Tinted/coloured clearcoat

[MagicalTrevor]

I'm looking for some advice on colouring clearcoat. I'd like to be able to spray a panel with a clearcoat that produces a 30-40% transparency.

Is it possible to get this level of transparency?
Is it reproducible I.e. Spraying another panel to match
I've seen various 'concentrates' for clearcoat but is this available in a pre-prepared spray can?

Thanks guys

[MagicalTrevor]

This is what I'm referring to
http://www.custompaintshop.co.uk/paints/candy-conc...

[TallPaul]

"Back in the day" most of the Japanese manufacturers experimented with tinted clearcoats, especially on reds, the idea being it gave a deeper finish but it was an absolute nightmare to refinish! You had to do multiple sprayout cards and experiment with how many coats and how heavy it was applied to get the same colour- even though we would have the formula for the percentage of tint to add to the clear, it almost always resulted in a whole side being blended.
What exactly are you wanting to achieve? I think you'll struggle to get a uniform coverage even on a single panel, let alone painting multiple panels at different times, more so if you're using spray cans. My advice is don't do it!

[MagicalTrevor]

Hmm, maybe I was being a tad optimistic!



I suspect the band you talk about would be more noticeable with carbon fibre

[TallPaul]

So you're wanting to try and tint a carbonfibre panel? You'll get better results if you use a spraygun and do everything together in one go. Tint the lacquer and spray on the basis that you'll need 3 or 4 coats to get the desired coverage/grin through. A spray can will give you such a localised spray pattern that it'll be almost impossible to get a uniform result, you can have a very wide fan with the gun and so it'll be a more even application.
Most lacquers can be tinted but you'll need a solvent (not waterbase) tint.

[MagicalTrevor]

Maybe I might be better tinting the resin before making the part. I think there are pigments for that but the colour choices are more limited I.e. I'd have to mix the colour to have other choices

I think I've discovered why this isn't often done

[paintman]

TallPaul said:

"Back in the day" most of the Japanese manufacturers experimented with tinted clearcoats, especially on reds, the idea being it gave a deeper finish but it was an absolute nightmare to refinish!

They still do. Mazda Velocity Red for one. Although it's usually referred to now as a 3 coat system.
This involves a solid red base coat followed by the second coat which contains all the pearl & metallic followed by a clearcoat which is clear.
The old system was in solvent base & last one - some years ago - I did was a Lotus yellow. Base coat was a solid yellow followed by the clearcoat into which were mixed a few drops of metallic.
Lot of extra work for the 3 coat systems & I turn them down.

[Honestherbert]

Recent ford candy red is a current one too, metallic basecoat with solid red tint in the lacquer.Unfortunately had to mix that yesterday. Mazda velocity red is what I would class as a backwards 3 stage pearl too, tinted clearcoat over metallic base. I dont know why the manufacturers are doing it tbh, 3 stage pearls are a pain on expensive cars, let alone on shopping trolleys!! They end up getting written off due to paint sometimes which is ridiculous.