Technical Base/clear or Single stage paint

Except for the fact that a 59 Chevy would've been painted with acrylic lacquer when it was on the showroom floor

 

which one is Base coat/ clear coat ? neither? both?

 

Mine was painted with single-stage. Its inexpensive and buffs nice. Saved me some dough and it doesnt hurt that much when the paint gets chipped from the road.

O

 

If you are planning on a cut and buff- better stick to a solid color if using single stage
You can split hairs here and mix 30% clear into your final color coat of single stage for a deeper shine- referred to as an 'integrating clear' -works well and gives the finish more depth without the 'plastic' look.


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If the 59 chevy truck that OP referred to was painted in lacquer then I stand (sit) corrected. But you get my point, it wasn't BC/CC.

 

To my eye they both have the appearance of a base/clear finish AND they both have the appearance of a single stage finish which is as it should be. No apparent difference in the appearance. Both flat with excellent distinctness of reflected image (DOI)
Excellent work.

 

thanks, ppg single stage urethane enamel on both. door is buffed, deck lid "as sprayed"

 

Go back several posts and guess at mine.

 

Was Watson the first painter to use bc/cc?

 

Maybe???......Can I borrow the car from time to time?

 

Thanks for the replies and thoughts. It looks like single stage is the clear winner to this point, no pun intended. The truck itself is a '59 NAPCO, 3/4 ton, which may not be an appropriate vehicle here. The plan has always been tomake a hillbilly hot rod with it, since the original 6 threw a rod back in 1967. I was going to put a 402 in it, but a 327 with double hump heads minus accessory holes came along. The seat is long gone and I have some low back buckets that will be going in. My appalachian roots require some modest chrome stacks, at least until I grow tired of them. Any one want to see a buld thread? It's a traditional ride for Southeast Ohio

 

There's certainly nothing wrong with base/clear jobs. But, the single stage paints look more factory to me on old cars.

If your going with fancy metallics or pearls then of course you would go base / clear.

Personally, I'm done with clear coat paints. I like single stage paint and being able to brush touch up a rock chip and then color sand and buff it out when dry.

 

Umm, I don't know, seems like quite a haul for a weekend...we'll see what we can work out.

 

i was trying to tell but can't. they all look perfect. if i was forced to label the paints from those photos i would guess single stage on the first three and bc/cc on the horseless carriage.

 

s55nercury in your case I would go single stage. It will give you a original style finish. I would use urethane, it is much more durable than the old acrylic enamels. And when the hell was it determined that current urethane base coat clear coat finishes are for show cars only and not exstreamly durable ?? You people don.t have a clue! 60s lacquer is garbage because it is solvent based and has no chemical binder such as a hardner . It dry's by evaporation and never stops , jusy like water from mud. Eventually it just cracks like a dried out river bed. Urethane stays flexible and it expands and contracts with tempiture.

 

Question for the Base Coat/ Clear guys: If the base has orange peal can clear hide it? Bob

 

What type of gun did you use? I may have to upgrade my old stuff. Bob

 

Applied correctly base coat flashes to a flat finish and the clear reflects that. With that said if you get orange peal in the base and or the clear no matter how smooth you color sand and buff the surface you may still be able to see the texture as light rays refract though the finish. Like anything else you need good materials and equipment and abilities to get it right. Larry

 

Like so many factory finishes today, full of peel... my OT truck included

 

it is a 20+ year old devilbiss hvlp

 

Heres my POS, custom tinted hardware store Modified Alkyd enamel with acrylic enamel hardener, even used urethane reducer to lay it on.
Yes it's fleet lookin cheap, but works for m y old truck for now...

 

One more thing for the paint historians among us. GM went to Dupont acrylic lacquer across the board for cars in 1958. GM trucks were still finished in enamel, but the cars were finished in acrylic lacquer into the '80's when air quality standards forced some crappy changes in automobile production. Good old Dupont acrylic lacquer was really good, way more durable than the others and great looking too. I still have some pints here that I will open up.and sniff from time to time.

 

I have painted many many cars,and you get out what you put in. A good quality bc/cc will hold up for the life of the car.The peeling clears you see on production cars are mostly water based...and not what a car guy would be using. A good enamel,or Urathane will hold up just as well...but will require a bit more maintinence to hold its luster.
For anything with 2 colors,I love BC/CC...its easy to mask the second color,and you can wet sand it to a perfect mirror if you add 1 extra coat of clear.Very forgiving,and durable and lasts the test of time.

 

LOL, maybe you can package that scent in a aftershave By the way, DuPont had major shares in GM and in Indian Motorcycles.

 

A lot of things in play here. If you are doing a metallic, a two stage will let you cut and buff. If you are doing a dark solid color nothing looks deeper than a quality single stage. Also depending on mil thickness two stage is more forgiving if you burn it and need to repair. A blend can be tricky with a single stage depending on color. If you are paneling it out, two stage lets you bury the hard edge. Usually two stage will be more durable than a single. Most material out there has a series of compromises in it, and this is reflected in the price of the material, so get the best stuff you can afford. For instance, if you look at single stage blacks, a lot of the cheaper paint has a weird cast to it brown or grey, compared to a high end product which is more pure.
Single stage was the standard for o.e.m finishes with these old cars, but chances are you won't be shooting lacquer, or acrylic enamel, urethane is where it is at most of the time nowadays, and in my opinion it (and clear coat) looks too shiny to be a period finish. The clear does sometimes look odd to me on an old car because it looks like the car was dipped in glass or something. So the trade off with what is available today for material, is ease of use and durability, versus a more luxurious look, that requires a bit more skill to look good.

 

I voted BC/CC, all my cars have it and they all wore well and look great. Easy to take care of, easy to fix when someone with a t-bird backs into your car at a cruise in and leaves without a note (just saying).

Oh, Squirrel

I don't think your car made the cover cuz of its paint job, finally Hot Rod put a hot rod on the cover.

 

Thanks to everyone fo their houghts. Here is the tailgate that I have been pickingaway at. I have just about gotten the "R" baxk in shape. That is the center letter in the gate,and most that I have seen are pretty beat from beingdropped numerous times on a trailer ball. Forgive my crappy spelling please, I am sending this from my phone and it doesnt let me correct easily.

 

I just love seeing original paint from the old days....I guess it's going bye bye, though.

Yup! Which is my point...if you are looking to get some recognition for your car, you can do it many ways. One way is to build a custom with a killer paint job. Another is to build a Hot Rod. The Hot Rod doesn't really need fancy paint.

 

I thought really hard about leaving the paint alone, but there are some places that have stress cracks that need welded and there rear fenders I have are not original to the truck. Appreciate your input, squirrel, you are one of my Task Force heroes. I will try to post some pics of the rest of what Im workimg with this weekend. Ignore the 4wd...

 

These comments are exactly what I had in mind years ago when I was getting advise from a friend who is a really good painter. I commented that I was concerned that what I was about to do on mine might get the car too shiney. He laughed and said "there's no such thing as too shiney", but I think obviously there is as some stated. This was going to be my first paint job.
I'm an novice with mediocre equiptment and far from having a proper spray booth and I admittedly accidently ended up with results that I was happy with concerning the oem looking orangepeel vs flat and smooth. I first sprayed an acrylic sealer on the car immediately followed by the metallic basecoat, then the clear. The sealer coat had more orangepeel than I certainly would have liked, but, not sure what to do, I kept going anyway. After blocking and buffing the clearcoat, I noticed even though the clear was colorsanded totally smooth, at some angles the car still appeared to have some orangepeel. I finally realized it was the basecoat over the sealer with orangepeel that was giving that appearance. I actually kinda like that look....but it's far from having a quality reflection as John Worden stated. It's just a good driver quality I'm proud of for my first.