Tri stage pearl white
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hi guys
ive been a pro painter with my own shop for the past 16yrs and have painted many things from Fords to Ferraris etc but beleive it or not ive not painted a 3 stage pearl before as there not to common in the uk.Anyway ive got a project coming up in the next few weeks which ive got to repaint a bare shell 3 stage pearl white, Toyota 077, i will be painting this in solvent, with high solid clear, and just wondered if anyone has any tips on laying down the base and pearl coat? ill be shooting the base and pearl coat with a Devilbiss Gti Pro 1.3 with a T110 Aircap i have very limited time to do this and have to get it right first time :S
The next thing i was wondering is, if i paint the shell in one hit , then the bonnet, doors etc the next day [off the car] what are the chances of them matching 100% to the body.. im a bit worried i might not lay the base and pearl down in the same way as i did on the shell and hence a colour difference, so you think this maybe a problem?
thanks chaps :cheer:
Tri stages are getting more common every year in North America. Doing a complete shouldnt be very hard. Just make sure you have coverage with the ground coat than just add the number of coats of pearl you desire. I would suggest you walk the side when applying the pearl. I wouldnt suggest you do two separate sessions but with a good painter it can be done.
The good news is you aren’t blending, so that is one less thing to worry about!
The key with them is consistency. I usually paint tri-stage parts on the vehicle, just to be safe. If you are real careful and very comfortable with your product you may be ok to paint them off, but it is a bit of a gamble.
I would definitely test the colour first and get use to it. Figure out how many ground and how many mid coats you want to apply. Usually with the midcoat I will walk to side to prevent any overlaps and be as careful as possible to get each coat on uniform.
you dont want to paint the parts separately 😉
Thanks for the replies guys, I’m going to be having a play around with the color at the weekend on a bonnet I have lying around. Would you guys do a drop coat on the pearl maybe by mixing it with a base clear off the scheme to help settle the pearl down nicely before lacquering or don’t you really think it would be necessary on pearl white, would I be right in thinking pearl white is less of a worry unlike silver where blotching and shadowing is a concern?
It really depends on your paint, everyone will react a little different. But since the midcoat is so transparent and usually has a small amount of pearl, it can be easy to control in that sense.
If you are doing a test with it, try 1 half with and 1 half without the drop coat and see if it makes a difference for you.
[quote=”Bladem3″ post=25716]hi guys
but beleive it or not ive not painted a 3 stage pearl before as there not to common in the uk.[/quote]
Not too sure I can agree with you there mate. I’m doing more and more of them lately. A right pain in the backside when you’re doing spot repairs or blending panels :lol1
As the others have said, doing a full car is much easier, but you really do want to be doing the whole lot in one hit if it all possible. It’s often a bit more tricky, but the only way to ensure a 100% match panel to panel.
What I have done in the past is to mid coat all of the panels off the car to ensure I get all the hard to reach places, then build it back up and put another mid coat over the whole exterior. Then apply the pearl coat as evenly as you possibly can. It’ll not matter if you don’t get it right into the tricky areas in the door shuts perfectly as no one will ever know the difference, but getting the outside of the car laid down evenly is a must. I’d then strip the panels off and clear everything separately to ensure you get all the nooks and crannys covered well.
It’s a bit more work doing it that way, and many may not agree with it, but it’s worked well for me in the past as I don’t miss any spots with the colour or clear (the advantage of painting panels separately) but get a perfectly even coverage and colour outside (the advantage of painting the car complete)
[quote=”Andy T” post=25729][quote=”Bladem3″ post=25716]hi guys
but beleive it or not ive not painted a 3 stage pearl before as there not to common in the uk.[/quote]
Not too sure I can agree with you there mate. I’m doing more and more of them lately. A right pain in the backside when you’re doing spot repairs or blending panels :lol1
As the others have said, doing a full car is much easier, but you really do want to be doing the whole lot in one hit if it all possible. It’s often a bit more tricky, but the only way to ensure a 100% match panel to panel.
What I have done in the past is to mid coat all of the panels off the car to ensure I get all the hard to reach places, then build it back up and put another mid coat over the whole exterior. Then apply the pearl coat as evenly as you possibly can. It’ll not matter if you don’t get it right into the tricky areas in the door shuts perfectly as no one will ever know the difference, but getting the outside of the car laid down evenly is a must. I’d then strip the panels off and clear everything separately to ensure you get all the nooks and crannys covered well.
It’s a bit more work doing it that way, and many may not agree with it, but it’s worked well for me in the past as I don’t miss any spots with the colour or clear (the advantage of painting panels separately) but get a perfectly even coverage and colour outside (the advantage of painting the car complete)[/quote]
Hi Andy thanks for your reply , it’s definatly something to think about im on a ridiculous time frame on this it’s unreal and the car has to be revealed at the Monaco Top Marques Show on the 19th of April, I’ve not even got the car yet either :(, just to clarify I take it by ‘Mid coat’ that’s the base coat (ground coat) obviously of which the pearl coat goes over?.
[quote=”Bladem3″ post=25730]
Hi Andy thanks for your reply , it’s definatly something to think about im on a ridiculous time frame on this it’s unreal and the car has to be revealed at the Monaco Top Marques Show on the 19th of April, I’ve not even got the car yet either :(, just to clarify I take it by ‘Mid coat’ that’s the base coat (ground coat) obviously of which the pearl coat goes over?.[/quote]
That’s a tight schedule!
And I’m sorry mate, I’ve no idea why I said mid coat :unsure: must have had something else on my mind! Yes I meant the ground coat. I don’t know what paint you’re using as it may differ, but on my DeBeer scheme the ground coat is a simple flat white with all the pearl contained in the next coat (what I normally refer to as the mid coat when my brain is working 😆 )
For the exterior on a full respray, aim to do 3 pearl effect coats. However, as you’re doing the whole car including under the bonnet and boot, the door jambs and inside the doors as well as the boot shuts, you want to do only 1 or 2 coats of the pearl effect on these areas. Because if you do the full 3 coats on the inside, as you’ll have some overlap spray around the B pillar and C pillars and top of the fenders where they meet up to the body, and when you run your pearl effect coat, you’ll actually have a higher build-up on the edges which will look inconsistent.
Carefully clean the wheel arches, and under the scuttle panel. You don’t want crap blowing back into the job. Don’t forget to paint the boot and bonnet hinges as well!
Also, if you want to speed the job up, because your ground coat is a solid white, suggest you use a fast reducer. It will flash off quicker and there will be less chance of crap falling into the paint.
Lastly, as you can’t really denib the pearl effect coat between coats, painter hygeine is critically important when doing a 3 layer white pearl. Use a brand new spray suit, new respirator filters (if you’re not using an air-fed hood), blow off all the walls of your booth, wet the floor if able, blow yourself off regularly, tape off the gloves to the suit, double strain all your paint, use a new tack rag…and don’t leave the booth between coats if you can help it. Super clean your gun(s) before painting etc. No compromises, and no distractions. Also, make sure you’ve had something to eat before you paint so you can concentrate, and turn off your mobile phone.
Just a note on the spray suit…[u]wear the damn hood[/u] – even in the video posted above, it shits me when I see painters wear a suit and leave the hood hanging behind their back. They don’t cover their head so crap can fall in the paint. Had a 23 yo “I know it all” painter do a job for me once. I gave him a new suit and he refused to wear the hood probably because it didn’t look cool. Well, guess what….found one of his hairs under the clearcoat in the bumper. Man was I furious. Ripped him a new one on that as we needed to repaint the whole bar. :chair
Hope this all helps!!
Cheers,
SimeHello, dont worry …if you are experienced I think you will find that tri-coats are pretty easy. Especially if you are doing the whole car . We have done parts off the car ,but, you need to have good gun control and put the exact same amounts of coats down on the ground and mid coats on the peices and the car . You have less chance for error if you do on the car and paint whole side as one panel. Less chance for overlap issues at panel to panel points. Mid coats are usually VERY transparent. and clear….is clear. good luck :clappy
[quote=”Paintwerks” post=25733]Just a note on the spray suit…[u]wear the damn hood[/u] – even in the video posted above, it shits me when I see painters wear a suit and leave the hood hanging behind their back. They don’t cover their head so crap can fall in the paint. Had a 23 yo “I know it all” painter do a job for me once. I gave him a new suit and he refused to wear the hood probably because it didn’t look cool. Well, guess what….found one of his hairs under the clearcoat in the bumper. Man was I furious. Ripped him a new one on that as we needed to repaint the whole bar. :chair
[/quote]Pretty funny that. I very rarely wear a suit as I just sweat like a pig in them. This week I did two larger than normal jobs so decided to wear one but seemed to get more crap than usual in the jobs, and also had a hair in each – something I’ve never had when not wearing a suit 😆
Hi guys, sorry been crazed working 18hr days on variuos projects, anyway today i had a go on an old bonnet i had lying around, i know i havent done any crossovers onto joining panels etc, but i was surprised how easy this Pearl white was to lay down, very easy to get even standard silver base is by far harder in comparison, just hope it all goes smoothly on the car, as i’ll have one chance and one chance only to get it right first time before it goes on show in Monaco :blink:
Just one other thing, does anyone tack between mid coats?
Another thing to remember is to allow plenty of flash time for the solvents to get out. Sometimes I will add a cap of clear hardner to my base, seems to help things stay put. Keepin the trash out of white is the biggest problem for me, nothin sucks worse than that speck of black in the center of a tri stage panel, also read the tds for the material that you are spraying. See if it is any different application from what you are used to spraying. Lets see some pics when you are done.
Chuck
thanks for all the replies and info so far guys :cheers
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