everybody talks about removing doors ect. to paint do you need to have the headlights out?

 

Depends on what you want. The factory painted with doors and HL on the body.

 

with wombvette,

I professionally speaking....disassemble the car, headlights included..so I can make sure that paint and clear gets properly applied to all edges and hard to get areas that occur when parts are left installed on the car.
It will depend on how nice you want the end result to look...lack of overspray, tape lines, dry spray, etc, included.
"DUB"

 

I painted mine with the doors off and I have a mismatch in shade between the doors and the body. I will repaint but with the doors on.
Russ

 

Yes I agree. This can occur. But if doing a basecoat /clearcoat paint job...painting the car with the parts off and then re-hanging them for the final color coat to make sure it all matches...and then removing them for clear is what I normally do. This makes the job have no tape lines and overspray...and all the hard to get areas...when panels are installed...are clearcoated and slick and shiny.

Hate to read that you have a color mismatch. Been there....done that...a long time ago.
"DUB"

 

In my experience it depends upon the type of paint being used and how translucent it is. If it is very translucent at all you will have difficulty avoiding shade differences. If I need to jam the car then I will pull them off and reinstall before I shoot the outside; as for the headlights, I take them apart and paint the flip side off the vehicle but paint the top side in place.

I don't have any issues getting paint on the edges and I surely will not put out a car that has shade differences. Keep in mind that I'm a custom painter that gets a lot more for a job than a body shop, and also shoots many more exotic paints and colors than most painters. Just my .02

 

DUB & Deakin
Good input. A question I have is I used the Dupont Chroma system in a dark green metallic. The primer sealer was a dark gray (value shade 7), when all was said and done the light spots looked yellow or white, this was after three color coats and two clear. I'm going to reshoot the car but I need to understand what happened before I do.
Any help is appreciated.
Russ

 

Russ,
SPOTS??? Sounds like improperly applied color. Depending on the strength of the pigments used to make the color you shot. Can often times cause a painter to have to carefully determine if it is warranted to shoot a "color evaluation card" and actually see how many coats of the color will cover the white and black checkers on the card. Now this is also assuming that the painter knows how these pigments react from past experience....much like how I know the pigments in my system will cover. With you probably not knowing how the color was going to cover...shooting a card is advisable.

With that being said...and if your car was completely covered in the sealer...and not spot sealed....where previous undercoats were allowed to be exposed. And you painted it. and while painting it YOU actually were WATCHING the color being applied and maintained a good overlap during the painting process....instead of just pulling the trigger and the way the paint went on was how it went on. It may be due to weak pigments and technique. Regardless if the color is dark....it can still require several coats to achieve full hiding.

IF a color evaluation card was NOT sprayed out...so you can actually see the number of coats needed to achieve full hiding...you may want to get one and test.

Many "new" colors are very weak and require several coats to achieve the color desired. And I am like "Deakin"...a custom painter...where applying "candy" colors requires a different attitude and thought process that most body/paint shops do not employ. Having this type of thought process makes "custom" painters not take anything for granted...and test panels are shot to make sure the end result is what they want...especially if it something that has not been shot before and it is an "unknown" on how it will cover. There are so many tricks and techniques that would take a custom/professional painter a long time to write and describe due to many different situations that require a different strategy. But if it is a "first time" situation...we generally test first....or at least I do.

Your gun setting may not have been the best it could be. To heavy in the middle of the fan...thus can cause for "zebra stripes". Which in turn can cause "spots" where the color is not applied. Did you test your pattern? Your pattern will often times tell you on how much overlap is required to get an even coat.

Hopefully this helped. And I hate to read that you have to shoot it again. It has been a very long time since I have had to do that.

Last thing I can think of...because I do not have photo's that show the problem. I wonder if you have a "blushing" problem. Is your air supply moisture free???? And did you paint in on a rainy/high humid day???? Did you apply the basecoat heavy and not allow it to totally flash off???? How many areas of the car did the "spotting" occur???

"DUB"