Suede paint?

Hi folks.
I'm on my own,the family have gone away for a week,and I'm bored shitless.So in an effort to gain knowledge,here is todays dumb question;
What is suede paint?I done searched,but no definitive answer was forthcoming
I'm in England and I've never heard anyone over here use the term.Is it a legit Trad thing,or some new fangled mumbo jumbo,or part of the 'patina' movement,or something I've missed.Photo's of good examples appreciated.
No controversy intended.Be nice
Paul

 

satin,non gloss,semi gloss ,flat etc..if my family were gone for a weak i could get alot of shit done.

 

IMO its part of the patina movement. Some guys do it really well and it looks really cool. Other guys, not so much. Satin/suede is cool in certain cases, flat is not. Clark does some of the best jobs on here, search his posts.

 

So could I,but paralysis sucks.So it's really just a fancy word for non shiney paint then?When was the phrase 'suede' first coined?I mean,would the likes of Watson,Winfield,Jeffries etc. have used it as a style way back in the day?
Paul

 

Seriously I thought I was going to have to hope a flight over there and beat you when I saw the post and read this sentence. I thought you were contemplating / had changed your ride...

In my experience anything, including primer and old chalky paint, that doesn't have a clear coat people are referring to as "suede". It's also those same people that feel anything with steelies are "rat rods". Man I heard that term so much at Speed Week...

 

to me it means satin ..slight gloss , not flat.
somewhere between flat and glossy.

i plan on painting my A satin / suede..what ever , until i decide (or not) what color to paint it.

 

This.

 

Originally met primer but evolved to mean any full paint job that doesn't shine. Being part of the suede brigade met running in primer.

I think a lot of guys are buying paint that is intended to be clear coated and not putting the clear coat on it like I did accidentally on my 48 in 1973 when I painted it Monte Carlo placer gold and didn't know that it was a clear coat paint. It had a satin finish that would be right there with the hot lick stuff now.

 

What kind of clear is everboy using to get the in between look - almost shinny is what Im after

 

pre flattened urethane clear mixed with gloss clear to your liking, i do about 50/50 for a satin. yopu have to experiment to get the look you like. using flattening acid to dull is very tricky to get mix correct and consistent.

 

When I was a young man in the late 50's it was a car in primer.

 

Here's a newer version of suede on my plymouth:: sikens basecoat with satin clear. Looks great, easy to keep clean and won't stain...........

 

Most any paint can be "suede" by having your paint supply guy add some flattener to the formula. The more you use the duller the finish.

Frank

 

Very nice - I wonder if I can get it in CA

 

Ha Ha,the only thing I'm contemplating on the Kripple Kart is mirrors.
The flake is permanent,put down the air tickets and baseball bat
Paul

 

You had me scared for a bit when I saw the title of the thread....

 

Naw,just trying to broaden my outlook.Seems like kustoms are starting to pick up in popularity over here,but an awfull lot seem to be,erm 'suede' (particularly black).I wasn't around back in the day,and just wondered whether this was a form of recognized kustom 'trick' or a recent thing.They been doin' it on Hotrods over here for some time,but like I said the relatively small but expanding kustom scene seems to have adopted it as a 'look'
Paul

 

Let's just say that there are thousands more cars in "suede" or primer on the streets today than there ever was in the fifties or sixties.....
I'll leave it at that....

 

Back in the 70'S when I was young here in Socal almost every custom you would see had an high quailty glossy paint job period. There were a few hot rods / street rods running around in primer. Some how in the mid 90's the satin / suede paint look became very populare with customs. I do not care for the look myself but respect others who do like it. I have had to paint a few with the satin look for my customers. Here is a shoebox we just painted. On this one we used Sickens metalic pearl base and mixed in a gloss clear at an 8 to 1 ratio. This is a fairly cheap and fast way to get the job done. The better way is to first base coat it and then top coat it with a clear coat mix of flat & gloss mixed to your liking.

Rick Erickson of Extreme Kustoms
extremekustoms@aol.com
ericksonskustoms.com

 

My first "suede" paint job was on a 55 Chevy in the early sixties. On it I used gray primer and tinted it with blue. My current ride is done with John Deere Semi Gloss (not blitz) black that has flattener added. The nice thing about using paint instead of primer is you can clean it up with a wipe and shine product and it does not spot and also it does not show finger prints. Suede has been around as long as I can remember (and I'm old).
Later,
Dick

 

Its a bitch to paint perfectly as you can't flat and polish any shit out

 

Its kinda funny,i went to sema and saw a 2010 bently,farrari,and a bunch of newer cars with suede paint,,,everyone said thats the new trend,,,!!??,,,if thats true i have been trendy for almost 20 years now with my cars!!

 

I agree, I don't remember any, but I don't remember many hot rods in upstate NY during that period either. I personally like the look as I can remember the Saturday washings of my father's '60 Chevy for church on Sunday, seemed like forever to wash that car, and waxing, fagetaboutit. My truck gets washed when it rains, or when I have an Old Truck Club get-together. I like the flat/patina look because to me it represents an only vehicle status with my chief concerns, stopping and running right as opposed to perfect panels.http://s104.photobucket.com/albums/m177/49Cosmo/Recent Truck/?albumview=slideshow

 

Hey Paul,

Out here, in So Cal, the satin/suede/flattened number has been under full sail for over twenty years. It started 'bout the time the rat rod infection broke out, coincidence? I don't think so! When I was a kid, growin up in So Cal if you drove a vehicle with primer spots or "dead paint" i.e. satin-like, you could pretty much bank on gettin pulled over by the '' poe-lease''. Today, 20s to 60s somethings think it's kool, go figger! Some use it to cloke marginal metal work, othes to be with the sheep.

I wouldn't use a cleap clear with a flattner in it, especially out here, in the West ,where the sun will burn it up in short order.

" It's no coincidence that patina and poser both begin with the letter "P"!

 

pimpin paint,I think you may have confirmed a few suspicions.
Everyone,I'm diggin' on your posts
Paul

 

I don't think we are talking about the same thing here. Weather-beaten paint is NOT the same as primer or flat paint. That car looks weather-beaten to me, not primered. The chrome is dull, even the windshield looks dull to me. Old photos can be very misleading because they are grainy and tend to wash-out and dull everything...

 

That's an interesting thought.
Paul

 

Y'know,Until recently,and with a few exceptions,we never had a Kustom (with a K)scene.The very thought of taking American beauties from the '40's & '50's and cutting them up was unthinkable,because even in their stock form they were/are far more exotic than what was available here.A stock 50's Yank was and still is the pinnacle of automotive achievement in many peoples eyes.A ot would consder what I've done to my ride sacrelige.Consequently we have very little Kustom history to refer to,so we study yours.I ask dumb questions not to cause controversy or arguements,but to learn from those who were there at this golden period of US time,so that my efforts correctly pay tribute to my favorite form of American self expression,the Kustom kemp.That and Rock'n'Roll.
Now play nice.
Paul

 

Hey Paul,

Now ya know how we feel when we see an Alvis or Bristol bein drivin in ''full anger", the experience jus kinda nails your feet to the pavement!
'sad that the old iron from europe isn't on a zero sum game basis exchange wise, right now with the U.S.A.
The fifties wern't anywhere near as ''kool'' as film directors, authors & magazines would have you beleve..........jus' ask anyone who lived thru them.

" The ice cream truck in his neighborhood plays Helter-Skelter "

 

Its a bit of a touchy subject. As a very broad generalization, those with shiney paint look down on those with flat ("suede") paint as "rat rodders" or posers, and those with flat paint look down on those with shiney paint as "street rodders" or posers. Both claim the other is not authentic. Ironic.

Not being one to take statements of anyone else at face value ("trust but verify"), and being a historian, I endeavored to find out for myself and did some rather extensive research. What I found was that both shiney paint and flat paint hot rods, both in large percentages, have always existed since the beginnings of what we now call hot rodding. Those findings do not set well with some folks in both factions. I suspect it has always been that way, too, with each faction looking down at the other.