don't want to touch the clear too soon so it will be sitting for a while before I try to put it on.

 

Some of the colors don't have clear coat, and IIRC white was one, but I don't know for sure

 

Super White on the Tacomas does not have clear coat. No idea why.

 

White on any make, model, etc doesn’t have a clear coat. Remember the old Ford trucks back in the 70s that looked kind of off white/beige colored? That’s what happens when you clear coat white. It took them years to realize pure white can’t have a clear coat. The unfortunate part of owning a white vehicle is you have to keep it buffed/waxed to prevent paint loss. Didn’t know that until I asked a guy why the hood of my Taco felt rough instead of smooth.

 

I learn something new here every day... kinda gets expensive hanging out though.. lol

 

So I guess I need to do some wet sanding on the clear coat. I had the filler door sitting in the dark garage so I decided to put it outside to see if it reacts to daylight and lightens up. It's not on the truck yet so I have time to work on it.

 

Some makes and models have clear coat, and some do not. I’ve got a white rav4 in the booth prepped and ready for me to paint in morning, and it is cleared, and I will paint it with base clear. Duplicolor is an off the shelf generic paint, pre mixed in some factory somewhere. I wouldn’t be so surprised that it doesn’t match. Plus, putting that many coats of clear over white will most definitely make it yellower. It kinda comes down to you get what you pay for. Probably could have taken it to a good shop that would color match it to your truck for less than a hundred bucks. Unfortunately leaving in the sun will not change the color any.

 

Most auto paint stores will mix you a can of single stage white if you get them the paint number. No clear needed at that point

 

As said above, white can have a clear coat and look fine- I painted a hood that way, no issues. A lot of non-metallic colors, like white, are done in single stage paint because this is cheaper for the auto manufacturer. I'm not sure about now, but 10 years ago even expensive cars like BMWs used single stage paints on some of the non-metallic colors.

 

I went back and wet sanded the clear with 400 and applied 2 more coats of the white. I wet sanded with 1500 (which is not fine enough for me so I need to redo with 2000 or 2500) and polished then waxed and the color looks fine, but the shine does not match the fresh coat of wax I just did on the truck over the weekend. I might just see if I can get a shop to mix a small spray can with clear mixed in, I don't think the Duplicolor will have enough shine to it.