I LIKE MY PAINT WET!

What you didn’t know about paint jobs!
This article is designed to help you know what you really want to achieve when you painting your vehicle.
Every since I started driving I loved fresh paint jobs on cars. I think I had 2 or 3 different paint jobs during my high school days. While other kids were spending their money going to the movies or buying sneakers; I worked hard to ensure that no one would shine harder than me in the summer time.
As I got older I became more interested in the process of turning a dull paint into a popping eye catcher. I began reading literature on painting vehicles and hung around paint shops to keep me ear to the ground and learn what I could. About a year ago I got serious in my quest for knowledge and set down with my cousin (a paint guru) and asked him to walk me through painting my motorcycle. After laying the bike down; the body was in horrible shape and I wasn’t sure if she could be resurrected. After lots of hard work with fiber glass and sand paper I got the body parts smooth as glass. As a good buddy of mine (Chris Mc Nair- A plus Classics) says- It not in the paint its in the (body) prep work.
Any real painter will agree that it’s not the paint your shooting but the canvas your shooting on. After my bike was fixed better than new we began the paint process. Many people don’t know that paint is done in stages. My first stage was a lime base and then rich silver which faded toward the tail of the bike. This base color scheme created a color burn effect on my supersonic blue pearl paint.
Next we began to tape off the areas for the color contrast and strips. You may not know it but painting requires much taping and stenciling; this to ensure perfection while shooting paint.
We lay down a nasty two tone pattern of rich silver and blue pearl. The pearl in the blue project a hazes sky blue look up close and a deep sonic blue from a distance.
Lastly, we piled on the clear; clear coat maybe the single most important ingredient in the shooting process. It protects the paint and allows deep shine to lay over the paint. You should wetsand your clear coat for maximum result. Many folks skip this step because it is both dangerous and time consuming.
You have to pay close attention and do it piece by piece. Sanding to deep in one location will result in burning through the paint and ruining the paint job.

Once you’ve completed these steps you will be ready to wipe her down in the parking lot and take on the complements.
Like I said I love paint some much paint a vehicle just about every year. The smell of the paint put a smile on my face.

This is just a brief over view of what happens to your ride when you send it off to be shot!
It gets much, much more technical- If you’d like to look into paint and the how 2’s of the game, check our www.ppg.com or www.houseofkolor.com
Enjoy the ride and Keep em clean!
Geoff Morris