The tiger found me

ksungela

Member
I've done a couple all overs metallic paint jobs and never got tiger stripes. I did a favor for a friend and painted a 69 GTO hood GTS bright blue (Viper color) and got tiger strips across the whole hood. I've used the same equipment setup and paint (Wanda). Can anyone offer any reason why I would have gotten the strips?
 
Hard to say without actually seeing you spray. Being that the color is Viper Blue it may not actually be tiger striping but actually light and dark due to coverage or not enough coverage. Certain blues can be difficult to spray and need extra coats to achieve full coverage. How many coats did you spray? What speed reducer and what was the temp when you sprayed?
 
4 coats, 2nd or 3rd was perpendicular, Normal spi reducer, about 75 degrees. I thought I was careful to keep the gun perpendicular to the surface on the last two coats when I saw it was stripping in the first 2, but thought initially is was a coverage issue. Maybe my gun (LPH400 silver cap) wasn't spraying a consistent fan pattern, that's the only thing I can think of.
 
Try this, SPI 885 or even a blend with SPI 895 if it's anywhere near 80 degrees, bump up your air pressure, 75% overlap on your passes (keep them all same direction). Move quickly. Less is more. :) 4 coats and that should give you nice even metallic. If for some reason you still have the striping try this, using SPI intercoat or Wanda equivalent mix your base 1:1 with the intercoat (you can activate the intercoat but not really necessary) Spray 1 coat let it flash and see how it looks. If you still see striping spray one more coat. If after all this you still have issues it's either the gun or your technique.
 
I am not a pro but when I spray metallics each coat gets sprayed horizontally, vertically and on both diagonals. Never a sign of tiger striping. I use an Iwata purple cap and a wide fan.

Don
 
Generally when spraying a large hood the tendency is to slightly tip the gun when overreaching, thus laying a slightly heavier coat on 1/2 of the pattern.
 
870 is pretty fast for basecoat at 75°. Also a test panel need to be done to determine number of coats to achieve coverage.
 
Thanks for the feedback.
870 is for 65-80 degrees according to SPI. How would the speed reducer affect the coverage or spray pattern which appears to be the problem. I'm thinking the problem is a result of my technique and gun not being optimized.
 
Distance from the panel can be an issue too when doing high metallic light colors I sometimes give it a drop coat or two back to back to help even the metallic like when doing acrylic enamel jobs there are those times that it can be done to orient the metalics.
 
Thanks for the feedback.
870 is for 65-80 degrees according to SPI. How would the speed reducer affect the coverage or spray pattern which appears to be the problem. I'm thinking the problem is a result of my technique and gun not being optimized.

The faster the reducer the quicker the flash off which when spraying metallic can result in the metallic "clumping" (for lack of a better word at this moment). Meaning it doesn't stay open long enough for the metallic to flow and orient itself properly. That's why you should always use as slow a reducer as possible.
 
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