High-Quality & Custom Paint
Admittedly this is everyone's favorite part, finally we see the result of all our hard work. A number of details go into making a great paint job
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First things first, the car is thoroughly hand cleaned with soap and water, then dried off with a clean air high pressure blow gun
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Once it is dry and clean we mask the car, this has a dual purpose
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Prevent getting paint where it does not belong
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Keep whatever dirt might still be trapped in the car from ruining the paint job
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The car is cleaned once more, but this time with solvent-based or water-based cleaners depending on the paint that will be applied
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As a final step before we start spraying, the entire car is wiped down with a tack cloth to remove any loose particles that might have been left behind
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A tack cloth is made of gauze impregnated with a tacky material
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Now the fun can start, we are now ready to spray the paint. There are many steps here also and the steps vary depending on the type of paint applied.
Most modern paint jobs today are what we call base coat / clear coat, this is the basic paint job
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First the base coat is applied until fully covered, meaning you cannot see the underlying substrates.
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This can also be called the color coat, it is flat looking, it does not shine
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Second after the base coat has properly cured, the clear coat is applied on top, this is what makes the paint job shine, gives it its durability and protection against harmful UV rays
Not sure what i had in my coffee that day, to work that fast!
Then you have the more upscale paint jobs that are called tri-coats, what are tri-coat paint jobs used for?
This is where you can really make your car stand out.
There are many special effects that can be attained with these custom paint jobs
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Pearls can be applied as a mid coat, between the base coat and the clear coat. This can create flip-flops, or color travel effects, meaning the color changes based on the angle it is viewed or if it is in the sunshine or not
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Old school Metal Flakes can be applied, did you love the disco era? This might be for you
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Translucent tinted mid coats can be applied over typically a gold or a silver base to create what is called Candy Colors
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This is the most expensive type of paint job, due to the level of expertise required
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Example of a Candy Color
And finally you have Graphics and Stripes, these are complexe paint jobs and very time consuming.
There are a lot of wait time between the many various steps, too long too describe here. It also involves many coats of clear, that are wet sanded in between coats, to eliminate the edge of the graphics or lines
Here are a few samples of the different steps:
So you thought that was it, nope, we are not done yet, if you want that show winning paint job, no matter how good the painter is, the paint job has to be wet sanded and buffed.
This is a very lengthy process as the whole car is wet sanded several times over with very fine grit paper
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First it is wet sanded with 1000 grit paper
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Second it is wet sanded with 1500 grit paper
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Third it is wet sanded with 2000 grit paper
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Fourth it is wet sanded with 3000 grit paper
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And if you are really FINICKY like me, you can go all the way up to 5000 grit paper
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The purpose is to achieve the perfect finish, a dead flat, no orange peel mirror like finish
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While doing all this sanding great care is taken not to cut through the clear on the edges
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Then a rotary buffer with a cutting compound is used to eliminate all the wet sand scratches
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Then a rotary buffer with a rubbing compound is used to bring back the shine of the clear coat
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Then a rotary buffer with a polishing compound is used to remove swirl marks left by the rubbing compound to really make it shine
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And again if you are really FINICKY like me, then a rotary buffer with a glazing compound is used to make it flawless
