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Paining rapid red tinted clear coat cars (painting carbon fiber fenders)

2K views 6 replies 4 participants last post by  Greg S  
#1 ·
Hi everyone I’m just trying to collect info and your personal experiences painting custom parts or collision repair on your rapid red shelbys! I’m adding the Anderson composite fenders and would like a close match to the rest of my car. Not sure how the tinted clearcoat comes into play or where I can have this done in Pittsburgh. Thanks for your help!
 
#2 ·
i am a PPG certified painter. i have 30+ years working as a certified painter.
i work on VW and Mazda cars so i have never painted this color. Mazda does have a similar color, 46V, with tinted clear so i can share my experience.
i will first say. in my opinion there is NO WAY possible you can panel paint this color. you have to blend it. you can get a close but never a really good match. on Mazda cars and i am sure Ford is the same, the factory can't panel paint this color. look closely at some areas. the bumper and probably the gas door doesn't match. they are close and have a acceptable match, but not a exact match. in fact a LOT of times it isn't even a close match.
i just painted a 2018 Ford Excape with the RR paint code. this color is a tinted clear coat color like rapid red.
when i paint i first use a what i call a color camera. this does a color reading and will compare the color to know variances to this color. most colors have 2 or 3 variances. i have seen some colors that have over 30 variances.
once i have the variance picked out i compare it to the PPG color chips and other spray out cards that i make every with car i paint. once i have the proper variance picked out it's time to paint.
you look up the color and the PPG will tell me what color sealer to spay for best match. PPG has sealer formulas rated 1-3-5-6-7. 1 is white 5 is gray, 7 is black. when painting you will need to make a spray out card with the proper rating. . with this card you spray the ground color over the entire card. once dry you mask strips in about 1 1/2" wide. you now spray the tinted clear over a open area. then peal off a masked area and spray again. once you have painted the entire cad there will be about 5 strips. on one end the color will have 1 coat of tinted clear. on the other end you will have 5 coats. now get out your color match light and compare the card to the color on the card. this tells you how many coats of tinted clear you will need.
now it's time to paint the CAR. when painting you need to blend the tinted sealer over the panel you are blending for a good match. for a good 3 stage blend the total blended area will be about 2-3 FEET long from the front edge of the panel to the end of the blend. depending on the color and the closeness of the color you are blending. the closer the color is the shorter your blend will be.
for best results find someone who paints this color often. the more you paint it the better you get at matching it.
i skimmed over a few details. i posted the major details.
HOPE THIS INFO HELPS.
 
#6 ·
in my OPINION. you will probably just have to blend the doors.
i will add.
when blending the tinted clear you don't go all the way to the end of the panel.( spray to the end of panel you will get mis matched color.) you just blend the tinted clear.
AFTER blending the tinted clear you spray non tinted clear coat over the entire panel.
i have blended Mazda tinted clear colors 100's of times within a single panel.
 
#7 ·
in my OPINION. you will probably just have to blend the doors.
i will add.
when blending the tinted clear you don't go all the way to the end of the panel.( spray to the end of panel you will get mis matched color.) you just blend the tinted clear.
AFTER blending the tinted clear you spray non tinted clear coat over the entire panel.
i have blended Mazda tinted clear colors 100's of times within a single panel.
Amazing thank you!