which type of re-spray finnish?

[paulsco]

My car is reaching the stage where I am thinking about the re-spray.

My 340 was sprayed in 2k solid colour dark blue nearly 20 years ago and it still looks good; that is apart from the bleach spots caused by the sun on rain droplets after a shower.

The original colour of my E-Type is Carmen red and I intend to re-spray it this colour.

I would like your opinions on whether I should use a solid colour or whether to use a two stage system; clear over base, which I feel would be much more durable, but obviously less original.

Thank You,

Paul

[Alty Ian]

Clear over base every time.

[David Oslo]

I'm towards the end of a bare metal respray. My advice is definately clear over base.

And don't just use 'any-old' paint system (e.g. the lowest price paintshop using cheap paints coming from a low cost country) rather choose a paintshop using 'pukka' brand name, personally I'm using Cromax.

And then within the paint system use the most appropriate clearcoat. There's always a selection ranging from budget (price), to quick turnaround (accident repair), to low scratch, easy to apply (less skilled painters), to high-end. Talk to the paintshop (be aware that they may not know everything or be biased), read up the websites, choose the clearcoat that is best suited for entire car repaint and high-end finishes.

[SEJohnson95]

Also worth remembering that most modern lacquers have quite a high "orange peel" to them (have a look at the texture) which wasn't a finish on older cars (partly because there was no clear over base) I know that Richard wet flatted the finish afterwards so there was no orange peel in the lacquer on the 4.2

[vrracing]

A skilled painter can adjust the gun and their technique to emulate the asian, german and american styles of factory orange peel. With a high end gun, a skilled painter can produce a paint job with almost no discernable texture.

If you want the deepest looking paint, you'll want to to spray three coats of clear, flat it off, apply another two coats ("the flow coats"), then flat and polish that. All it takes is time and money.

Of course then you may be afraid to drive it! Just don't turn it into a trailer queen!

Good luck!
Jim

[David Oslo]

The orange peel is dependant on the spray gun used and the person using it, most painters I've talked to prefer a RP (reduced pressure) ahead of a HVLP gun for clear. The good painters will have their particular preference for a gun, some may use say a Sata 4000 RP for clear, and a Devilbiss GTi HVLP for base, and yet another for primers.

I've seen finishes that have very low orange peel when using quality guns and quality clear coat, with the correct settings of pressure and fluid flow, and applied at the correct distance. You spray much closer that you would imagine, we are not talking hand span like in the old days, we are talking a clenched fist with thumbs up.

I'm pretty chuffed with my underbonnet results so far, even in the difficult areas it's closer to piano than orange. I do my own painting.

Today's mass produced cars are specifically done with a level of orange peel in order to ease the production process. BMW is infamous for the level of orange peel. Paintshops (which after all mostly deal with accident repair) need to replicate the same orange peel, hence it's not too often they get asked for piano finish.

[paulsco]

Thanks for your replies,

I have done spraying before and have spray primed the car and sprayed colour in the engine bay.
The engine and suspension are in and the exterior of the car will be sprayed with the car partially assembled.
I have not yet decided whether I am going to spray the car myself or get it done professionally.

I was concerned about the un-originality of the two stage finishes and perhaps to a lesser extent the effect on value. Also as I have mentioned above, I have just made myself aware that I have already done the engine bay in solid colour; I wonder if that has made the decision for me??

Paul

[Heuer]

Bear in mind that Carmen Red could become Carmen Pink after a few years in the sun! Stick to modern paints.

[mooney1el]

Personally, I prefer the glass smooth, deep gloss appearance of today's paint systems, Way back in the 70's, I had a conversation with the guy who was then in charge of the paint systems for General Motors (I retired from there after 33 years). I asked why our cars seemingly had much less "orange peel" than the four letter competition from Dearborn. He told me that in surveys, most people preferred the glass like surface of our paints even though they perceived the greater "orange peel" paint to be thicker and more durable. The truth was that the paint systems from both manufactures had equal performance (let's not get into the rust bucket conversation wrt the cars of the 70's)


Richard