Painting stripes/paint lines

[timsmustang]

I will be painting my mustang in a couple weeks. I will be using PPG Deltron DBU basecoat/clearcoat with 2021 clear. One of the features of this car is a blacked out hood and blacked out lower rocker panel area. I plan to paint the black areas first and then the remainder of the car. In my limited past experience whenever there are two colors meeting at a taped line, there is a ridge. Will this ridge hide when I spray the clearcoat (I will be spraying clear over the blacked out areas also) or will I need to wait for the basecoat to dry and then sand the ridge smooth?

Tim

[autoX]

What color is the rest of the car going to be?

In general, you will have a very small ridge, but it should only be a couple mils thick. Clear should cover it depending on how much clear you're planning on spraying. Just don't spray more black base than you need. Just enough to get coverage.

Depending on the color the rest of the car is going to be, why not spray the black after the rest of the car is painted? Just curious why you want to do the black first.

Anyway, I personally would suggest you don't sand your base coat. Cover it with the clear. Clear builds a lot thicker than the base coat and should have no problem covering that ridge...

Hope this helps and hope I didn't steer you wrong. The other pros will let you know if I did!

-Mike

[Len]

When spraying a two tone job I usually spray the color that will be covering the least amount of the vehicle then I mask on it and spray the rest of the car. I do this because it's usually easier to mask off the smaller area than it is to mask the large area.

After I spray the first color I prep it for paint, if it's a single stage I sand it and if it's a base coat color I may or may not apply a mid-coat clear, allow it to dry then mask.

After I mask the stripe I spray my base color over the rest of the vehicle then remove the mask over the other color and apply clear over the entire vehicle. As I spray the base I apply an extra pass or two over the paint ridge each time I put a coat on the car. This usually gives me plenty of clear to sand and polish the ridge out of the surface.

You may want to check out the Spray Painting 101 Video because it covers spraying a two tone job using bc/cc materials.

[timsmustang]

Thanks for the input...I planned to spray the black first because it is a smaller area of the car. The rest of the car will be red. I am somewhat concerned about the black paint underneath the red. I am using PPG DP 40 as a sealer which is a grey.

Tim

[Len]

I don't use PPG but I'd say you shouldn't have any problem covering the black. I wouldn't apply sealer up against the stripe masking tape because it could show when you remove the edge tape and apply your next color. When you go to apply your second color you should shoot a little of the first color up against the tape THEM apply your second color on top. While this is a little "overkill" it can help stop the red from bleeding under the tape and showing on the black. If the black bleeds under the tape a little it won't show on the original black paint.

[Mopar Mike]

Just curious, is the Mustang an older model. If so the black out on the hood, etc will need to not be clear coated. It was a semi flat to flat treatment on the original cars. Even if you use flat black and then clear over it it will be gloss black. That is if you desire the original look.

[timsmustang]

It's a '72 fastback. I know about the flat hood paint but I thought if I don't clearcoat the entire hood, then I'll really have a problem with a raised edge paint line. I'm not as concerned about it being entirely correct as far as that goes either...just thought it would be easier to fix this issue if the entire hood was clearcoated. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

Tim

[AlexeiVT]

You could always use a flattened clear coat, so you have the matte finish on the black...while at the same time maintaining a uniform film thickness over the other colored areas.

When it comes time for the cut and buff, mask off the matte areas, and polish up what needs lustre...1500 grit and some polish doesn't make for much of a ridge.

Also, considering fineline tape, and an application technique that's limited to mils, how much of a ridge can there be...in any case, you'll end up exceeding factory specs (but I know, most of us want to do better than they did 40 years ago, figuring they wouldn't be today's classics).