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I have a 1970 lt1 convertible that has been painted in various places. The car has never been hit but after nearly 50 years of Touchups here and there I think a new paint job would do it justice. Not looking to do a body off but a nice better than driver quality paint job. What is the preferred type of paint? Should I go with basecoat/clearcoat or with a single stage? It is white. Thanks in advance for your answers
As always, questions like this belong in the Paint/ Body section.
It would be good to know who will be doing the work? And if not you, how much do you want to pay?
With Basecoat/Clearcoat and enough clear, you have the option of "color sanding" the clear coat to get an absolutely spectacular finish. With single stage you may possibly be able to stop at whatever comes out of the gun!
I closed our body shop in 2007... but man what a toss up question.
I like base clear because the finish can be spectacular....
But I like the single stage as well...
I'd talk to your body man and see what he's comfortable with... it's always been my saying (and one reason I stay out of paint and carburetor questions)... that when you touch a mans paint or his carb.... you've married him for life...
When I did my 62 and my 72 I did both in base clear. The 62 because I wanted that luster to it.. the 72 because we put ghost flames on the hood... and then clear coated over them and the entire car.
But we did multiple cars in single stage which offers you color sanding (if needed) and touch up options should there be a goof....
Like I said, talk to your paint guy and see what he likes best, he's the one that'll have to stand behind it (unless you are the painter)
I have a 1970 lt1 convertible that has been painted in various places. The car has never been hit but after nearly 50 years of Touchups here and there I think a new paint job would do it justice. Not looking to do a body off but a nice better than driver quality paint job. What is the preferred type of paint? Should I go with basecoat/clearcoat or with a single stage? It is white. Thanks in advance for your answers
Unless you're in California, I would paint it with acrylic lacquer if it was mine. Most shops will probably prefer to paint base/clear.
single coat is cheaper, less material, less time.
Clearcoat makes the color pop, if you want wow factor ! ...clear coat.
in reality who ever is actually going to paint/pull the trigger.
will determine required prep, ... and (type of paint)
usually what the painter is comfortable with spraying.
me personally I do my own work, and use basecoat / clearcoat.
I use southernpolyurethanes.com for all my primer, and clear coat materials.
I buy the base color locally.
How original are the drivetrain and other components? If this is a fairly original car, I would go with single stage in the original color for possible judging in the future by you or the next owner. If it has a NOM engine and is a driver, I would go base coat/clear coat. JMHO
It’s a very original car. The chrome the interior and the engine all its components are original to the car. All are datecode correct it’s a very documented car. I just don’t want to go down the wrong path for convenience or budgetary reasons. I preferred to make the car what most judges or people expect on a car of that vintage for a repaint.
IMO, concerning originality- once you respray, its not original, so what finish you choose is really irrelevant. unless you choose lacquer, than you are at least still in the wheelhouse of original style paint. but outside that I would go with whatever my painter was most skilled with.
I think the paint on my 68 is not great, but its original. so to me, I feel there is more value in keeping the original "survivor" paint in pretty good shape than a new perfect looking repaint.
myself, I prefer base/clear. I have heard that for the ultimate shine, spray single stage color and then clear over top of it. never tried it myself but I have heard it provides the biggest wow factor.
IMO, concerning originality- once you respray, its not original, so what finish you choose is really irrelevant. unless you choose lacquer, than you are at least still in the wheelhouse of original style paint. but outside that I would go with whatever my painter was most skilled with.
I think the paint on my 68 is not great, but its original. so to me, I feel there is more value in keeping the original "survivor" paint in pretty good shape than a new perfect looking repaint.
myself, I prefer base/clear. I have heard that for the ultimate shine, spray single stage color and then clear over top of it. never tried it myself but I have heard it provides the biggest wow factor.
My original '71 paint looks like crap, but I also can't pull the trigger (pun intended) to repaint it.
My dad taught me to mix 50/50 lacquer/clear on the last few coats....gave good results.
I have heard that for the ultimate shine, spray single stage color and then clear over top of it. never tried it myself but I have heard it provides the biggest wow factor.
I more or less agree with what you said here but I want to inject a word of caution. I did my paint job myself and stuck with the PPG family of products and application recommendations. In the case of base/clear, their instructions specified a very short 1-2 day period to apply the clear or they wouldn't guarantee the clear would adhere. I called them on this and there was no doubt at the time. So I say stick with a known process.
In the case of 'color sanding' the car, same deal, I stuck with 3M products and their application recommendations.
Whether single stage followed by clear works is not, , 'clear' to me.
Just a word of caution to potential do-it-yourselfers' who may be reading this, if you step outside the process you may or may not regret it. I know when I was taking somebody else's paint job off of my car it came off in great big ugly flakes. This was a supposed pro, but I have my doubts. You do not want this:
The car has some of its original paint on it not enough to warrant saving it. From what we could tell the car has never been hit who knows scratches whatever. If the car was all Original paint we wouldn’t be having this conversation.Thanks again everybody great insight.
We did my 71 with PPG acrylic urethane, single stage in Steel Cities Gray, which is a "firemist" (metallic) color. I went with single stage thinking it would be quicker & easier. But with brand new equipment, & following the data sheet exactly, we got orange peel. Did you ever try to color sand, then buff out a metallic color? It doesn`t work that well.
So we wet sanded, and re-sprayed. It orange peeled again. So I went to the paint store, told them our issues, and they said, "Well, maybe you don`t want to follow the data sheet exactly". They suggested some changes, but I asked for a compatible acrylic urethane clear just in case.
We wet sanded and sprayed a 3rd time, and it orange peeled again, so we cleared it the next day, (it recommended a 6 hour dry time between color & clear.
Now we`ve wet sanded a little, and buffed it out. It looks really good out in the sun, but not so much under fluorescent lights. Everyone that sees it says it`s beautiful, but I still want to cut & buff a little more to consider it finished.
After all this, I`m not sure I`d try a single stage again.
We recently brought my brother's LT-1 to the paint shop that did my blue LT-1, and we had this exact discussion. The painter's advice: since the car is white, he recommends single stage urethane. Says the clearcoat on 2-stage white could "yellow" a bit with age, which will show badly on a white car. So my brother is taking his advice; single stage. Hope this helps.
Shot my 77 five years ago ppg base coat clear coat. Stripping was a breeze with Captains Lees stripper. To bad this is not a product you can purchase now Did the old garage stage for painting on sunday nights when the air was still and calm. Every thing went find except the clear coat it orange peeled the first time and after contacting PPg found they ran a bad batch of clear that i used and they never told the public. Sanded the whole car by hand and shot again (cost $300.00 with a additive) Well i still have the car and after i finished it people just loved the Classic White i shot on the car. I would do it again because i enjoyed the challenge of the out come. If any one tells you using base coat clear coat will cost you to strip and paint $7000 dollars its a deal. Its a lot of work to remove the bumpers and paint off the car and do a descent paint job.
If you ask any NCRS Judge, clear coat will loose u points, a great paint job will loose u points!
I attended a NCRS paint tech class with a Survivor and was shown how poor paint was applied to many of the C3's. If you looked at the top, hood front fenders things looked good
As the car went up on the lift, things changed quickly! First you noticed orange peel when you opened the doors and at the Nador bolt as they used a styrofoam type cup to prevent paint getting on the Pin. The higher the car rose up the lift the worse the paint looked to the point this car had NO primer nor paint below the doors.
Results of being lazy and not bending over to properly paint the bottom of the car!
With that said, NCRS looks at the car as it came out of the factory. If it has shiny clear paint inside the door jambs, its been over restored, points lost!
If you ask any NCRS Judge, clear coat will loose u points, a great paint job will loose u points!
I attended a NCRS paint tech class with a Survivor and was shown how poor paint was applied to many of the C3's. If you looked at the top, hood front fenders things looked good
As the car went up on the lift, things changed quickly! First you noticed orange peel when you opened the doors and at the Nador bolt as they used a styrofoam type cup to prevent paint getting on the Pin. The higher the car rose up the lift the worse the paint looked to the point this car had NO primer nor paint below the doors.
Results of being lazy and not bending over to properly paint the bottom of the car!
With that said, NCRS looks at the car as it came out of the factory. If it has shiny clear paint inside the door jambs, its been over restored, points lost!
It will always be a dilemma!
Interesting, thanks for posting.
Speaking of door jambs, for the past 43 years, every time I wax my car I wax the door jambs and all the other paint I can get to.
The car has some of its original paint on it not enough to warrant saving it. From what we could tell the car has never been hit who knows scratches whatever. If the car was all Original paint we wouldn’t be having this conversation.Thanks again everybody great insight.
I've been using PPG paints for over 20 years, but here are some facts that apply to all brands.
A solid color (pastel) can be sanded and buffed just fine. Not so with any metallic single stage because you alter the flakes that are hit with sandpaper and it will always look as if it was sanded even after buffing.
A single stage pastel paint has color pigments that are mixed with UV inhibitors. Those inhibitors are more effective mixed into a single stage than having a clear coat with inhibitors on top of a base color with none. That is one reason why clear coats fail and chalk up, peel, etc.
If using clear, buy the best high solids you can afford. That is your protection against time and elements. All clears are not created equal.
And unless you have a painter certified with the paint line you choose, there will be no warranty extended to you or him if it fails.
Bottom line is this. I would be fine using a single stage white instead of base/clear. White will never "pop" or look deep like a metallic with clear coat.
Thank you for all the great insight and replies. I have the car basically stripped down to the glass and was pleasantly surprised that there is not any damage to this car. I’m leaning towards base/ clear coat for this car since it is white. But I have another 70 LT1 coupe ,Bridgehampton blue, with 17,000 miles on it that is going for NCRS That I was going to consider painting in lacquer because I could get it.This changes my thought process on that car completely. The painter who is doing the white car is qualified in the paint line that we are using and it’s going to be professionally painted so I’m not having any worries about any quality issues. Thanks again everybody
03-13-2018, 06:54 PM
Basecoat clearcoat or single stage?
, 'clear' to me.
