Acrylic Enamel vs Basecoat/Clearcoat

[Ichiban]

I'm getting to the point that I need to buy paint for my 2g. I've made up my mind on the colours, from the trim line up will be the original R-48M Regency Red Metallic, and the bottom will be gloss black, with a painted pinstripe along each border. I was also planning to black the center of the hood, with the same pinstripe motif along the border, a la 70's chev pickup style. Anyways, can anyone offer any advice on whether I go with a BC/CC, as I wanted to clear over the pinstriping (and obviously the rest of the car too), or will the AE paint work well enough? The Acrylic is substantially cheaper, and applies in one or two coats compared to the BC/CC, with 5-6 coats and a lot of wet sanding. I've heard that the AE metallic colours come out just shit, with lots of mottling, uneveness and a crappy finish. I've heard though that the AE is far more durable than the BC/CC.

I will be using a Devilbiss HVLP gun with a 2.5 gallon Craftsman paint pot, I have about 500 dollars I can spare for paint, and this will be my first paint job. I'm going for a moderate-high gloss, like factory, but not a show shine. Thoughts?

Edit: I've read online that you can shoot clear A/E overtop to get a better gloss and to seal in pinstripes

[lostforawhile]

paint it greek white! with black. LOL I'm using single stage,but mine is solid colors,not a metallic. I like the single stage personally, one of the disadvantages is you have to wait 90 days before you can wax it, but the advantage is,that if it's a driver, minor chips and dings are much eaisier to fix then on base clear. you stll have to block sand the car, whatever system you use,and you have to get the body right before any kind of paint. once a single stage fully cures,a top quality wax will still make the paint look fantastic. once it's buffed out, it'll look just as good. if you are not good at spraying,stay away from the metallics big time,it takes a lot of expierience to spray metallics right. I hate them myself and can't spray them worth a shit, plus any kind of touchups are an absolute nightmare.

[Ichiban]

if you are not good at spraying,stay away from the metallics big time,it takes a lot of expierience to spray metallics right. I hate them myself and can't spray them worth a shit, plus any kind of touchups are an absolute nightmare.

I'm well aware of this fact, but fear and common sense don't seem to be stopping me here. I have my heart set on this colour scheme. You do seem to favor the AE though. There are a few others like Polyurethane, but I'd prefer to stick to the well known ones. I think if I can get the R48 in AE, I'll consider it. I'll have enough paint to practice a little, and I'm a rather fast learner.

[lostforawhile]

I'm well aware of this fact, but fear and common sense don't seem to be stopping me here. I have my heart set on this colour scheme. You do seem to favor the AE though. There are a few others like Polyurethane, but I'd prefer to stick to the well known ones. I think if I can get the R48 in AE, I'll consider it. I'll have enough paint to practice a little, and I'm a rather fast learner.

i'm using single stage Polyurethane, it's not too hard to spray a mettalic when practicing,but when you spray on a complex surface like a car,any mistakes or unevenness will show up much eaisier,especially when looking at one surface and moving. good luck.

[Hans]

It sounds like you have some great plans for your paint job. I don't have a lot of knowledge in this area, but I know that my car was a one stage paint job and I didn't put any wax on it for a year.

[2ndGenGuy]

My car is single stage, and I haven't waxed it once. In 4 years. Still looks damn good. I don't see why you couldn't clear over it either.

[Vanilla Sky]

For your first paint job, go with AE. When you're comfortable with it, go with B/C.

One thing you'll never really get with AE is depth. It's something I'm only concerned about with a show car, which means I pretty much don't care. Also, most clears seem to peel or fade after a couple of years. It's all about the sanding between coats.

Tim, I may be giving you a call some time in the next week or so. I really want to get this rust suspended, and talking on the phone is just so much easier than the interweb.

[lostforawhile]

My car is single stage, and I haven't waxed it once. In 4 years. Still looks damn good. I don't see why you couldn't clear over it either.

there is no reason you can't clear over single stage if you want to,as a matter of fact i was talking to someone at school the other day about this,he said some of the show guys actually do this,it adds a lot of depth to the paint. as far as these pieces now, the dam paint didn't flow out enough, i will just wet sand it with 600 right before i spray the rest of the car, it's just a couple of extra layers of paint is all. the hood takes so much abuse with the aerodynamics of this car,that some extra paint won't hurt anything. I was in the old booth,and the lights suck, if i had been in the new booth,I could have seen the paint wasn't flowing enough and adjusted the gun. I did get some pictures and as soon as i get them developed i'll post them.

[Ichiban]

I ordered Acrylic enamel today from napa, they are going to mix 2 litres of the R48, and get me a litre of gloss black for below the trim line. I can't wait!

[2ndGenGuy]

Sweet! I wanna see that thing in it's original sexy red color!

[HondaBoy]

at school we get a lot of paint from napa. they seem to carry pretty high quality stuff. personally i liked the way the single stage paint comes out. but i will probably repaint my car with a base/clear system. probably gonna use all SEM products.

[88Accord-DX]

That Napa paint is called Full Cryl II. (single stage) Use it all the time, pretty good that they can match paint codes from about any car. I was reading on the back of the can, I can't remember the name right now. It keeps the paint from getting fisheyes, something you add to the paint. Make sure you have a moisture filter attatched to your hose.
Anyhow, I painted my car with CC/BS, I still need to fix some of the fuck-ups from this POS paint gun I was using. Basically I need to wet sand the clear down & respray it with clear using a good gun. When I painted another car I had, I used single stage & it looked pretty damn good for a long time.

[Ichiban]

I figure a month or so after I've painted it I can buff it out and wax it for a high gloss. I just love a glassy finish.

[HondaBoy]

are you going to be painting in a temperature controled booth? thats what we have at school, bakes the paint so to speak and makes quick work of a piant job. then about a day or two after we can usually buff the paint. i dunno how long it usually takes for paint to fully cure otherwise though. but the longer you wait, the less you'd have to worry about hurting the paint.

[lostforawhile]

even if you paint in a booth,you need to give a single stage time to cure before buffing it. it depends on the paint manufacturer. check with them to find out the exact time.

[2oodoor]

I figure a month or so after I've painted it I can buff it out and wax it for a high gloss. I just love a glassy finish.

If you are going to use single stage AE, use a harder. For all the work involved with properly wet sanding with ultra fine and then buffing , along with the risk of burning the paint with the buffer and possibly going thru somewhere and leaving marks... My choice, and I have had success with it, would be wait about a week and very carefully ultra fine the car with a wee little bit of soap and make dam sure you dont get any dirt under the paper.. then use a good clear coat compatable with the AE. It will shine like a fresh spanked ass and will stay that way a while without any buffing.
It sounds like more work but in the long run it is less. Get practiced at taping up cars, it seems real hard at first and takes like forever.. but once you get the hang of it and know some tricks it can be done in an hour or less.

[Ichiban]

I generally allow a bodyshop AE coat to cure fully for a month before touching it. This includes off roading, washing, buffing, waxing, leaning on it with jean jackets, buttons, beer bottles, hookahs etc. I am going to be painting it in a makeshift tent inside a garage, with a hosed down concrete floor and a rented fan for ventilation. There is little masking needed as there are no lights or windows in my car. I'm even painting the windshield pinch weld with body colour.

[Ichiban]

I was reading on the back of my paint can that I'm supposed to do 2 medium coats, allowing flash time, and then a "dry" light coat if needed to even the metallic. Won't this make for a shit horrible orange peeley surface? I thought the idea of the last coat was to flow out and make a smooth finish?