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View Full Version : Need paint expert -- How to???



shelbydave
05-19-2009, 09:58 PM
I gotta get this car painted, and I've never done it. A friend told me that with the Base / Clear, it's pretty easy. He only did one color.
How do you do the skunk stripe? Do I shoot the car silver, tape, shoot blue, clear, or do I shoot silver, clear, scuff the clear and shoot blue?
OR... Do I shoot the blue, then tape THAT, and shoot the rest of the car silver?

Any help would be great, I'd like to have the car done for SDAC...

rare_ram
05-19-2009, 10:21 PM
I'd shoot the stripe, tape, then shoot the rest. Then clear it all.

supercrackerbox
05-20-2009, 01:14 AM
Kaleb, Kevin, and Billy might want to chime in on this.

TurbododgePirate
05-20-2009, 11:11 AM
I would do silver, tape, blue then clear.

turbo84voyager
05-20-2009, 01:26 PM
Base / clear is nice to spray. My only complaint is the base does not cover so body work can easily show up. You are best off doing the stripe first because because certain base colors are very transparent. Tape off the stripes and paint the remainder of the car. Tack the car down again and spray the blue. Wait for about 1 hour after spraying the last coat of blue. Check to make sure the base is dry and tack the entire car down. Spray your clear. Just make sure to put enough base on because some are transparent. One thing to remember is you dont need to put base on real wet. All you are trying to do is get an even color over the car. Not a shine. The clear is what you want to put on wet just dont run it. I always shoot a light coat of clear, let it get tacky and shoot a wetter coat and get a little wetter, leaving plenty of time between coats. Since most of the cars I paint I color sand and buff I usually put 4 coats of clear on. One thing I like to do (some people say you should not, but I have never had a problem) is I like to add a little more reducer to my last coat of clear since it tends to level the paint real good.

Did you pick out paint? I am partial to RM diamont high solids clear but its $$$. I would recommend either Transtar Kwik Gloss ( just make sure to get reducer even though it says it is not necessary ) and I really like BASF Limco High Solids Clear. I think its the same as the diamont ( made by same company ). If you have any questions PM me.

Justin

shelbydave
05-20-2009, 10:06 PM
I forgot to say in the original post... Car is silver with blue stripes.

turbo84voyager
05-20-2009, 10:37 PM
since that is the case I would consider spraying the blue second

bfarroo
05-22-2009, 06:15 PM
I'd shoot the entire car silver, then tape off for the blue and spray it, then clear. The blue should cover the silver no problem. Make sure to get the clear heavy enough at the tape line so you can wet sand it smooth without going through. I also like to do a few (3-4) coats of clear and then wet sand the car as the wet sanding is the only way to get it completely smooth. I've tried thinning the clear extra to get it to lay flatter with less orange peal but it runs really easy then.

Xtrempickup
05-23-2009, 10:12 AM
+1 on base not covering body work well. I would make sure that you do your base coat main color at least 2 times and let it dry long enough to see if it is all the same color. My car was in full prime but had some filler in it, the sections that were filler and primer are different color than the sections that were just primered.

LaserXT1986
05-26-2009, 10:05 AM
For what it is worth, in almost any paint situation, you always paint starting from lighter to darker. :thumb:

Clay
05-26-2009, 02:13 PM
IMO, it really doesnt matter which one you do first, BUT IMO here is what *I* would do.

First, paint the entire car the base color. All of it, dont tape off the stripes at all, just paint everything the base color. For those who have said the base color in a base clear doesnt cover well........ well, its not suppose to. NO base color is a single coat style paint. Your first coat should look patchy or thin, and if it doesn't your putting the paint on to heavy. From my experience most base colors will take 3 coats minimum to look right. Sometimes 2 will do it, but Im a big fan of 3 coat minimum to make sure everything is covered. Now, since you want stripes, I would paint one more coat on the surfaces that will get the stripes, maybe 2. Reason is you will have to wet sand these (if you want it flat), and this will give you some of the base color to a sand into. Spray your base, and let it dry. IE once you paint this, your done for the day.

Now, stripes, first step, get some fine line tape from the automotive paint store. This will help you get a nice fine edge at the edge of the strip, less to fool with later. Scuff up the base color where you are going to spray the stripes, then Lay out your stripes. Tape everything off, and prep for paint. Spray your stripes, probably 4 or more coats, again, because your going to wet sand, it wouldnt hurt to spray 5 or 6 coats. When your done, give the paint 15 minutes to flash, then pull your paper and tape. Done for the day.

Next day, wetsand the stripes. When Ive done it, I never get all of the edge off at this step. Im knocking the edge of the strip down a bit, and getting it fairly smooth. If you try to get the edge completely smooth, you will end up sanding through the strip.

Now prep for clear, and spray your clear. One thing to note with clear is compared to the base, you will lay the clear on a bit heavier (hell, its a lot heavier material alone). You need to allow plenty of flash time between coats, and you need to allow enough coats to be able to wet sand over the stripes so that you get the edges completely smooth. There have been times where Ive had to go back over stripes with more clear after I tried to wet sand the edges out, because I didnt put enough on to start with. Not a big deal, but its just in how perfect you want it.

Good luck.

shelbydave
05-26-2009, 02:52 PM
You can wait that long between base and clear? The guy at the paint store told me that I should allow no more than 6 hours between base and clear, since the base shouldn't be completely "dry" so as to have something for the clear to stick to.

Clay
05-26-2009, 03:04 PM
you can wait as long as you want, most paint manufacturers want you to spray the clear over the base with in 24 hours IF you do no additional prep.

YOU CAN speed up the process I laid out, wait a good long while for the paint to be damn near dry (ie 4 or 5 hours, this is very dependent on humidity and temperature, and is usually something I would reserve for those using a paint booth because of this), and then lay out your stripes, then clear, etc. It will make for a LONG day, but it can turn out better results will less chance for getting crap in the paint.

If you wait over night like I suggested, then you have to scuff up the paint, so (like your guy said) the clear will have something to stick to.

clay

shelbydave
05-26-2009, 04:30 PM
Thanks! This has got to happen soon, so I can bring it to SDAC.

Clay
05-26-2009, 06:16 PM
hehe, oh yeah, your in for a one shot deal! ;)

bfarroo
05-26-2009, 09:26 PM
I don't like sanding the paint. I feel it's a waste of paint with the cost of most base/clear systems and its to easy to mess up the paint. If your going to sand the paint I'd bet you'll need at least 1.5 times more paint. Any tape lines can be easily covered with the clear if you don't get to crazy with the layers. If anything I'd put 3-4 coats of clear on. If your planning on wet sanding the clear don't put it on to thick and have it run. 3-4 coats going from light to medium heavy will do good.