With SPI products shipping is always free. You can check pricing on their website. You can find the pricing sheet under "Products" on the drop down menu.Thanks 68 coronet for your help.No,its not a show car by any means,just a little nice old 94 chevy truck.C1500 side step short bed.
I will check pricing and shipping.
Many of the tech sheets from the manufacturers almost always suggest using an orientation coat. I use Standox and they recommend it.
Hmm, of the five product tech sheets I have: Dupont, RM Diamont and Motobase LV don't even mention it. Wanda says, "when needed" and ProSpray says it is "acceptable."
I'm not a professional and I didn't sleep at the Holiday Express last night either. Just stating my experiences with spraying metallics and pearls since upgrading to the better quality paints. I have not found a drop coat necessary. Now if blending a repair, that would be a different matter altogether but not on completes.
I really like SPI intercoat. I was just pointing out that even the trusted brands recommend the process. I came across some Standox produced videos and the "head trainer" emphasized doing a drop coat. Like you said, do what works. Results are all that count.If a drop coat works well for you AAE, that's great. Keep doing what you have success with. When it's recommended to a novice is where I have an issue with it. Because the majority of the time a noobie will screw it up. In a booth environment even with basecoats where it's recommended like Standox, the base doesn't stay open long enough to do it. That's why I never did it and have found that irregardless of what a particular system recommends, the blender technique just works much better, is easier and relatively foolproof. Standox uses a blender and recommends using it when doing a drop coat. Easier just to spray one more coat reduced with the blender over the whole repair area and extend out. That's what I have done and not to brag on myself but I have always been able to do perfect undetectable blends that way. Lots of guys I worked with couldn't especially on the hard colors. When I showed them how I did it, they got much better blending.
All of what I'm referreing to is in the context of blending a color. If you are doing an overall it's really not neccesary unless it's to compensate for poor technique. Modern basecoats, even the silvers lay out and orient itself really well. Most of the time striping on an overall is because of lack of coverage.
Holding the gun slightly different will help when the arm is fully extended.Tiger stripes are often caused by tipping the gun slightly. You have to pay close attention to keeping the gun perpendicular to the surface at all times. A slight tilt will cause one side of the fan to be closer to the hood than the other side. This will cause the paint to be wetter and heavier on the close side thus creating the stripes.
On your first pass, is the coverage looking consistent throughout the fan pattern?
Also helps in your concentration at keeping the gun perpendicular to the surface.I spray from center out ( back towards me) so I’m not leaning across wet paint
I believe Chris answered correctly when he said no in post #4. 3 coats minimum, especially with that base.Do you think 2 coats will be enough?
Mando, you are getting some good advice here.You are in for some good lessons cutting and buffing 3 coats of clear over metallic base because it will be extremely challenging to fix if you break through to base. Four coats clear minimum for a novice at cutting and buffing. Tape your edges….
Don
Tape your edges with blue tape while sanding to prevent sand throughs. Shine taught me that many years ago…Ok, Thanks to all for your great advice. Since I am new to this,I don't want to spray the clear too wet cause I am afraid of having too many runs. I was thinking more of 3 medium coats. However,now that you guys explain all this to me,I think I will go with 4,maybe 5 coats. As for cutting and buffing, ( Correct me if I am wrong) I will start with 1000,go to 1500,and than 2500 wet sanding or color sanding. Of course I will be using a block to do all this. I will first start with a wool pad and than use the foam pad. Would this be enough? As Don mentioned here,I don't want to cut tru the base and make a mess out of it. One thing that worries me are the edges. Do you still use a block or do you just do it by hand? I would think that the edges would be the ones that will burn tru if you sand to much. Once I get the truck all painted,I will post a picture of it ( Only if it looks decent). MY son said that if the truck comes out looking pretty decent,he will buy me a Iwata or a Devilbiss Prolite gun. So,I better try my best if I expect a new gun. Ha ha.
I am thinking about getting a gun budd light.