Well, The rebiuld on my F-150 is about to begin next week.

The man that is going to paint it for me is throwing ideas of paint towards me & I have no clue what to do.

He is telling me to paint using a single stage w/hardener because it is much cheaper to purchase then the base coat/clearcoat combo.
Now, I trust what he is saying. But I am not to familiar with the single stage enamel.

This is what I'm wanting my truck to look like....

A solid gloss black with a metalic silver flake. I'm also going to have metallic red vinyl graphis put on it after it is painted.
I want the truck to shine & look good.

Although the paint color is not set in stone & can me changed easily I can only imagine the metalic black/metallic red combo in my head right now.

What are your opinions on this?

 

BC/CC will cost more because you have more material to buy and you need to lay 2 different things down. It is better in every way but for many years single stage was used with good results. It will last about 5 years if kept up. Today everyone jumps up and down about BC/CC and for some reason forget how good cars looked for years without it.

 

<cr>
The clearcoat is what gives you a shine. A single stage (SS) urethane is basicly basecoat (BC) with clearcoat (CC) already in it.

You have more options available to you with a BC/CC paint job because there is more CC available to work with.

One example is to spray on your SS paint. Then make a 50/50 mix of SS and CC and spray on another coat. Top it off with a couple coats of CC. The 50/50 mix give a transparent affect and gives you more depth to the paint job.

Another example is to put on your BC and top it with 3 coats of CC. Then you colorsand to remove any orange peel and finish by buffing. An option of this is, to do your colorsanding but instead of buffing, you spray an additional coat of CC.

You can also BC, CC, do your graphics work, and bury everything in CC. This gives the illusion of the graphics floating. Add some shading to the graphics and you have a 3D affect.

 

Aekisu I agree with you and know you know world more about painting than I will ever, my point was that on a budget what is wrong with a single stage paint. I know it will not last as long but it will last a long time and will look good for cheaper. That was his question I think, does he need to spend the extra money.

Question for you though
Cutting the BC with clear, would that give a sort of candy look that would be easier to lay down? I am going to paint my motorcycle and want something easy to lay down but looks good. I am not good enough to get candy right all the time.

OK I was going to go with a british racing green with black racing stripe, but after reading this I am thinking of green then BC/CC cut coat with a ultra fine flake, 2 clear coats then the stripes. Will that give the look of a deep paint with a floating stripe???

 

So by using single stage enamel I can still use metallic flake, get that glossy look, & a smooth surface?

He also mentioned that if we used a BC/CC, we would have to strip to bare metal and begin from scratch versus a single stage does not need to be stripped to bare metal before application.

I guess I'm really looking for pros & cons & opinions right now.

By the way, how much paint does it take to cover a 88 F-150 regular cab & 8' bed?
I'm not to worried about the inside of the bed, it is going to have the rhino lining ~ so I don't think I will need to paint that again.

 

I thought body prep was the same for SS as it is for BC/CC? As long as the original paint is good, no need to go to the metal?

 

No, I wasn't arguing or disagreeing with you. Just trying to give him a couple more options to work with. There is no doubt you can have a great, long lasting paint job with a SS urethane.

I don't think cutting the BC with CC would give you the candy affect you are looking for. It just gives more depth to the basic color. Now about adding some pearl to your base (to add some sparkle) or to your clear (for a light ghosting affect)?

 

That is correct. The actual prep work is the same for both SS and BC/CC.

The only issue you may have with not going to bare metal is the lifting of the old paint, the SS or BC/CC can cause. The safest way (assuming you don't strip to bare metal) is to spray a sealer coat over the old paint, before applying the SS or BC/CC. I use epoxy.

 

Could it possibly be because that I have alot of peeling paint?

I don't know much about body or paint work, that is why I'm asking question. Not only to you here in the forum, but to others that are experienced in body & paint.

I'm hoping that I can learn something from asking questions & I will be working hands on next to the man that is doing my truck.

Not only will I learn something, but it will knock a penny or two off the labor bill. He's but rebiulding classic cars for 20+ years, so I trust he knows what he is doing.

 

If the paint is peeling, checking, lifting, or what have you, it has to be removed. At least to the point where the defect is gone.

Picture some of those old paint jobs where the paint has peeled, exposing the primer. Imagine what would happen if you sprayed new paint over the top, without prepping it. It would only be a matter of time until the old remaining paint lifted, taking your new paint with it.

The only difference in your prep sanding, is the grit you should finish with. With solid colors, finishing with 400 grit is okay. With metallics, most people finish with 600 grit.

 

Most of my paint that is or has peeled is on the hood.


The truck is wrecked right now. I'm currently on a scavenger hunt looking for good replacement parts on a budget. I live in the land of rust & actually had better luck on eBay for parts.

Right now, I'm leaning towards the single stage paint, Unless I win the lottery or come in to some major cash before the painting process.

 

Would I still be able to do this using a single stage, apply graphics, then spray clear coat?

Also if I used a single stage paint & also sprayed clear over it, is there a flash time for this or can the clear be sprayed anytime with a single stage?

 

go with base coat/clear coat, it looks better and lasts longer than single stage

 

<cr>
SS urethane has CC already in it so yes, you can apply CC over the top of a SS.
This will take a little more explanation.

All paints & clears have two critical times you need to be aware of. They are the flash time and the topcoat time. The flash time is the minimum amount of time you must wait before applying an additional coat of paint. The topcoat time is the maximum amount of time you have to apply an additional coat. In other words, you must apply additional coats between the flash and topcoat times. The actual times vary between products so you need to consult your technical sheets for that information.

In answer to your question, yes you can apply CC over SS anytime but if you exceed your topcoat time, you need to sand prior to the application of the CC. As you are probably aware of though, sanding a SS metallic can present problems.

 

Everything Aekisu says is correct..here is some more food for
thought....
Not every "painter" out there is experienced an comfortable with
base coat clear coat. I know production truck and motorhome painters that have painted for 20 years and never done a BB/CC.
Certain things are scary in BC/CC. For instance your basecoat
when layed down properly to the untrained eye looks bad.
I mean off color and dull, but this is the way it is supposed to look.
Then you have a CC recoat window of a certain amount of time and if you miss that your clear coat will end up on the floor.

Having said that it is true that BC/CC gives you a better "show"
finish than single stage. It just has more snap and depth and
durability.

Single stage can still look pretty nice. I shot my 76 2 years ago
single stage just because I didn't want to go to the effort of the
second clear coat shoot if I went BC/CC and guys drive by giving me thumbs up. However I am getting a little paint failure around the gas cap dribble area which I think is from corn gas additive..
this would not happen with clear coat.

The reason you have BC/CC is that the paint manufacturers several years ago found that they could not combine color and durability..so as you might guess they seperated the
two functions.

Hope this helps!