Basecoat plus candy

C

Cmr

New Member
Long post with a 2 part question. Im getting back into painting after 20 years. All the spray guns and products are new to me. After sanding to 320 grit I laid down surefill 2K primer. I then sanded to manufacturer recommendations. I laid the black base coat down and will be following that up with a premixed candy pearl then euro clear.
First question, is the texture ok? Second question, should I sand to 600 grit before spraying the candy pearl?
 

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It does seem to have a lot of texture, but with the lettering I do not think you can sand. I might have wanted you to smooth it out somehow before the lettering, but I think at this point you have to forge ahead and remove the texture at the end with polishing. It won't show at all in the black, but it might show under the lettering in the finished product. There are others far more expert than me on this subject, let's hear from them.
 
At this point I think you need to bury the artwork in the clear, let it cure a couple days then wet block it flat and then a couple more coats of clear.
 
I'm curious what the "manufacturer recommendations" were as far as grit. 800 is my preferred final grit on most color coats, 1000 on pearls and fine metallics.
 
To me the base looks either under-reduced, applied with too low of air pressure, or some combination of those. I don't observe any sand scratches in the photos. The only other cause I can think of for that sort of texture would be not to have sanded the texture out of the primer.
 
Edit: The "lettering" is just vinyl tape. I've already removed all of it last night. Right now the plan is to wet sand with 600 grit, re-apply the lettering, then spray with candy blue basecoat. I sprayed this with a 1:1 mix using a lvlp aeropro 500 at 30psi. I'm wondering if my psi is too high because I accidentally sprayed the part pictured below at 24psi and it's a lot smoother
 

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That amount of texture will show through some even after you clear it. Slight amount, not a problem but excessive like in the pic it will show. Sanding and buffing the clear will help but you will still see a wave like texture. Hard to put into words exactly. I think Jim will probably agree

. I think much of the issue is from using low quality, fast reducer. Combine that with other factors like what type of gun used, air pressure, too little CFM and what we see in the pics can happen.
 
If you sand it (you should IMO) then you will have to respray the base and redo the lettering. You cant spray clear over sanded base, even a solid color will show the scratches and look off when cleared.

What brand of base was it? Are you sure you reduced it?
 
Paint and reducer from Auto paint HQ. HQR-75 Medium universal urethane reducer. I definitely reduced it 1:1 like it says.
 
Chris_Hamilton said:
If you sand it (you should IMO) then you will have to respray the base and redo the lettering. You cant spray clear over sanded base, even a solid color will show the scratches and look off when cleared.

What brand of base was it? Are you sure you reduced it?
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THANKS everyone for all the advice! Its refreshing to have a forum that actually helps. I'm definitely going to sand it. I think after sanding a few parts already, it's a combination of several things. I didn't sand the primer good enough, and my psi was maybe too high with not enough reducer. My booth was around 70-72 degrees so I don't think it was the wrong reducer. I'm going to experiment a little and get back with everyone.
 
Cmr said:
THANKS everyone for all the advice! Its refreshing to have a forum that actually helps. I'm definitely going to sand it. I think after sanding a few parts already, it's a combination of several things. I didn't sand the primer good enough, and my psi was maybe too high with not enough reducer. My booth was around 70-72 degrees so I don't think it was the wrong reducer. I'm going to experiment a little and get back with everyone.
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Sure looks like the wrong reducer to me. Has all the earmarks of it. Low quality and too fast. I have no idea the quality of the base and reducer you are using but I can't emphasize enough that you need a quality reducer like SPI 885. I promise you that if you get a good reducer it will spray completely different.
Fastest you want to use in temps you stated is slow. 885 would be perfect.
 
Cmr said:
Edit: The "lettering" is just vinyl tape. I've already removed all of it last night. Right now the plan is to wet sand with 600 grit, re-apply the lettering, then spray with candy blue basecoat. I sprayed this with a 1:1 mix using a lvlp aeropro 500 at 30psi. I'm wondering if my psi is too high because I accidentally sprayed the part pictured below at 24psi and it's a lot smoother
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When I looked at the photos in your first post I thought the logos were painted on there for a subtle effect.
 
Cmr said:
I'm not that good lol. I'm painting a pre-mixed candy blue pearl over the black. Then lifting the vinyl decals.
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Think I used that same stencil. Gold pearl in intercoat clear over black base then buried it all in Universal Clear.
Little peel in the clear coat in this pic, but it cut and buffed out nice.

Harley flames 4.jpg
 
Dean Jenkins said:
Think I used that same stencil. Gold pearl in intercoat clear over black base then buried it all in Universal Clear.
Little peel in the clear coat in this pic, but it cut and buffed out nice.

View attachment 30306
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Looks nice Dean. Clean stencil work. I gotta grab an assortment of Harley stencils here soon for a project to see what I like best. I bet the gold pearl in the black looks good in the sun!
 
Whitesnake said:
Looks nice Dean. Clean stencil work. I gotta grab an assortment of Harley stencils here soon for a project to see what I like best. I bet the gold pearl in the black looks good in the sun!
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I used this company and the stencils were really good.

Custom Cut Vinyl Decals, Paint Stencils

Custom cut to order vinyl decals, paint stencils and more.
shop.vinylines.com shop.vinylines.com

Yeah, All the pearls popped in the sun, I was really happy with how it came out. My first "custom" job.

HD 5.jpg
 
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