PAINTING METALLIC- Paint whole or piece by piece???? And a few other paint??

[herman maire]

Guys, I NEED HEEEEEELP ASAP.

My car is in peices right now at a second shop.... No glass, No interior, No motor, trunk preped for paint ect....

I was planing on painting it piece by piece just because I want to have all the "door jams" looking perfect and NO over spray after its all said and done. After talking with a 2ND painter he suggests that because its metallic you have to paint it as a whole car all at once.

After doing a search on this I came across a quote from Milt-

" Paint in pieces if solid color, paint whole if metallic. If you "jamb" the car first, over spray will get on the sills etc. But, it will be light and will rub out with compound fairly easily. "

what do you guys think??? I really want this car to be perfect.


On another note... I started painting my tub, after 2 coats of color I pointed out some dust to the FIRST painter and he said that it would go away "even out" with the clear coat.... IT DID NOT and I am seriously PIIIIISSSST.

Now talking with the 2ND painter he says we need to wet sand it with some 800G paper ( AND TO BE SUPER CAREFUL NOT TO SAND THROUGH THE CLEAR TO THE BASE) sounds like there is a chemical reaction between the 2 base coats and the 2 day old clear coat. To do that, it will be pretty hard because I stopped the painter before he could finish the first coat so its pretty thin.

So is it really as simple as- wet sand it with the 800G paper than follow up with another 2 coats of color than 2 coats of clear then 2 days later another 2 coats.

Would REALLY apreciate some painters opinion on this.....

MILT, where you at

[lateapex911]

Interesting.

I'm no pro, but I've painted a bunch. I would never peice meal a metallic car. Much more likely to run into issues with matching later, IMHO.

On the dust issue, I think he is saying that you can't sand through the clear and into the metallic because the sanding scratches will show up hugely when you go to reclear it. Unlike color base coats, metallic, pearls and candy bases can't be touched once they are sprayed. Clears can be sanded, buffed and resprayed when needed.

But then you go on to say that you will reshoot the metallic base AND the clear.

Thats odd, I would have thought the basecoat (metalic) would be fine, as long as the dust spec is captured completely in the clear coat. Why respray the metallic basecoat? Block sanding the dust down, then reclearing should take care of it. It's never a good idea to get the film thickness to thick.

There should be no chemical reaction, I'm not sure what you're referring to with that.

[slammed1000]

always paint metalics as a whole car. if you dont you will end up with what appears to be shading differences even though its the same paint applied to all panels at the same time.if the dirt wont sand out you will have to base it and clear again. a good painter could spot the area in. one of my best friend owns a high end shop and i know quite alot about the bodyshop business.

[herman maire]

Guys, thanks soooooo much. You pretty much saved me from totaly messing up the rest of the paint job. .

I am 100% going to take both your advice and paint it as a whole .

What do you guys recomend for the
1-bumpers
2- sunroof
can these be painted apart or do I have to install the sunroof and bumpers???




Jake- I probably made it a little more confusing than it really is. What happened was when the " 1st painter" put the 2 coats of base (I SAW) some dust in the base coat right before he was about to start the clear..... I asked him if this was a problem and he said that the clear would " even all that out and it should hide it" after he started to aply the clear he got maybe 3/4 of the car done and I told him to STOP.

So everywhere where he did not 100% clear coat the panel theres a clear coat fume where its a mix of dry Base coat and VERY LIGHT clear coat.
I think they call it " ORANGE PEEL"


Jake and slammed, You guys think it does not matter if I wet sand the surface to get a smooth surface even if I sand into the base coat. I will be painting another 2 coats of color+2 coats of clear to corect this disaster.

I am heading to the shop early tomorrow morning to start sanding
Thanks again

[lateapex911]

Thats an intereating dilemna...and I've never wet sanded metalic paint....at least that I can remember.

When in doubt, read the manufacturers data sheets thoroughly.

I'd think it would be OK, but....I'd be reading the data sheets, or the suppliers books, or calling the manufacturers help line (Glasurit, Dupont, whoever..) to confirm that. Your second painter presumable has shot this line before, so I'd listen to his experience as well.

I'm clear on the dust thing now, sorry to get confused there. Too bad, you're in for a lot of work.

[slammed1000]

the sun roof panel can be painted off the vehicle but it needs to be painted with the same stroke procedure as the top. bumpers wont matter much as they will not show the differences due to the way the body lines are.
i woud hate to try and start where he left off the first time. i would probably just wetsand it all and start over. right now you should be able to tell if there are any more area's you dont like and fix them. i wish you luck....

[Willem Fick]

I also agree with having to paint the whole car.

Also, if you are in any case applying another coat of colour, there is no nead to worry about not going through the existing clearcoat. In my experience 800 wet is also finer than required - you can probably get away with 600 grit.

[jhelgesen]

My plan for painting my 77 targa in silver is:

Paint jambs, back sides of doors/hood/decklid
Paint car, loosly assembled
Clear jambs and back sides etc
Clear the car
Paint and clear bumpers and valances

I'm figuring for a targa, 2 quarts of paint and 2 clear should cover the whole project.

[Ron.G]

You also want to paint the parts as they would lay on the car.
Fenders up right, sunroof panel laying flat ect if your painting in pieces..

If you don't you might see shading differences. It's all in how the metalic lays down.

[herman maire]

Thanks again guys.

I will be the messenger and take all your suggestion to the painter right now.

Jake, thats a great idea I will call the help line also today, see what they suggest.

As for sanding through... the painter said if I did sand throught the clear coat the base coat has a chance to break apart OR get all frizzy ( what ever that means) He is almost making it sound as if I will have to sand it down to the primer WHICH WOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE to get the nice finish I want.

Thanks again guys, I will try to check in later

FWIW the paint I am using is PPG ( GLOBAL) there best quality product
$140/ pint and the color I am painting is GEMINI BLUE.

[ONQRACIng]

Always paint flake as a whole car project. This way, you can do a "dust" coat to ensure there is no blotching or or thin spots that will show, plus you want to be sure the car is uniform...

[David]

it also helps to use a shaker pot when painting metalics

[mb911]

you can shoot the bumpers valance and rocker seperate but the doors and hood and deck lid and body need to be done at one time other wise it will look different a good example would be ruben rot, silver etc.

[mb911]

oh and if you have enough room have the doors and fenders off but hanging how they would on the car and shoot the jambs along with the quaters at one time..

[dad911]

I had my 944 painted with Glasurit metallic about 10 years ago. First painted the jambs & engine compartment, then we assembled all but the sunroof & bumpers, and painted car, sunroof, and bumpers at the same time.

[randywebb]

for mett., the final color coat(s) need to be done as whole car - underlayments of any type can be done in pieces