Make gloss from satin paintjob?

I went to search, and spent my coffee this morning reading all about satin/flat paint. I thought about raising a thread from the dead so I could hi-jack it, but I'm learning the etiquette of the HAMB, and decided I'd start yet again, another thread about satin paint.
My new 47 project has been painted over the original Black with some sort of satin black. The only thing the p/o can tell me about it is that he's sure it is an automotive paint and not rustolium, or BBQ black aerosol.
My goal is to have the trunk lid and front fender tops striped. At this point I'm wanting gloss again, but I have to admit the dull is growing on me some. I think I could live with a middle between satin and gloss.
Here's my question. Can I make a presentable gloss out of that satin/flat with waxes, or abrasives, or whatever? What about wet sanding?
I'm not opposed to stripping the trim back off to do gloss, but this car is a Super Deluxe and has a lot of trim I really don't want to disturb.
I'm wondering if I mask really carefully, and wet sand the open areas of the panels how obvious gloss black over the satin black would appear.
My dad was a painter, and my sister and I used to mask his cars because we had "little tyke" hands. So, I'm pretty good at masking trim.
Being intrinsically lazy, I'm looking for the easiest way out. Thanks, Mike

 

Mike the problem you got is that you don't know what you got.

I would mask it scuff it and seal it then blow some gloss on it if that was what I wanted. Maybe your best bet is to just drive it while you are deciding the exact right thing to do is. When ever i get an old car that runs and drives and I do not have a perfect plan for it prior to buying it I drive it. the car will let you know what its personality iis and what it would like you to do to it.

 

What if you put a bunch of clear on there and wet sand and buff it? Wouldn't that give it a gloss finish?

 

Yes unless the clear is not compatible with the base. That was my thoughts on scuffing it and sealing it. Used to be that you only really had to worry about enamel and lacquer compatibility and you could blow enamel over lacquer.

now paint isn't compatible from one process to the next even if it is the same brand.

 

You can get a shinier finish by sanding and polishing a flat paint, but from my experience, it's hard to get it to a consistent gloss level without patches that will show in some lights.
At best, it looks like old shiny paint - which isn't a bad look. Beware that you might not have much depth of material in places so you might wear through to something unexpected quite easily...
And...If you ever need to touch it in again you'll have a hard time matching not only the color, but also the depth of shine.
Painting around the trim is a stop-gap. It'll never be perfect, but assuming there are no reactions, it could be ok.
Despite the pitfalls, I'd give the polish a try first.

 

That's been my experience also.

 

It all depends on how well you want it to look, how long you want it to last and how much coin you want to drop on the pinstripe you're putting on top. If you want gloss, satin, or flat, and you want it to last, your'e talking repaint. The rules are all the same. If what you have is good paint, scuff it and spray it. If what you have is bad or questionable paint you gotta strip it, prime it and spray it. That said there are a lot of guys running around with paint jobs not fit for a Mississippi push boat. Guys even squirt clear over rust to "preserve the patina".

You want an easy way out and are willing to take a chance, mask the chrome and windows, degrease and scotchpad the car and squirt on a coat of satin clear. With any luck it might stick.

 

Probably the best advice. If it was easy, everybody would do it. I think that's the REAL reason there's so many "satin" paint jobs the last five years or so-it's cheap and easy. Wasn't cool when I was growing up; and I don't remember seeing too much of it in old magazines, either.

 

I'm OK with it looking like "old shiny paint". After all, it's 65 years old. And black at that.
The smartest thing I could do is find the painter, and then know what he used. That way I would know if I could cover what he put on.
Having the car look like "old shiny paint" would be right in my build theme of mid 60's high school hot rod. For that matter, a repaint over masked trim would fit that criteria also.
When we were in school, I graduated in 66, we used Earl Sheib a lot!
To "gloss" this job,what would I use, 600? and how would I then prep for the striper?
Then, after the striping is laid would I simply keep the surface waxed like gloss?
I don't want to create a surface that is so delicate that I would have to re-do after I had the car striped, I want something that will last. It's OK if the finish looks a bit "sketchy", as long as it doesn't deteriorate.

 

If you can find out what is on and hit it with a gloss clear you'll be in business. The unknown paint it is the sticking point.

 

Try clearing or polishing a small spot under the trunk lid, if its painted the with same paint. At least you won't botch up the outside of the car if it isn't compatible or doesn't look good.

 

Earl Sheib ! "I'll paint any car for $39.95" !! They didn't mask or prep much but the paint job actually looked pretty good on the ones I saw locally here in the middle of CT in the mid 60's..I was told [ by an OTM] that you could rub the flat out with newspaper; don't know if water is involved or if the sunday comics worked best..

 

Yeah, we had several Earl Sheibs in the Dallas area, and everybody knew which ones had the best "shooter". We would do our own prep, as best we could, and then take it in.
Lots of Mondays you would go to school and someone's rod would be sporting new paint.
Most of them looked good from 20 feet. Some of them looked good up close.
No one that I knew painted their own car.
Beaner, I'm in no hurry to do this, I understand about letting the car speak to me, I may eventually grow to like the suede. I'd just like to know how to put some shine on this if I decide I want more gloss.
We still have Maaco in our area, and several of the cars that show up at parking lot shows are wearing their paint jobs. Their paint is OK for a driver.
Suede shoe, the car was black to begin with ,so the satin is all on the outside. But I'll bet I can find somewhere that isn't too obvious. Thanks, Mike

 

You also don't know how much paint is on there. If it's one coat and you start wet sanding and go thru to the primer or bare metal...you'll be painting the whole car!

 

I agree with the 'sand it with very fine paper' crew.
You'll get some kind of a shine out of it, but may rub through in places.
Otherwise you could follow porknbeaners suggestion to just drive it until you learn to like the satin - there'd be nothing much to lose by trying that first.
Enjoy it whatever you do.
Cheers.

 

I bet that was WAY more common than these guys nowadays who think everybody WANTED an flat or rusty finishon their car.

 

Yeah, Richard. Sure you saw cars in primer, but no one around here ever considered a car in primer finished. That trend didn't come around here until the r$# r&d movement came along.
I'm guessing suede is popular because it covers a multitude of sins. Maybe it's a rebellion from the pastels of the 80's, I don't know.
I'm lucky because the story I get from the P/O was that the original paint was beginning to rub through and the original owner spotted those with grey primer. No rust, no body damage, just thin paint. The old girl only has 70,000 some odd miles on her!
So the guy I got the car from had it shot with satin because that was the "in" thing.
He just as easily could have had a coat of gloss put on, and we wouldn't be having this discussion!

 

Gloss black would have cost the guy a small fortune compared to scuff and squirt satin job. Black satin you need to get the creases and holes out. Gloss black needs to straight or looks worse than no paint.

 

I'd send it to the local auto detail place. They buff everyday for a living, and a few minutes test spot, will tell if it will get what you want.

If it looks ok on that spot, then have them do the whole car..and it would be pretty fast... and cheap.

 

Damn! Look at the big brain on F&J! The guys that take care of my O/T cars are about as good as it gets around here, they know me,and all I have to loose is the price of a rub out.
If I don't like it, I'm no worse off, it will still need paint.
I just want to get it where I like it, and it's stable before I go to the striper.

 

It all depends on what type of paint is on there. The wagon on my avatar has a satin black over the green. It has urethane black base coat with no clear. To make it shine it just needs a clear coat.

 

bump for the evening folks

 

There was a guy here on the HAMB with a 32 Ford sedan that was painted with maroon "Hotrod Flatz" paint. He buffed it to a shine and he said the finish looked like that of an old enamel paint job. Here's the thread http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=465638&highlight=sedan+flatz

 

Mop & Glow

 

Thanks, Skirv! I PM'ed Mike to see how well his paint is holding up. The gloss on his car couldn't be more perfect!

 

I vote for what F&J advised. That's a great idea.

 

Anyone else want to throw in? If not, we will let this drift on to the back pages.
Thanks, everyone. I have some options to explore. Mike

 

Mike, I just have to ask, have you tried a rag and some MEK to see if you can wipe the flat paint off and use the underneath paint? Maybe the old before flat paint will buff out. A lot of spray bomb paint isn't real stable and a good solvent will make short work of it.

 

Beaner,
I've actually done that on an O/T TR6 to clean the whole rattle can primer job off the car!
I stayed high from L/T for a week!
If that works, it will at least get down to the original Henry paint and then we can go on from there. The gentleman I bought the car from said the only reason he painted the car in the first place was to cover the several primer spots the original owner sprayed on to cover thin areas in the original paint.
I think I'm going to try buffing the flat to see what I come up with. I have nothing to loose, and one example on an above thread came out looking great. Thanks to all for all the good advice. This is what the HAMB is all about Mike

 

I dont know who said satin black is a cheap and easy way to go. For a good quality PPG paint you pay a fair price and the primers and sealers are not cheap either.. As for easy? Well your painter needs to be very talented as you dont have the luxry of colour sanding when you are done. You get one shot at it and if you flat it in one area you are doing a complete re-paint. And yes you can clear over a 2K ureathane paint with no problem. I have changed flat to shiny many times without any problems.