How many coats of paint?

[Doppleganger]

For those painting their own trucks, how many coats of color / clear did you use?

Thx.

 

[Frankenchevy]

I was told to go 3/3 when I paint my older Cummins.

 

[DanMcG]

3 and 3 is good, if you're planning on cutting and buffing ya might want to go 4 clear, that will give ya less of a chance that you will cut thru the clear and into the base coat.

 

[Grit dog]

The real answer is, it depends.
But with a 2 stage paint system, base coat is not meant for buildup or mill thickness, only color.
3 coats is pretty normal imo. With the first being a scratch coat. Very light coat. 2nd coat may cover well. 3rd coat is insurance against any light spots after the 2nd coat.
Clear? That really depends how flat it lays down and how good of a painter you are imo. I’m not a good painter so I chose quantity over quality, lol. To give plenty to sand off.
That said, I’ve done far more wet sanding on the blue truck than a real painter would need to do and 3 coats was fine.
The bigger concern is that you’re getting good mil thickness in all the difficult areas.
Anyone can pour the clear on the big surfaces and especially flat surfaces.
What I found is with my haste and lack of experience, after 3 coats, I have areas that I was very judicious with the wet sanding.

 

[fast 99]

Above post is right, will add watch wait times and use the correct thinner for the temp. If you get runs, they will usually appear in the 3rd coat. When subsequent coats are applied the surface re-wets itself thus a run. I usually waited a little longer before the 3rd clear coat.

Paint materials have gone wayyyy up, be prepared.

 

[Grit dog]

Basic proportions, after painting the truck including underside of hood, behind cab and inside of bed, I used a total of about 3 quarts of based (6 quarts sprayable at 1:1 reduced. And I used about 10 quarts of clear but the inside of bed, under side of hood and back of cab front of bed were only 1 coat of clear.
I’d have used an easy 3 gal of clear if I 3 coated everything.
I also cheated on the inside of the bed and put down 2 coats of similar color base coat first (I have a gallon of the “wrong” color). Resulting in about half the right color base coat needed to cover.

 

[shiftpro]

If you can stand his attitude and foul mouth, he has great 'reality' advice and intruction..

https://www.youtube.com/user/diyautoschool/videos

 

[Doppleganger]

Main reason I ask is that the weather here went to pot literally overnight. Heavy dew and colder temps now, so I'm going to store my cab and plan on going full throttle when the warmer weather (and longer, drier days) comes back. I was told by a friend who used to run a body shop that with metallic colors, I'd want to paint the whole truck all at once. Ok. So since I am doing a color change, thought about getting all the panels stripped, primed, sanded, painted, etc - then assembling and repainting them a second time all at once, like you would for a typical repaint.

Sounds nuts, but I am really limited with room and compressor capacity. Kind of overcoming and adapting as I get there.

?!

 

[Doppleganger]

Above post is right, will add watch wait times and use the correct thinner for the temp. If you get runs, they will usually appear in the 3rd coat. When subsequent coats are applied the surface re-wets itself thus a run. I usually waited a little longer before the 3rd clear coat.

Paint materials have gone wayyyy up, be prepared.

That bus already left, and yes, it hurt.....everything bought about 6 months ago - stored in my living room. lol

 

[DanMcG]

If you can stand his attitude and foul mouth, he has great 'reality' advice and intruction..

https://www.youtube.com/user/diyautoschool/videos

Yeah no, He kind of rubs me the wrong way...

 

[fast 99]

Main reason I ask is that the weather here went to pot literally overnight. Heavy dew and colder temps now, so I'm going to store my cab and plan on going full throttle when the warmer weather (and longer, drier days) comes back. I was told by a friend who used to run a body shop that with metallic colors, I'd want to paint the whole truck all at once. Ok. So since I am doing a color change, thought about getting all the panels stripped, primed, sanded, painted, etc - then assembling and repainting them a second time all at once, like you would for a typical repaint.

Sounds nuts, but I am really limited with room and compressor capacity. Kind of overcoming and adapting as I get there.

?!

Changing color assuming jams, interior, firewall? Unless you jam the parts first painting complete will be difficult assembled. Then overspray becomes an issue. Your friend is correct, everything effects metallic colors, air pressure, reduction, distance, temp, ect. Really to do it right disassembled is the way to go but it takes a huge area and a way to hang all the parts.

Get a good filter direr.

 

[Doppleganger]

Changing color assuming jams, interior, firewall? Unless you jam the parts first painting complete will be difficult assembled. Then overspray becomes an issue. Your friend is correct, everything effects metallic colors, air pressure, reduction, distance, temp, ect. Really to do it right disassembled is the way to go but it takes a huge area and a way to hang all the parts.

Get a good filter direr.

Yep. The hope was to get the cab ready (interior, jams, firewall, back, inside of doors, hinges) into paint and onto the chassis so I could do assembly over the winter. Not gonna happen til Spring.

 

[CalSgt]

Main reason I ask is that the weather here went to pot literally overnight. Heavy dew and colder temps now, so I'm going to store my cab and plan on going full throttle when the warmer weather (and longer, drier days) comes back. I was told by a friend who used to run a body shop that with metallic colors, I'd want to paint the whole truck all at once. Ok. So since I am doing a color change, thought about getting all the panels stripped, primed, sanded, painted, etc - then assembling and repainting them a second time all at once, like you would for a typical repaint.

Sounds nuts, but I am really limited with room and compressor capacity. Kind of overcoming and adapting as I get there.

?!

Sounds like a solid plan... One of the issues with metallics is how they flow, move and settle in the paint. If not really skilled and painting the fenders off of the truck in a different orientation the paint can settle differently than the doors and bed sides. This can make it look like totally different paint.

I had to install and remove the doors and fenders a bazillion times before (and during) the bodywork stage to ensure everything would go back together after paint. Since your truck is totally disassembled I recommend getting your doors back on and adjusted before paint (after epoxy if you want) and leaving them on. Its a whole lot easier if you don't need to worry about dents dings and scratches on the door jambs.

 

[Doppleganger]

Sounds like a solid plan... One of the issues with metallics is how they flow, move and settle in the paint. If not really skilled and painting the fenders off of the truck in a different orientation the paint can settle differently than the doors and bed sides. This can make it look like totally different paint.

I had to install and remove the doors and fenders a bazillion times before (and during) the bodywork stage to ensure everything would go back together after paint. Since your truck is totally disassembled I recommend getting your doors back on and adjusted before paint (after epoxy if you want) and leaving them on. Its a whole lot easier if you don't need to worry about dents dings and scratches on the door jambs.

Besides the interior, I was hoping to paint the jambs, hinges and insides of the doors while they were off. Then get everything hung and aligned before the color finale. There is a really good video on YT of a guy aligning the panels on a C10 - probably the best I have seen. Hoping to duplicate his success.

THX!

 

[bucket]

If you are willing to take the time for the prep, mix up a small batch of the paint and spray a test panel. It's basically just a big paper (heavy and sealed) card that is black on one half and white on the other half. Spray even coats of paint until it is impossible to see where the black and white meet. Look at it in various shades of light. The number of coats it takes to hide the two base colors is how many coats you will want to spray of the base paint.