How long before i can shoot stripes?

DJGRIFF

New Member
Hello i am new here and am not a professional auto painter.I have painted around 12-15 overall paint jobs over the last 30 years using Dittzler laquer in the beginning and have shot Imron. Chromabase. Omni (both bc/cc and ss) Nasson ss and Limco supreme+ (ss and bc 64cc) I am painting my 1974 z28 type LT.for the 2nd time. I did this car back in 2004 using Omni and euroclear that the local PPG jobber sold me it came out pretty good after lots of color sanding and buffing and looked great considering this is a dailey driver. This time around i found SPI for clear and epoxy primer/sealer i found a automotive arts dealer that mixed some Motobase aqua blue poly base. I used pcl to block the whole car and then used spi epoxy to use as sealer. Sprayed my base color with 1cap of universal clear activator per sprayable qt(as recomended here)and then shot i coat of spi universal clear that is as far as i got today. My question is about doing my z28 (chevy ralley stripes) How long should i wait to tape the strpes and what tape to use? I would like to do this tomorrow if possible because i am using space some friends let me build a temporary booth in airplane hanger and would like to not outstay my welcome as much as possible.Also how long is the window to finish the clear over the black ralley stripes(also Motobase) any help here will be great. One last thing. I am never going to use anything other then spi cliear and epoxy or products other then what is recomended here. Because of following this forum while prepping my car i have had no issues with anything for the first time ever and i am really impressed how nice the clear flowed out without running or orange pealing. If i can get the clear over the stripes as nice as the first i will have much less work to cut and buff. Thanks SPI and every one here
 
I have always done the stripes before the top coat clear, using innercoat clear to save any tape issues from sticking and resticking to the hood, so no answer from me other than what I have been learning about wrinkling base over fresh clear.
 
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using regular clear and only a single coat you have opened yourself to some issues. that clear is thin, your going to have to sand it atleast a little bit for adhesion of the stripes and the final clear. this will make it thinner. when you shoot the base on that fresh thin clear there is a good chance that you are going to wrinkle the clear. once that starts, your in for a world of pain trying to stop that. there was really no need for you to clear it at all. let it sit a few hours in base, tape off the stripes, spray them then clear. if i was going to clear it like you did then i would have shot 3 coats, let it sit for a couple days minimum then sand and spray the stripes. at this point i would only scotchbrite the clear to dull it out and spray your stripes. use fast reducer only and spray very light with lots of flash between coats.
 
How about if i shoot another 2 coats clear and let it set for a few days and then do the stpes and final clearcoat. It has been only 10 hrs from the time i put the first clear coat on will i have problems ?
 
Thanks for the info .i went and put another 2 full clear coats on and all went well .should i wait more then 2 or 3 days before taping the ralley stripes.i should wet sand the hood and deck lid prior to taping the stripes just as if i was going to sand and polish just with 600 or 800 instead of 1000-2000? After i shoot the black stripes how long should i wait to final clear over them and how many coats? Is there any other black i can use at this stage to minimize reactions or should i just go with the base black Motobase paint i already have?
 
No need to wait more than 2-3 days. Wet sand with 600, tape it, apply black (Motobase is fine) with at least 30-45 minutes between coats. Black dries the slowest of any base, so overnight dry before clear is best. Bare minimum would be 2 hours, but the longer the better. Minimum 3 coats but 4 would be better if you want to sand the stripes level (no edge).
 
No need to wait more than 2-3 days. Wet sand with 600, tape it, apply black (Motobase is fine) with at least 30-45 minutes between coats. Black dries the slowest of any base, so overnight dry before clear is best. Bare minimum would be 2 hours, but the longer the better. Minimum 3 coats but 4 would be better if you want to sand the stripes level (no edge).
I started the stipes after a 3 day cure of the clear everything went well .By the time i finished it was getting to cold in the shop to shoot another coat of black .tomorrow i will clear over the stripes and finish puting the door handles anf locks back in the doors I'm very pleased with the way it is turning out and could not have done it without the help from everyone here at the spiuserforum. Thank you i will post some pics of the finished car some time next week after i color sand and buff .I used the new purple 1/4" stiping tape ,for laying out the stripes along with the yellow 3m tape .pulled it all as soon as i finished and had no problems. Thanks again. .
 
We all live and learn, here we live, make mistakes, read, get opinions and hopefully remember for next time. At least you can tell your friend that you should be able to save 3-4 days if they let you use the space again.
 
We all live and learn, here we live, make mistakes, read, get opinions and hopefully remember for next time. At least you can tell your friend that you should be able to save 3-4 days if they let you use the space again.
Thanks to the input from those that responded to my questions my car along with its stripes came out real good.I think the extra days are no big deal now because they would like for me to do some paint work on thier Cessna 172 .One last question...How long do you think i should wait to sand and buff? I sprayed the stripes over 3coats universal clear after a few days to cure .Motobase black and 3ish coats after waiting 1 hr between them. Let sit overnight and put 1 clear on top of stripes apox 18hrs then did another clear about 45 min later .i was going to spray one more but it was getting cold fast as the sun went down and it looked real good so i left it at 2.it has been 24 hrs and by the time i hope to start my color sanding and polishing it will be around48 hrs (if that is not too soon) here are a frw pics of the stipes over clear but not yet covered in clear and the last 2 are 12 -15 hrs after the final coats of clear. Thanks again. Oops i think the pics are all after clearing over the stripes .i know you guys do this kind of stuff all the time with better results .But i am super happy with what laid out so nice and without any evil paint gremlins making it much more work to fix and redo. This is alot of work when everything goes well and serms like triple the effort for any small mishap be it chemical reactions not expected or personal brain fu-- k up. Most of this post should have been in a more general area of this forum. So thanks for putting up with my ignorance and helping me not to make the mess i was heading for.
 

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you use a stencil kit?

Im using single stage black and want to go white stripes, not sure procedure on that compared to BC/CC
 
you use a stencil kit?

Im using single stage black and want to go white stripes, not sure procedure on that compared to BC/CC
far less worries imho. The problem with BC is you cannot scuff the basecoat if it is metallic without exposing alot of the metallic if you have issues with the tape.

Alot of people are fine just taping on the basecoat, but if the tape stays on long you have chance of having problems with no intercoat clear on the car. Single stage can be color sanded when its dry, and buffed back if there are issues.

Personally, I would do the white first and mask them off, since black will cover white faster than white will cover black and that leads to heavier stripes. Lighter color built up what could be too high if you do the white second. Its fine if you are ok with them looking like stickers, Its personal preference though.
 
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