Paint Stripe First or Base First?

[standups]

Will Be painting my car soon not sure if to paint the stripes first then just mask over them or put base coat on then stripe??
thanks

[neuropel]

When I've seen it done in various shops, they apply the base first, then lay out the stripes and paint the stripes, then apply clear. This way, both the base and stripes are under the clear and it gives a nice, clean finish with no physical edges.

[blancojp]

Originally Posted by standups Will Be painting my car soon not sure if to paint the stripes first then just mask over them or put base coat on then stripe?? thanks

There are several ways of doing the job. Once you are ready to paint, paint the area of the strip first, mask off and paint the base. If you do it the other way, the joint will be uneven and will require several coats of clear to compensate.

[opelspyder]

I would basecoat, and then stripe it, then clear it. Most stripes have an outline surrounding them, they don't have to, but I find it better to it in that order. You can wetsand your clearcoat to level it afterwards. Also a note on what to use to tape off your lines. If you use actual masking tape, you will get too much edge break, or roughness on the lines. Use a fineline tape that is smooth to the touch, it almost looks like pinstripe material, comes in several widths. It leaves a really nice clean line when peeled up. We don't have any issues with the level after it is all clearcoated and then finished
Keith

[ungermm]

What about taping off the stripes while masking around them, spraying the stripes, reversing the tape and mask the stripes so that you can then spray the rest of the car? Then clear if you want. Wouldn't this technique reduce the edge/unevenness between the two?

I'm thinking of doing the above while using a matte paint for the stripes.

Juan, I asked you about the tinted primmer and then clearing it a few weeks ago. I'm thinking of using a tinted paint that looks flat when first applied. After clearing it turns out brilliant.

Jerry

[opelspyder]

Tinted paint??? Then looks good with clear? Sounds like stuff we call down here in the south Basecoat. Guys basecoat does not shine, it does have some glare to it, but it isn't until you clear coat it that it shines. Also when you go into taping up stuff 3-4 times, you risk messing up an expensive job. You may need to use an intercoat clear coat to protect some of your art work, before taping up for new stuff. Also I don't know about you guys, but I never was any good at getting that tape line back over a line just perfect, so then it wants to bleed onto existing artwork. Don't make something simple, into something difficult for yourself. Like Juan said, there are several ways to do it...but don't kill yourself or the job trying to make it tough.
Keith
Also if you do not have any experience with painting or basecoat /clear coat, don't practice on your car, find a new cheap hood from the auto body place ready in primer, and practice taping lines and such on that. Then if it turns out good, you can hang it in your shop. If it turns out bad, well its an easy lesson learned that you are not capable, and need to hire a professional to paint for you
Keith

[opelspyder]

Ungerman, sorry, wanted to post more answer to you. If you are going to use a matte finish for the stripe, you need to paint the car entirely, then scuff just the area you are going to paint the stripe, and shoot the matte finish on it. The reason for this is you do not want to clear coat over the matte finish, or it will not be matte anymore. You will have an edge that can be felt, that is the way they are/and the way you want it. Now if you are going with a matte color, I would still suggest that also.
Keith

[blancojp]

Originally Posted by ungermm Juan, I asked you about the tinted primmer and then clearing it a few weeks ago. I'm thinking of using a tinted paint that looks flat when first applied. After clearing it turns out brilliant. Jerry

Every body shop and/or body and paint person has their unique way of doing things. That is life, it is not right or wrong just different strokes for different folks. All base coats are flat and require the clear step to make them shine. And please don't make the mistake of spraying 10 coats of clear so it will out shine the sun.

We use a special primer which can be tinted to any color by just adding the formula components to a tintable base. I do not recommend you go that route because it will cost you a small fortune if you don't have the base component spice rack. We do this for customers that wondered about a color but not entirely sure that is the color they want. So we give them a raw preview of what the car would look like and something solid they can make up their minds with. Now if you consider the cost of our standard Glassurit paint job, we are providing the customer a great service which will guarantee repeat business.

Everyone does stripes differently and we are no exception. If I have three coats of base on the car, we have three even coats including the stripes. That means we spray three coats on the stripe and three coats on the body. It is alot more work to get it right but the results are worth the work. If you spray the car and then mask off and spray the stripe, there will be a section of the car that will have more coats than the other. Yes you can blend it in with clear however after color sanding you will end up with a thinner clear section around the stripe to even it out. There is nothing wrong with this scenario if you are not paying too much for the paint work however, you are creating a thinning problem area a few years down the road.

Like I said, different strokes for different folks!

[gvy]

Hi,

I am not a professional painter, but I did paint my GT myself with a good result.
I am an airbrusher.
The car is painted pearl green metalic, with white striping, so I had to deal with this question too.

I did it as following.

I worked with Nexa autocolor paint

First I sprayed the pearl green metalic colour base coat using 5 parts colour,4 parts thinner , 1 part hardener. (Normally you dont use hardener in a base coat and use a 5 parts colour,5 parts thinner).

After dampening out, I taped the striping with a special 3M 471 fineline tape. You dont wanna use a normal masking tape here, because you won't get sharp lines.

Then I sprayed the white base coat in the same recept as the green above.

After about 1 hour of dampening out I did scuff very little with a 1500 watersandpaper ( of course with water).
The seam between the green and white stayed visually sharp but I couldnt feel it anymore.

After that I clearcoated.

The first 3 foto's are the car painted in mat basecoat before the clearcoat.
The 4th foto is the car finished as it is now.

I actually used the same technique to paint an airbrush on my doors.
First the green basecoat in the above recept
second the airbrush ( using a waterbased airbrushpaint and special masking frisks)
last , the clearcoat.

5th foto


greets Geert