Custom Painting: Candies, Pearls, Metalflake, Flames, more - Techniques, Tips & Tricks

This book assumes, if you want to try any of the custom painting techniques shown here, that you already know the basics about preparing and painting a car. I won't cover simple bodywork, primers, sanding, tools such as air compressors, masking, spray guns and how to use them, or finish techniques such as color sanding and rub out.

This is not Auto Painting 101; this is an advanced course. We will discuss custom paint products and how they can be mixed or applied properly; we will talk about special spray guns and how to adjust them for custom painting; we will definitely talk about layout and masking for custom paint designs; and we will also discuss body fit and finish as it should apply to any custom paint job (in the following chapter). But we won;t specifically tell you how to do these things.

Those techniques are fully covered in a previous book, How to Paint Your Car on a Budget (CarTech #SA117), which should be required reading for anyone not fully experienced in car painting basics.

A pertinent topic in any discussion of custom paints, that is, types of paint themselves.

In the early days (the 1920s-1970s) there were two primary types of automotive paint: lacquer and enamel. An old story goes that Henry Ford couldn't invent his mechanized assembly line until he (or someone) formulated a fast-drying lacquer paint.

Older types of paint, such as enamels, had to dry at least overnight - the real reason all model Ts had to be black was because that was the only color of lacquer that would dry quickly enough to keep up with the assembly line.

In the 1940s and 1950s, however, the manufacturers found ways (heat lamps, ovens, etc.) to quickly dry various types of paint to hard, glossy finishes. They still do, and it's virtually impossible to match the as-sprayed-and-cured gloss and, especially, the durability of factory-applied paint.

Today, lacquer paints and old-style non-catalyzed enamels have virtually disappeared from the painting scene, initially because of government environmental protection mandates.

They have been replaced with an ever-changing variety of catalyzed (i.e., "two-part") urethanes, epoxies, and other chemical concoctions that produce a nearly infinite rainbow of color choices and special effects equal to almost anything available in old-school lacquers.

• Introduction
• Straight Paint
• Painting Pearl
• Candy Apple
• Metalflake, MicroSequins and Other Glittery Stuff
• Stripes, Scallops, Panels and Other Taped Layouts
• Fades, Fogs and Blends
• Painting Flames
• Cobwebs, Freak Dots, Marbling and Old Lace
• Pinstriping and Airbrushing
• Shades of Suede
• The Care and Feeding of Custom Paint
• Source Guide