Technical Paint correction advice (body men/painters)?

Been in the family since '65, was my grandma's. We did this car in 2012, when matte black paint was beginning to peak in popularity. We used good quality black PPG basecoat paint with a large amount of flattener added to the clearcoat to give it the flat look, NOT a cheap single stage flat paint. Sadly, we haven't driven the car in years due to the finish being kind of outdated or out of current style. My question is, being that it's a basecoat clearcoat with added flattener, do you think it would shine up if I put my buffer on it? I don't want to have it look like **** obviously, but we aren't using it at this point. Ideas or any experience with this?

 

I would think you would have to sand the clear coat with 400 and reshoot the clear without any flatter in it to get it to shine. That car would look great with shiny paint on it.

 

Once flat always flat in regards to paint.

 

What he ^^^^^ said

 

Out of style? I see tons of new Teslas, Rolls/Bentley, Lambos and Audis in flat finishes, though usually in colors more often than black (Atlanta has a high end car scene). That said the flattener (often fumed silica) does rise up to the surface on curing disturbing it, ****tering light and causing the low sheen effect. If you have enough clear on it you might just get away with buffing off the surface and not hitting the base.

 

Kind of comparing apples to oranges, aren't you? Only thing that Buick has in common with the OT cars you mentioned is they have 4 wheels. It came from the factory with shiny paint, it deserves shiny paint.

 

Put the keys in the ignition and drive it. That car looks awesome. Would it look better shiny? Perhaps. It would look best driving down the road regardless of how shiny it is!

 

The flat is in the clear, I don't think buffing it will do anything. I agree, scuff and reshot a gloss clear on it.

 

Nothing personal, but this is the problem with doing stuff that “ is in style”. Styles change with the wind direction.

 

That's a nice easy statement to say but it's not entirely true.

Sometimes the flattener goes to the surface. I've seen a car painted with single stage satin enamel that was later buffed. It looked great, reminiscent of an old hand-rubbed paint job.

 

Hmmm not sure on flat clear..single stage, like others have said, I’ve seen rubbed..

maybe call a local paint jobber, they may know, their tech rep may know, or can reach out to their paint manufacturer rep and ask

 

I know it will be some work. but maybe take the front bumper off and the filler panel. Experiment on the filler panel.
Kind of what Moriarity just suggested. He types faster than me.

 

Kind of a shame if that's the reason why you've stopped driving this car. Maybe it's time to consider a different wheel and tire combo. Or find a good pin-striper and let them work a little magic on it.

 

Seems like an awfully shallow reason to quit using the car ....?

 

I've got a suggestion, sell it to me and I'll worry about it

 

Contrary to the popular opinions above it actually will polish. The sad part is it won't give the depth a straight clear w/out flattening agent will give. It won't be chalky but it won't reflect fully either. The best advice is try a spot and see if you can live with it. Even better advice, have it striped or add some gloss custom licks of some kind. Scallops, seaweed flames, or here's an idea, go 2-tone. Do the bottom and roof in a gloss color. Can't see the interior but it looks black n white. A nice "dirty" white like Wimbledon or the like will give it a whole new personality and the mix of flat and gloss would be pretty individual.

 

If that's to avoid re-clearing it, sounds like it would be just as much or more work than a simple re-clear.

 

A full re-clear is anything but simple. It's the whole car FFS. Keep the color below the trim which stops at the front fender opening, mask the roof, scuff n shoot, done. A full re-clear is remove all the trim, the bumpers, sand all of it, shoot, cut, polish, and that's easier? No thanks. A good finsiher wouldn't even have to take the trim off the sides. Paint right to it.
or, skip the roof and just do the sides;


New personality.

 

A re-clear is simple compared to what you're proposing. You still need to mask off the entire car to do it right. You said to do the roof and lower half. In my mind that is no less work, and then you're worried about overspray. With a re-clear everything gets touched, so yes it's simpler that way in my mind with no colour change. Flames, scallops, and 2-tone can be just as trendy as satin black, so I don't really see how that's solving the OP's original problem.

The FFS at***ude is not necessary.

 

I began my trade as a finsiher. I'll see your easier to do the whole car and raise you another FFS. If FFS hurts your feelings I dunno what to tell you. And maybe you missed the part where I said he could skip the roof AND posted a pic of a black car with white sides. Or, just call me a ****in dumb*** who doesn't know **** about finsihing, but I think there's a myriad of winners for my past work that would disagree. Any finsiher worth his DA sander could knock out the white sides in 2, maybe 3 days max. It would take maybe a quart of white single stage. OR, you could buy 6 qts of clear and the hardener (for probably 3 times the $$$) and spend 5-7 days removing trim, sanding, masking, shooting, cut and polish, re***emble, but again WTF do I know.

This just in from the FFS dept; the OP did ask for opinions, I gave him mine. Or did you just buy the car and didn't tell us? Show us where the bad Buick touched you...

 

In painting cl***es we are taught that the flat will shine if messed with.
If you purchase a new fancy low luster ride it will come with a large list of do’s and don’ts. Mostly donts
How shiny?
Dont know til ya try.

as far as masking. Ya better tape that car up like it’s getting painted to save on clean up after buffing.

 

Car looks great.
Drop it and have it pin striped

Some lace work on the roof

 

I personally know of a flat black car that was polished and took on a nice shine. Not a mile deep clearcoat look, but really enhanced the look of the car.

 

I have seen a flat black stripe that looked like it was gloss after applying a ceramic wax finish. It might be worth a try. Like was mentioned before, try an incon****uous spot first.

One of the wipe on glossy clears might also do the job:
https://poppyspatina.com/products/p...DSopnKpFG130M6CMBfNdV2NWoXA18b2hoCKekQAvD_BwE

 

I had some early epoxy colored primer on a suburban. Sanded smooth, buffed to a shine. Looks like old enamel paint has held up well over 10 years. Teal colored primer, guys think it’s original paint.

 

Service info for cleaning flat clearcoat.

if you want it to shine more, do what it says not to do
https://rts.i-car.com/images/pdf/oem-info/chrysler/service-bulletins/13495.pdf

 

Direct from Chrysler: A matte finish uses a different coating that defuses light, providing a unique “flat” finish...... Maybe I'm just a smart***, but didn't anyone at Chrysler know the difference between "defuse" and "diffuse" ?