Taping for stripes question

T

timsz

I'm going to spray SPI black base coat over entire car, then i'm going to spray stripe color. Can i tape for stripe on base coat the following day? Will there be any problems with tape on base coat? Pull tape at an angle. I can wait about a week to put universal clear coat over base coat can't I ? Any info please. Thank you very much.
 
You will not have any problems with putting tape on the base coat. I wouldn't wait a week before putting clear over the base but that is just me. I wouldn't trust that it would have a good bond. What is the second color going to be and who is the manuf. would be helpful. Dupont says 24hrs max time to get the clear on but others have said no problem waiting longer but I say do what the manuf. says.
 
If you get any tape residue don't use waterborne wax & grease remover use 710. If I was doing it I would spray two coats of clear wet sand then lay out your stripes.
 
sometimes its easier to spray your stripe color first, mask off the stripes them color the rest of the car and then apply clear
 
You're saying to spray entire car with 2 coats of clear, wetsand entire car, spray stripes, then spray more clear over entire car. The stripes will be on entire car. Over roof, front to back, and along the sides, front to back. Thank you
 
Yes, that's what he's saying. Reason is, if you get overspray or creep from your stripe color onto the black, it can be sanded out because it's on the clearcoat, not the basecoat. When I sprayed white on my Mustang, I sprayed it directly over the blue base. I had some creep in a few spots (such as corners where the tape doesn't stick down well), and well, it was some very delicate sanding to sand just the white away but not get into the blue base. But you can't tell now that everything is cleared.

I can tell you for a FACT that clearing over the SPI base a week later is perfectly fine. HOWEVER, only if the car hasn't left the booth. That is, the base hasn't been exposed to UV to cure and it hasn't gotten dirty.

However, you don't want that tape to sit very long on your base. About 8-10 hours max or you'll be disappointed when you go to pull it off and see what else might have come off. When I shot my stripes it was a long painful day. Took me 15 hours to get everything measure, taped, masked, sprayed, and unmasked, but I wanted to do it all in the same day to get that tape back off.

Here's a blog entry on how I did it. Much of my technique is based off advice from Barry, I'm not just here making this stuff up.

http://joshlizer.blogspot.com/2013/10/paint-part-ii-painting-lemans-stripes.html
 
if you are worried about masking problems, you can also shoot a coat of intercoat clear. That is what all the airbrush true fire guys use between layers, mostly to get more depth. It also lets you stay with basecoat on top of basecoat and you eliminate any sanding you would do to paint on top of final clear.

We just taped on top of the base, but we just learned about universal clear, so its not a SPI base you are using. If you have a little creep, you just retape and lightly spray over the problem area with your dark color.
 
spray your stripe color on where it needs to be-hood,roof, trunk, cowl.......wherever, mask off the stripe, apply your main color, unmask, tack off, apply clear. Easy peasy....
Intercoat clear after each step of base does make for an easier surface to clean or correct bleed through on masking mistakes.
 
I like Bob like the intercoat clear, its cheap insurance, its there if you need it, if not, no problemo
 
my only downside to putting down clear, especially a full two coats of final clear is your stripes start looking more like decals than painted on stripes. That is a matter of your personal taste. The intercoat will be a thinner coat, and keep the stripes looking like paint.
 
anotheridiot;39896 said:
my only downside to putting down clear, especially a full two coats of final clear is your stripes start looking more like decals than painted on stripes. That is a matter of your personal taste. The intercoat will be a thinner coat, and keep the stripes looking like paint.
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Not when you spray another four coats of clear over everything wet sand and buff.

I don't think this looks like a decal

 
timsz;39800 said:
I'm going to spray SPI black base coat over entire car, then i'm going to spray stripe color. Can i tape for stripe on base coat the following day? Will there be any problems with tape on base coat? Pull tape at an angle. I can wait about a week to put universal clear coat over base coat can't I ? Any info please. Thank you very much.
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Black covers so well-thin tape line, it's a shame you're not doing it in reverse order-stripe color down first. It really is the easiest and cleanest way to do it. I do flames the same way...my first color to go on is the outline color of the flames, then masked for the flames, then the flame colors, then masked, then the main color of the car, then unmasked and cleared-so much easier and cleaner than painting the whole car and then masking for the stripes...
 
Bob, do you unmask while the paint is still wet to allow the edges to roll over the tape line or wait til its dry?

Can also let me/us know the type of tape you use. I use a plotter with spraymask vinyl on most of the masks, but have not found a really good fine line tape.
 
I let it flash really good before pulling tape, overnight is fine even, the tape pulls off nice and clean with sharp lines since it's only basecoat and like the example above where black is going to be used for the main color it will only be 2-3 coats thick. I use the original style olive colored 3M fineline and another brand that's green-can't remember the brand name off hand. I don't care for the 3M blue tape. The thinner the tape the less of a paint edge when unmasked because the bridge along the edge is lower..JMO
I run the backside of my fingernail along the tape or the back of a filler spreader to press the tape down and very rarely get any curlups or edge bleeding.
 
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