Ive got something Im gonna be using as a daily driver, and its in almost all bare metal. I dont wanna spend a ton of time on body work or money paintin it right now, but I want something to protect it and look decent. Im not intrested in doin it up in flat black. I think I would like a satin metalic on it, but have not clue what to use, or what would hold up. Any ideas? Thanks, Cory
Maybe, I dont know. I think it would loose some of the sheen if I did that. If I could keep it single stage, that would probably save me some money, but once again, I dont know. Im shure some of yall have done things like this. Theres a 51 ford gasser that was for sale on here a while back, it was green and just had the base coat, and I liked that effect, but Ive been told it wolnt hold up to very much, and this is gonna be by daily driver. Think I could just use some hardner in it? Thanks, Cory
I've been told to either do a flattener in the clear, or just run a base coat with no clear at all. I'm no painter, and my daily will be painted in a satin metallic finish as well, by me, in my garage, so I'm still looking for more info myself.
The local auto paint store has a table with the "off color" gallons and quarts on it for way cheap. Go to your local auto store and see if they have the same. Buy something you can live with in a single stage, preferably Lacquer if he still has any old stock or Enamel and shoot it. Then color sand but and don't polish it. it'll be satin... Base coat is Lacquer based by the way...it's just not very weather fast.
You could get a single-stage urethane and just add flattener to suit the sheen you want, or you could just hit it with base coat and that makes a nice satin finish. The second option is not as weather resistant, but will do if you plan on refinishing in a year or two. I have used both and they are fine for a driver.
I just shot my '29 with BC/CC Urethane. The base coat is 2000 Ford Dark Teal Metallic. It is a nice dull metallic untill you clear coat it. I am not sure of the durability of a simple basecoat. I do know the paint was $67.00 a quart, and I shot 2 quarts at 1:1 reducer to cover that little A. Mark
I sprayed my truck with house of color sunset pearl orange and left it with no clear.. It has been a year now and it still looks great. I know it won't last but by the time it starts looking like crap I'll be tired of the color and ready for a change anyway... Any basecoat should work fine. But as people have said, if you really want it to last and be protected by the weather, Flattening agent and clear is the only way to go.. They also sell flat clears that you don't have to add anything to...
2 questions. Would putting the clear(even if its flattened), take away some of the sheen, since the color will be below it? It seems like it would add kind of a dull appearance to it. Are there any hardners(or anything else) you can add to a base coat to make it last longer? Adios, Cory
In anything more than a single-stage paint system, the basecoat is always a satin finish, putting anything over it will alter that sheen and enhance the color. You could mess around with getting just the right amount of flattener in the clear to imitate the sheen of basecoat. Some people say the more flattener you add, the weaker the paint/clear gets. There isn't much you can really add to basecoat to make it last longer or anything, it is made to put clear over...but it does last for a while. I have had good luck adding flattener in single-stage urethane. I had a truck that had fairly heavy metal flake and flattener in a urethane paint and it went on easy and had a nice satin finish...and the metalic really showed nice, especially in the sun. I think that plain basecoat with no clear looks really nice and smooth...but it isn't totally resistant to the elements. Good luck.
I did up a '62 pontiac for a family cruiser for my wife to drive about 5 years ago. Sprayed it with base and no clear. A friend owns it now and it still looks good.Its his daily driver. It has never ever been kept in a garage either. It hasn't faded or chalked at all. I like the sheen to it totally. I'm gonna do my shoebox the same way......Shiny
You rember what you used? Im shure some brands and grades hold up better than others. Which brings me to my next question. I know that you get what you pay for, but what should I go with, because this stuff is just gonna be on a driver while its being built, and there are plans to repaint it further down the road(and pull the body and do it right), but that might be about 2 years out....
You really should be fine with any brand, PPG, Dupont, Sherwin Williams, HOK, Sikkens, and many others. I have used them all, But for some reason I really liked the way the HOK base went on when I reduced it with PPG DT reducer. You can add hardner to your base coat if you want. When you buy your base just ask them for the correct hardner, All brands have a hardner for their base because auto manufacters require it for warranty repairs..
PPG Dulon basecoat will work fine, just apply about 5 coats normal, then flatten the last two coats. This gives the strength of regular paint with only the top two coats being weakened by the flattener. A good tip for those using clearcoat, add some colour to it, does'nt have to be much. It makes the clear a lot stronger, because clear on it's own is not a tough finish and needs some pigment.