Topic: enamel or base clear

[notav8gt]

some say enamel and others say base/clear. I painted my svo with enamel and have been told repeatedly that I ruined the car. Personally I like the orange peel, it does not have alot, but some. What is everybodies take on it here?

[J_Speegle]

Love seeing good orange peel on a restored car. Anyone and everyone is doing the dipped in plastic look which IMHO takes so much of the original look away from the cars.

Just me

[thefordshow]

 If the goal is to restore the car just like the factory did then natural steel and cast parts should have NO protection. In most cases the orange peel would follow with dirt, grinder marks on lead seams, lack of paint coverage/dry spots on some areas, runs, blemishes, metallic sags in the trunk areas, etc... were do you stop?, or maybe you don't?

[CharlesTurner]

It's a choice owner's make.  As Jeff says, lots of cars are painted incorrectly.  My painter does a great job with single stage urethane.

[svo2scj]

You know Tony that is what makes this site really unique !!
You got three "interested" answers from Mustnag community collectors/restorers that offer "both side" of issues and you shouldn't come away feeling bashed !

PERFECT paint isn't what Ford applied on the line though the finishes changed as the years progressed !

I have a 85.5 SVO that is painted in single stage that gets great looks , attention and comments.  Not many have seen my 1969 R code, but we choose to use BC/BC as it is Acapulco Blue.   Either car shows well -but for different reasons.   With the SVO it is glass smooth, color sanded "rich" for a non metalic.  The SCJ "might be" overrestored with different peels (on the headlight buckets , end caps) and runs and drips put back where found in forensics.

SOMEONE is going to point that out -like with your car that just doesn't know , is used to the "Barrett-Jackson" look or thinks no time was taken.  Where in fact , so much time was taken that some things were redone more than once !

Mark 

[Brandon Badel]

ive never seen a mustang have that much traction in the grass. That car is launching. Nice car.

[TLea]

I second the single stage urethane. Has the enamel look w/o the problems

[slim]

I prefer the slight orange peel (single stage enamel) that Fords came with until  recently.
My caspian blue 64 1/2 vert had beautiful paint from the factory.

[cobrajetchris]

The orange peal on a finish has nothing to do with the type of paint or if it is base clear or single stage. Orange peal is created by the application due to material viscosity, air pressure and spray technique. On the first generation mustangs I would recommend a single stage eurethane paint, however if you have a metalic color I would recommend a two stage mainly due to if some wet sanding and buffing is needed (most of the time is) you are polishing on the clearcoat and protecting the metalics that tend to move around causing a blotchy or fogy look to the metalic. I painted my BOSS 302 that is grabber orange that is a solid color in single stage enamel and it looks good. The durability is about the same between the single and two stage as long as it is a catilyzed paint. I hope this helps.

[CharlesTurner]

I thought the durability of single stage vs. bc/cc was about the same also, until my painter recently told me that PPG warrants single stage for like 2 years and bc/cc for 5 years!

Agree with the comments about how orange peel works.  That's good info that everyone needs to understand, thanks!

[aaatp]

I'm planning on painting my mustang the original vintage burgundy metallic. Since it has a small amount of metal flake in it, would bc/cc be the way to go, or is there not enough metal flake in it to make a
difference if i used single stage urethane? Any comments would greatly appreciated.

Thanks, John

[cobrajetchris]

I would go with a two stage urethane paint as the metallic in that color are very fine and like I mentioned in a previous post the metallics tend to move around a little when buffing and can cause a streaking or blotchy look.  As far as durability between the single stage urethane and base clear urethane there may be a little more with two stage however I don't think it will be any factor on a classic car due to limited use. The UV rays from the sun are the most damaging to paint and most of the restored cars are kept in a garage with a cover on it, so I would not worry about durability. I painted my 70 BOSS 302 in 1990 with CENTARI enamel with a hardener which is not as durable as urethane and it shows no fading, of course the car doesn't get daily driven and it sits in the garage most of the time. Remember when painting a car most of your results are from the prep work underneath that make the paint look good and hold up. Use a quality etch primer over bare metal, use a two part urethane primer, invest in some good quality long, short and round sanding blocks, check your panel is straight by applying a guide coat, this is a contrasting color done with a spray can dusting over your build primer and when you sand this off when block sanding, any low spots will still have guide coat in them telling you more work is needed. After I sand down a panel I will also spray it with a paint cleaning solvent (water works too) and look down the panel and this will also show up any problems you may have before applying expensive paint. Sorry I got a little windy here but I can't stress enough about the importance of the prep work as it is like the foundation of a house. If a guy is doing prep work himself to save money these tips will save you a lot of grief. There are a lot of good videos and books available on this topic. P.S I have been doing body and paint work for 25 years

[CharlesTurner]

Vintage Burgundy is a very tough color to paint with single stage, but it can be done.  Talk to your painter to get their feel on the matter.  As mentioned, you really can't buff it much.  Any sags/runs or drips will have to be sanded down and re-painted, they simply will not buff out right.  Basically, it comes down to how good your painter is and how good the paint booth is!

We did single stage on the K convertible I'm restoring, which is VB color.  I think it looks gorgeous!  http://65kresto.blogspot.com/

[aaatp]

  Thanks guys for all the great information, it is most appreciated.

John

[slim]

The orange peal on a finish has nothing to do with the type of paint or if it is base clear or single stage. Orange peal is created by the application due to material viscosity, air pressure and spray technique. On the first generation mustangs I would recommend a single stage eurethane paint, however if you have a metalic color I would recommend a two stage mainly due to if some wet sanding and buffing is needed (most of the time is) you are polishing on the clearcoat and protecting the metalics that tend to move around causing a blotchy or fogy look to the metalic. I painted my BOSS 302 that is grabber orange that is a solid color in single stage enamel and it looks good. The durability is about the same between the single and two stage as long as it is a catilyzed paint. I hope this helps.

Long ago Ford used enamle. GM used laquer. I was the second owner of a 37 Ford. I sold it in 1990. 90% of the body had the original black baked on enamle.
It was still glossy black and had the original slight orange peal!

That paint was 53 years old when I sold the car and had the original shine!

I regularly used laquer thinner to get deposits off the paint.

Anybody have a 50 year old BC,CC paint job?