Sent: Thursday, September 16, 2004 4:56
PM
Subject: Re: IML: Paint questions
I went with laquer, which is technically off-limits in california.
Fortunately, it is allowed for painting boats, and that's what I'm painting,
so was able to get some. I am doing it myself and already did a
test-spray on the Model T and some garbage cans. Need to finish another
project and I'll be on to final sanding of the hood and making a paint booth
out of the carport.
Laquer is a fading paint technology that only the older guys seem
comfortable with. It is a single-stage paint, meaning that the pigment
is in the paint and you spray it and that's all. There are other single
stage paints that are not laquer - enamel and urethane are two, I think
(but didn't research those too much, as I knew what I wanted).
Clear coat is 2 stage, meaning that you spray color on the car and then
put clear over it to make it shine.
Clearcoat favors the refinishing industry as its so easy to work with,
will allow corrections to mistakes more, and can be relatively cheap, allowing
greater mark-up/profit potential. Also, you can have 100 gallons of
clear on hand and a relatively small volume of color, so it's easier on
inventory to buy little batches of color, using your clear with it rather
than larger batches of color that are custom each time.
Your car originally had a single stage. I suggest single
stage for looks if you have an eye for "authenticity". Your car
obvioulsy won't be as authentic on its second paint-job, but the
question drives at how close you want it to come. Clear coat really
bothers me personally, and seems gaudy and showy. That's to my eye, of
course, and some people like that and it's your car. I'm not much for
the "wet look" that some tire dressing products produce, so that's sorta what
I'm talking about in paint. Too much gloss can seem too loud in its
appearance. Old cars generally don't sparkle like diamonds unless
they're over-restored. They can get away with gleaming, but not
sparkling as far as I'm concerned.
The laquer, by comparison to clear coat looks hard and brilliant and
reflective where the clear coat looks glossy and deep and wet. The
laquer just does not look "deep" as the optical reflection of shine happens
completely on the surface of the polished paint, as opposed to clear, where
the light goes through a layer of clear before reflecting.
In my industry, we work with first surface mirrors and rear surface
mirrors. The glass in your bathroom vanity has the mirrored surface on
the back of the glass. If you put your finger up to the glass, your
finger will not "touch" its reflection since there is glass in between, and
there is diffraftction going on when the light is "bent" as it passes though
the glass. Put a stick into water and it will appear to make an angled
bend because the light passing though the denser medium (water) gets
bent.
This happens with clearcoat too, as the light must travel though the
clear shell to the color and back out again. Not so with single stage
that has pigment in it and is polished flat and is merely reflective and not
doing any transmission of light through it before returning it to your eye, as
your car and other older cars did when new. The question is: how deep
and glossy do you want to get? Is glossier and wetter OK, or will you
notice. If you notice, do you care?
I'm not a paint scientist, by the way - I'm trying to explain a gut
feeling that I have about this stuff, so please don't look at the trees, but
the forest on this description.
If I were doing a chevvy and it were obviously not stock but was to be a
darned nice car, choosing my own color instead of going factory, I'd get the
glossiest that I could and take pride in a nice paint job. I'd do single
stage otherwise, but that's me. I'm a retro-grouch and like things
original. Ask me how I feel about bias-ply's sometime....
The laquer is also more tolerant of touch-up and spot repairs later, and
this favors you if you DIY because you can deal with anything that comes up
right in your own garage.
I am planning on 4-5 coats if I can. You can get away with less on
clear coat.
Clear coat will turn white in the channel of a scratch. If you miss
with your door-key, the resulting scratch will be white until you rub the
scratch out. This can be a big issue if you go to a dark color,
especially black. I found it most annoying on the late-model car that I
had with this, but it's possible that my car had a cheap product applied
to make it sellable to me, so that's an item to ask your paint man about
if you go that way.
Don, I think that you're in CA. If so, and you want to save some
money, I'd be willing to help you prep and paint your car at my house.
You'd want to remove the trim and so forth, but could drive it here with the
bumpers, lights, and glass still in. I have all the tools and a paint
guy that sells me laquer (or whatever you want) for my "boating"
activities. You of course don't benefit from having paid someone, which
is nice when it comes time to cast blame for mistakes, but I think that I'll
be out less than $1000 in materials (prep included) when I'm done with my car,
and you'd have a new skill that's a renewable resource. That's a
standing offer for the club, but you have to buy me pizza.
Of course dropping the car off at a place and paying them sure is a lot
easier.
There is much more about how to do it yourself on Kerry's pages that were
posted to the website. If you have not read these, they are what pushed
me over from paying to DIY. This stuf isn't hard. It just
takes some experience, and that's not really hard to get - you just have
to jump in and do it, as with many other things mechanical.
Elijah, if you're reading this, I'd be curious to hear how your paint job
has held now that we're allmost 4 years out.....
-Kenyon
DON SAVARD <don_savard@xxxxxxx> wrote:
Subject: Paint questions
Hi all,
My 67 Sedan(post) is currently in the body shop for a total
repaint. Have 2 questions:
Fender tag code reads BB1. Looked it up and it says
that BB is Formal Black. What does the 1 in BB1 stand
for?
Secondly- What should I ask for in repaint? How many coats is
typical and how many coats should I ask for? More coats=====better
paint quality/shine/depth??/
And what kind of paint is good/not as good? Clear
coat?
Thanks for all your help
Don Savard
66 Crown Coupe
67 4 door post Sedan
67 Le Baron (parts car)
68 Imperial
Crown
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