Is Black hard to paint? Experts Chime In!

[CoPilot1]

another color that is hard to spray that some people are overlooking is SILVER... trust me, just like black, it shows EVERY imperfection and IMO harder than black to get looking good.

[AccordAnimal]

Hey guys,
First of all. I am NOT spray bombing the car. I did that once, and won't do it again. I have spent the last 2 days stripping the car of all the old spray paint.

I have decided that I want to paint it black. I love the challange and have a decent amount of confidence in myself.

I have painted numorous things but nothing this "quality", and I look forward to an adventure. I am trusting in the filler primer to do it's job.
I will makes sure to get you guys pics asap, and will do a full write up on it when it's complete. Thank you guys for all the time you spent helping me out. It has helped a TON!

-Adam

[i'm the girl]

Hey guys,
First of all. I am NOT spray bombing the car. I did that once, and won't do it again. I have spent the last 2 days stripping the car of all the old spray paint.

:thumpsup: so wonder ful to hear - CLICKY ME - for the DIY - and I explain primer-surfacer in there a little better too -

did you actually strip down the whole car to bare metal? if so you're some kind of champ - but if not its ok, as you can read above -

and please feel free to post more pics in there if you want to -

Good luck adam, and let us know if you need anything else

don't let the fumes get to you too bad

[projekakkord]

AccordAnimal, you are going to see the waves very easily from your door moldings when you shaved them.. nuff said

[AccordAnimal]

AccordAnimal, you are going to see the waves very easily from your door moldings when you shaved them.. nuff said

Just some advice. I would avoid making posts like the one above. I am not saying that there won't be lines or this or that, but making "definitives" is not a good idea. It's not gonna get you anywhere in life.

Otherwise, I will keep all of you posted. Tommorow is Primer and Paint. CAN'T WAIT!

[91accord4door]

Just some advice. I would avoid making posts like the one above. I am not saying that there won't be lines or this or that, but making "definitives" is not a good idea. It's not gonna get you anywhere in life.

Otherwise, I will keep all of you posted. Tommorow is Primer and Paint. CAN'T WAIT!

good luck man! pics are a must. even though your taking a differant approach than most people would....i admire your determination!

[-Strike-]

I work at an autobody shop and do some custom work. I paint most of the vehicles. From my experience as far as the paint itself goes, black is very easy to paint. The color covers great, little chance of getting bad fading, tiger striping and metallic sags, rums and such. I love spraying solid black.

White is difficult to spray because you can get the same effect as snowblindness. When you're spraying white on an entire car, dark spots look white, white spots look too bright, so on, so on. It gets hard at times to spray a car completely in white because it affects your vision a bit making it hard to see some areas missed out on paint.

As far as body work prep goes, black will show EVERYTHING, any wobble, wave, dent bump, stone chip or what ever may be still lingering. As far as the body work goes on a to-be black car, it is the worst since it'll show everything at all.

White on the other hand is less forgiving in this area, minor waves and imperfections wont show... Well, they'll be there, but wont be as noticable to the human eye as it would with a dark color.

But as far as the paint application itself goes, I find nice rich solid (NON METALLIC) colors easier to paint than the lighter colors due to the coverage issues.

When you head into metallics, it changes all of the above. The metallics in light colors can be a bitch to get correct, too much paint in one area can reveal a concentration of the metallic flakes and in the spray patterns looking like lines of darker bursts of color in sunlight, this is usually called tiger striping, it's a pain in the ass, it can happen to the best of us if the lighting in the spray booth isn't right.

If you can perfect your spray pattern you can almost get rid of this "tiger stripe" threat, but there are many more things to look for. Such as "orange peel"

Orange peel is a texure of the paint when sprayed on that basically looks and feels like the surface of an orange. Often with a base/clear system it can cause the paint to look too dry and dull. Only way to really fix orange peel is to buff out the area and polish it to a smooth gloss, but it, sometimes may never fully come out.

Dry spots and such are usually caused with the clear coat, when a certian area in the spray pattern just missed a space of the basecoat with the clear, causing a very ugly spot that looks very dry and orange peely. It's hard to buff these out, as it has far less clearcoat on it than the rest of the vehicle has, so chances of rubbing through is far greater, Then you run the risk of not having any clear coat on the basecoat, and it looks like shit.


Dust and crap in the paint is all due to the area you're painting in and the final prep and wash down of the body. I garuntee you it'll happen and it's happened to me, even in a high quality professional spray booth, dust and crap landing in the paint can and will happen.


So all these shows you see, like the TLC overhaulin', Pimp my Ride and crap like that always show a 100% show quality finish, practiacally mirror finish on the final product.

It'll probably never come out of the spray booth looking like glass. So hours and hours of wet sanding and buffing will get rid of those dirt specks and most of the orange peel. But, it is alot of work..

There are many, many more areas to look at such as final body prep, temperature, humidity, air pressures, type of paint, type of spray gun, speed of movement, lighting, air flows in the booth area, spraying a car is a very complex procedure so take caution and read alot about doing so.

Anyways, I've got to go. Hope this helps some.

[Accord_exR]

yea black is DEF not the only hard color to paint ... im fixing the rust myself on my pewter grey metallic ex and its hard as fuck to blend and match the paint because of the fade that has occured from the sun... ive been working on it for 2 weeks now and im still not satisfied....

[i'm the girl]

a lot of the "this is hard to paint" comes in with things like pearls and metallics and other effects -

but black with clear isn't going to being horribly stubborn as has been said

all paint will have orange peel unless you color sand for days - trust me - go to a new car lot and check out some paint jobs in the sun, you can see it from the right angle - do something like rub your hand along a honda then along a top-end Lexus - youll notice a diffference in the feel of the paint if you cant see it right off

your car will still look good without a million hours of sanding, most especially if you prep it properly

[KoNEY]

If all else fails just ride down ton TN and I'll shoot it for you for like $50 and I'll guarantee it. Hell, for $100 I'll go over you body with some filler and a body file and get your car straighter than Boy George and then shoot it. here's a few pic of stuff I've painted...

[AccordAnimal]

Damn Koney, you are slammed lower than I am. How's that ride????? or are you on air?

[r0gergcm]

If all else fails just ride down ton TN and I'll shoot it for you for like $50 and I'll guarantee it. Hell, for $100 I'll go over you body with some filler and a body file and get your car straighter than Boy George and then shoot it. here's a few pic of stuff I've painted...

that shit looks fuckin nice

[mondojackal]

black is the hardest to paint. shows every little imperfection. white is the easiest. reds a bitch too.

-white gets dirty too easily, but shows hardly any dents because you cant really clearly see the reflections in it.
-black shows every little door ding or imperfection in body work.
-red oxidizes faster than other colors, so you MUST keep it waxed.
-neutral metallic colors are the best because they dont show dirt that much, and they are shiny and look great, and they dont show dents that much because the metallic breaksup the look of it

[mondojackal]

AccordAnimal, you are going to see the waves very easily from your door moldings when you shaved them.. nuff said

on cars the age of ours, they arent going to be super straight anyways..

[KoNEY]

Damn Koney, you are slammed lower than I am. How's that ride????? or are you on air?

It's a chop, but I'll be on air very soon....stay tuned

AccordAnimal, you are going to see the waves very easily from your door moldings when you shaved them.. nuff said

Not if he does it with a bodyfile. He can make the doors seamless with little effort...

on cars the age of ours, they arent going to be super straight anyways..

True, but skimming entire panels and blocking/filing them with a body file will do wonders....as stated above, a little effort and it's straight as can be....also, before flaming starts, or back talking, skimming entire panels isn't an uncommon thing in collision repair/restoring...so even the pro's do it.