dodge_ss/t

Well i decided to paint my car matte black.

Is there any thing i should know before i paint my vette matte black? Do you use a clear coat? Sorry if that’s a dumb question but ive never done it before. I already know how to paint, im not to bad at it for my age so that’s not what im asking.

Mark G

You add a flattening agent in regular single-stage paint or clearcoat. You can get that at your paint & body store. Be sure to mix/shake really well. I would probably just use single stage paint. I'm not sure what advantages using a clearcoat would provide in this application, maybe others can comment. Experiment with adding different ratios of flattening agent and record how much you put in 'X' amount of paint so you can consistantly reporduce the same level of flattness. I generally use a spoon to add it so I can tell how much I'm adding. I use it all the time to reproduce semi-gloss for parts. A lot more durable than spray can paint. Maybe others here have some hints.

Good luck

wombvette

I havent tried it, but my opinion is that if you add clear to any flat finish, it will come out gloss. Just look at BC/CC systems. They are mostly flat before clear. You possibly could add flatener to the clear.

dodge_ss/t

thanks guys. ill try the clear with a flattening agent and see what happens. ill post pics of the car when its done. wont shoot it till the school year starts so i can take advantage of the schools paint booth.


thanks

Mark G

I meant adding the flattening agent to the clearcoat. Only reason I can see for doing this would be if you have stripes or multi-tone you wanted to clear over and make it all flat.

Mark G

Jim Dillon

Why not just flatten the black? The flattener that I use would I am sure make clear cloudy, maybe what you are using would not but I cannot think of a reason to clearcoat black if you want a true matte. The clear even if flattened a bit would still be an opaque coating. Straight black is relatively easy to flatten. Good luck-Jim

dodge_ss/t

thanks for the info, no clear it is. i was hopeing to do a number on the side of the doors but i think ill scrap that idea. i thought that flatenng clear would make the clear cloudy but what do i know.lol

crazywelder

I've done muscle car hoods and other panels with flattened black, but never a whole car. Regular clear or ss black can be flattened, but for a whole car I would use a pre-flattened paint for consistency.

What you really need to do is go to a hot rod or rat rod show and ask around at the various methods and spray techniques. John Deere (as in tractors) has a very popular matte black paint called Blitz Black. A lot of rat rodders use it, has the right look, it is cheap (about $20/gal) and works very well, however it is old school enamel as has those drawbacks. Dupont has 2 products in their Hot Hues line, pre-flattened clear and Hot Rod Black. The clear is for use over colors for a satin look and the black is a single stage pre-flattened black. PPG also has pre-flattened clear. There are also several more blacks on the market.

When spraying large panels you need to be very consistant with speed and gun angle, and overlap by 50% otherwise you'll end up with streaking which would be no problem if the paint was going to be polished, but how you spray this is how it stays. If you don't like it, just respray the panel. For maintenance afterwards a lot of guys use Pledge.

Quil

I'm painting my car matte black as well, and just ordered my paint. It's called Hot Rod Black from SEM and it comes in a kit with everything you need. I believe one kit is 2 sprayable quarts, so I have three kits coming to be sure I have enough for everything.

http://sem.ws/Catalog.asp?prod=270

l88rocket

I just sprayed my street matte black and I just used a flat dupont clear