Waterborne basecoat/high solids clear finish for automotive substrates having an improved appearance

An improved process for forming a multilayer finish by applying a layer of a waterborne basecoating composition to a substrate, at least partially drying the coating, applying a layer of a solvent based high solids clear coating to the basecoating and curing the coatings;

• the improvement used therewith consists essentially of using the following:
• A. a waterborne basecoating composition comprising a film forming binder of about 60-97% by weight, based on the weight of the binder, of an acrylic polymer neutralized with ammonia, a primary amine or a secondary amine without the presence of a tertiary amine and 3-40% by weight based on the weight of the binder, of a water dispersible or water dilutable alkylated melamine formaldehyde resin and the composition contains pigments in a pigment to binder weight ratio of about 0.5/100 to 200/100;
• B. a high solids solvent based clear coating composition comprising film forming binder of about 50-95% by weight of an acrylic polymer, a polyester or a polyesterurethane and 5-50% by weight of an alkylated melamine formaldehyde crosslinking agent and about 0.1-5% by weight, based on the weight of the binder, of a strong acid catalyst;
• wherein the basecoating composition and the clear coating composition are cured at about 100.degree.-180.degree. C. to form a glossy wrinkle free finish having an automotive quality appearance.