Painting with metallic lacquer

[Kurt France]

My 70's original color was Cortez Silver. I want to paint it with lacquer in my garage. Is painting with metallic lacquer more tricky than painting a solid, and is it harder to find a correct mix?

Also will a clear over the top of the coats of metallic lacquer give a much deeper shine.

[Wayne P.]

Yes, yes, & yes *NM*

[Dick G.]

Re: Painting with metallic lacquer

Kurt: Yes you will get a deeper shine. If you wish to shoot a clear over your lacquer it will have to be a clear lacquer. If you are going to shoot clear then definately go with a urethane BC/CC. Older silver paint jobs without clear will fade out. The problem with shooting any metallic Without clearing is this: when you wet sand out your paint to get rid of orange peel, you will without a doubt remove some of the metallic from the paint and it will look mottled/cloudy. Whenever you wash and polish your paint you take the chance of losing some of the metallic. If it was a solid color it is not that big of an issue. When shooting a metallic paint apply medium wet coats. Too wet of coats will allow the metallic flakes to sink into the color and not show. Your final blocking before sealing and painting should be 400-800 grit. Do yourself a favor and go to autobodystore.com and talk to hundreds of pro-bodymen what they think you should do. It is without a doubt the best autobody forum on the net.

[Stephen W.]

Re: Painting with metallic lacquer

Follow the manufacturers directions is number one. I prefer not to use clear over lacquer paint because it reduces durability due to film thickness. Lacquer is a much harder paint film so excessive film build on a body that moves around a lot is not a prefered thing.
Will you have a "better" or deeper finish with clear? Well there again I follow a different road. Maybe it's because I shot so much lacquer paint at a Cadillac dealership before going to work for the company that made the paint. I never used clear to blend my color and never added clear to the topcoat. It wasn't needed... Not ever with Cadillacs "Firemist" colors which had huge flake in them.
The biggest problem is not following the rules. Over reduction will kill the color and wash the pigments and toners off the alm flake. You end up with something that resembles the color you want but with a funny looking silvery flake that is uneven and mottled. Keep your reduction at 125%. Adjust for conditions with the proper temp thinners. Watch your gun technique to maintain a uniform film build especially with overlap areas. As my own rule of thumb I would go 3 coats past color hiding. Go an extra coat if you are going to really block it down.
I would switch to the slow thinner in my top coats to allow for better drying and as mentioned earlier to allow the metallic to settle properly. The metallis should be able to lay down as the coat drys. All to often the use of a faster thinner will make the flake stand up on end. It's easier to paint with a fast thinner but the results are poor.... So we load up lots of clear over it so it now has "depth" and we can't scar ( cut though ) the metallic when we buff it out.... Not a very durable finish. Unstable base color and to much film build.

For my 71 which I painted the original war bonnet yellow I applied 4 even coats of color and then let it dry for a day. Went back with 600 to level the paint and get rid of any "nibs". The first recoat was done with mid-temp thinner. I applied two more coats switching to slow thinner. I richened up the very last coat with some retarder to slow it down even more. Careful with retarder... Only use it sparingly. the slower thinners in the final coats allowed everything to lay down. The color build was already there with my first 4 coats and by "tipping " it off with 600 I now had a very uniform smooth finish. I let everything sit for the next week and then gave it a very light scuff with "ultra -fine" ( 1200). Now back then the compounds were oil based and very strong so I started with a home made paste made from corn starch and water. This was my all time standby for any Black limo I had to paint.. Or any black lacquer car cause it would not stain the fresh black lacquer.

Did you count the coats? 7 tops and I cut and polished about a coat off. Thats a good film build to protect yet be thin enough to be durable. NO CLEAR. There is plenty of clear in the paint I applied.

Depth? Our eyes see what is reflected back to them. Think of light as straight lines hitting a surface. If that surface is glass smooth almost ALL the light is reflected directly back to our eyes as unifirm as it hit the panel.... this produces a mirror finish... Depth? ever look in a mirror?

Now think of those same straight lines of light hitting a rough finish. They are now bounced in all different directions so almost no light is reflected to our eyes. Not very impressive. Not only is it dull and flat looking but the uneven finish now has tiny shadows to really make the peel stand out.

Take the advice of other posts and read what other painters have to say. The modern painter of today will have had little contact with lacquer paints unless he works in a restoration shop... so find the old timers.

[Don Izzo]

Re: Painting with metallic lacquer

Having done custom paint jobs on Harley Davidson show bikes for about 15 years I wouldn't and didn't paint my 60! The only thing I would add to Steve's post is this; If you don't normally paint cars, don't try to learn with a metalic paint without some supervision from a pro. I have seen lots of nice cars that look like crap as the owner proudly boasts, "I painted it myself". Case in point my next door neighbor who painted his 64 GTO metalic silver. The metallic is so mottled it looks like each panel was painted with a different color silver! Ever heard of a "drop coat"? a technique used by painters in the final coats to insure the metalic flake doesn't pool together forming uneven application, which causes that mottled look. If you don't know how to apply metalic paint you won't be happy with the outcome. Better you prep the car, then shop your local body shops in your area in hopes of finding one who will just spray the car for you then allow you to finish sand and polish yourself. And even that part is an art in itself. When We painted my 60 at my brothers body shop he would only allow one of his guy's to color sand and polish my car. That is all this guy does at his shop and he is the best at it, and believe me it made a big difference. All I hear at shows is WHO DID YOUR PAINT.?!

Don

[Kurt France]

Re: Painting with metallic lacquer

Thanks for the info.
Unfortunately that is what I didnt want to hear, but what I will have to follow. I really wanted to paint and work the car myself...assuming I could do a quality job. Maybe there will be another car for that.

I will find a lacquer veteran down here in South Florida for the Cortez Silver.

Thanks again.

[paul bowers]

Re: Painting with metallic lacquer

Kurt
this may not be the case now, but i had a 63 along time ago and had buba
paint the car with a blue metallic lacquer I live in the mid west and when it got real cold out the metallic particles in the paint expanded and created tiny cracks all thru my paint it looked like crap i would like any comments out there about this
paul