Resin composition and coating composition containing the same

In a process of forming a coating on a substrate, comprising applying a colored base of a water-borne or solvent-borne coating on a primered or intercoated substrate, and then applying a clear top coat without curing the base layer, and then baking both the base and clear coating layers to cure;

• the improvement comprising applying as the clear top coat a thermosetting resin composition comprising the following components:
• (a) from about 0.5 to 40% by weight of a fluorinated polymer having a hydroxyl group and/or an acid group, represented by:
• ##STR4## wherein said R.sub.1 represents a linear or branched alkyl group or an alkyloyl group, having 2 to 10 carbon atoms, R.sub.2 represents an alkylene group having 2 to 10 carbon atoms, R.sub.3 represents a hydrogen atom or --CO--R.sub.6 --COOH in which R.sub.6 represents a residue of a dibasic acid anhydride, X is a hydrogen atom, a chlorine atom or a fluorine atom, a, b and c are integers satisfying a.ltoreq.b+c,
• (b) from about 10 to 60% by weight of a polymer having a carboxyl group and a carboxylic ester, prepared by copolymerizing from about 15 to 40% by weight of an ethylenically unsaturated monomer having an acid anhydride group, and from about 60 to 85% by weight of another ethylenically unsaturated copolymerizable monomer to obtain a polymer having acid anhydride groups which are then reacted with a hydroxyl compound having 1 to 12 carbon atoms in a molar ratio of acid anhydride group to hydroxyl group of from about 1/1 to 1/1.5% by weight of monomers being based on total monomer weight, and
• (c) from about 30 to 60% by weight of a polymer having a hydroxyl group and an epoxy group, prepared by copolymerizing:
• (i) from about 5 to 40% by weight of a hydroxyalkyl (meth)acrylate represented by:
• ##STR5## wherein R represents a hydrogen atom or a methyl group and n is an integer of 2 to 8,
• (ii) from about 10 to 60% by weight of an epoxy group-containing ethylenically unsaturated monomer, and
• (iii) from about 0 to 85% by weight of another copolymerizable ethylenically unsaturated monomer;
• the % by weight being based on total monomer weight.