Blotchy Pearl Metalic

[hkestes]

This is my first time here, was sent by a member of the P15-D24 forum.

Yesterday I sprayed a Toyota factory color which is Antique Sage Pearl Metalic. The finish came out blotchy for lack of a better term. It kind of appears to be major orange peel when you first look at it but the surface is smooth and the blotchyness or orange peel look is in the pearl or metalic.

I am not a tremendously experienced painter. Have done solid color jobs that came out fine and a few metalic jobs as well but never anything with this small a metalic or with pearl. Can anyone tell me what I did wrong?

Used a Kobalt gravity feed HVLP gun, spraying acrylic urethane mixed 4 parts paint, 1 part hardner, 1 part reducer just as it said on the can.

I still have plenty of material left so if nothing else I will sand it back down and spray again, just don't want to repeat the same mistake(s) again.

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[Len]

In most cases a good pearl finish is applied in three stages... the base color, the pearl then the clear. In your case it appears as though the pearl was applied too heavily and/or the gun wasn't applying the pearl in a fine enough atomization. You don't want to apply the pearl too heavily or you can generate mottling problems quite easily. Most mid-coats of pearl applied over your base color in an even but not heavy coating then allowed to dry before more pearl or clear is applied. I'd also recommend using a better spray gun.

[hkestes]

This color is not a seperate pearl, I would not even attempt that. The pearl is part of the base coat and is already mixed in the color whn you open the can.

[Bob K]

I’ve never had that happen to me so this is just a guess on my part but it looks like the paint was put on too thick or with a reducer that was to slow so the metallic had time to settle out while the paint dried. If this is single stage you are going to have a bit of a challenge. If it is base coat then it will be easier. For base coat just thin out the amount of paint on each coat. Don’t try to get full coverage with one coat. First coat should be thin enough to see through and then second or maybe third coat will give full hiding on the substrate.

I may not be seeing the problem correctly so this is just a possible solution based on what I think I see.

Bob K

[Phil V]

I agree with Len and Bob. There are many different things that can cause the mottling problem I see in the pictures you posted. As previously stated its possible the paint was put on too much too fast or the reducer was too slow causing the metallics/pearl to sink to the bottom of the panels you shot.
In order for any metallic and/or pearl to look right to the eye the metallic/pears have to suspended in the paint at different angles. Mottling is when the paint metallic/pearls sink to the bottom and don't reflect light correctly.

Some other causes of mottling can be - too cold in the paint area, metal panels to be painted too cold. another is holding the gun too close to the panels while painting. Moving too slow with the gun is yet another. Next time you see that happening WHILE you're still painting is wait a just a couple minutes for the paint to start setting up the do a flow coat/mist coat while the paint is still tacky but not wet. The timing has to be right or you end up with more mottling or if you wait too long you end up with serious dry spray and orange peel. That is assuming you are using single stage paint (no extra clearcoat)

And I agree with Bob in that base coat/clear coat is a lot easier to spray than single stage metallics/pearls. It would have been easier to do a tri-stage with the metallic basecoat then the pearl and finished off with a clearcoat than it is to spray single stage to where it looks good. A lot if single stage metallics and pearls can be a real challenge even for a pro painter. Some single stage metallics/pearls are a real pain in the ass to spray so don't feel to bad if you had problems with the one you have going. Next time a strongly suggest a basecoat/clearcoat instead of the single stage. BC/CC is much easier to spray and better all the way around. Like if you scratch a single stage then in most cases the panel has to be repainted, but in a BC/CC depending on the severity of the scratch many can be wetsanded and polished out without repainting. If you get orange peel or a little dust nibs in the single stage you're pretty much screwed to what you see is what you get but with BC/CC you can wetsand out and polish the clearcoat to show winning shine.

[hkestes]

Guys,

Thanks for the input. The temp in the garage at time of painting was right at 70 and I used a medium reducer. I do have a fast reducer so will give that a test shot before proceeding.

This is indeed a single stage paint. I know that a BC/CC would be much easier, but this is going on my daughter's 2000 hand me down Camry that has 170K miles on it. She is taking it to Cincinnatti for college and has never really driven in snow here aroud the Dallas area. This is her first car that she learned to drive in so as you can imagine there were a few blemishes that I wanted to take care of before she took the car to school. I thought about going with a BC/CC when I bought the paint but figured the materials alone would have been worth more than the whole car.

Again thanks for the input. I have scuffed the whole car again today and will give it another go.

[Len]

Guys,

Thanks for the input. The temp in the garage at time of painting was right at 70 and I used a medium reducer. I do have a fast reducer so will give that a test shot before proceeding.

This is indeed a single stage paint. I know that a BC/CC would be much easier, but this is going on my daughter's 2000 hand me down Camry that has 170K miles on it. She is taking it to Cincinnatti for college and has never really driven in snow here aroud the Dallas area. This is her first car that she learned to drive in so as you can imagine there were a few blemishes that I wanted to take care of before she took the car to school. I thought about going with a BC/CC when I bought the paint but figured the materials alone would have been worth more than the whole car.

Again thanks for the input. I have scuffed the whole car again today and will give it another go.

Using base/clear makes it much easier to achieve a consistent finish because you can apply the metallic or pearl more evenly and not need to worry about gloss while you're spraying your base. You then allow the base to flash off THEN apply your smooth gloss coat.

Since the car is white single stage I'd recommend that you don't try to achieve as much of a smooth glossy finish and just apply your paint evenly. Don't put a second coat until the first coat has flashed, if you apply the paint too wet you'll end up with the same problem.

Single stage metallic and pearl colors are very difficult to get an even color and gloss.