Help with chameleon paint!

[Drsuce]

Ive got a whole ton of questions so i hope im in the right forum!



I will start off with the paint... The car is my own 96 Mustang Cobra with chameleon paint (factory option). And heres the problem, i have used a few diffrent waxes and "systems" with differing results, the most recent having tried a clay, then mothers steps 1-3 finished with meguiars nxt, what i found was that the flip flop seems to be less intense after the nxt is applied and seems to stick between the green/purple flip. after a few washes the rest of the colors start to come out (browns , golds, blues and lime greens). Anyone have any expertise working with chameleon paints to really make the colors pop?



my next question lies with the purchase of an orbital and product to go with it! I have been looking at both the porter cable and flex units, i plan on working on my own cars aswell as family/friends aswell as the odd car at work. Is the flex worth the extra money for a starter?



heres a pic of the dull looking car on the bright sunny day!

http://i422.photobucket.com/albums/pp303/Drsuce/DSC00377.jpg

http://i422.photobucket.com/albums/pp303/Drsuce/DSC00376.jpg

http://i422.photobucket.com/albums/pp303/Drsuce/DSC00383.jpg

heres a bad pic showing the "pop" i speak of...

http://www.icantping.com/~mmasuda/images/mystic/mystic.jpg



what im talking about is a bit hard to understand unless you`ve seen this paint in person, it really dosent take well to photo`s :/



Thanks for any reading and please, pass on some advice!

[Drsuce]

I`ve decided to purchase a PC with SIP, 106ff and opti-seal.

Now i need to decide what kind of pads i need! what seems to be the best combo? 2 orange, 2 white?? blue black or red? and 6.5 or 4 inch? I have alot of correction to do on my daily driver!

[miahman98]

One of my customers has that same car. I worked on it for him early in the summer. If you’re looking for something that’s going to give you the best results for a lsp, get yourself some opti-seal. That’s what I used and the color shifts were awesome. I see him around every now and then and the car still looks phenomenal.



I would be very careful when polishing that paint. I guess a repaint on the color shift stuff is very hard to get right and expensive. This is what I was told by the owner. I also work on his Porsche and he never told me to take extra caution with that so maybe there’s some truth to it.

[miahman98]

My bad… I didn’t see your second post about opti-seal. Good choice, you`re not going to be disappointed.

[Arved]

I would be very careful when polishing that paint. I guess a repaint on the color shift stuff is very hard to get right and expensive. This is what I was told by the owner. I also work on his Porsche and he never told me to take extra caution with that so maybe there’s some truth to it.



I painted my motorcycle with Chameleon paint. It`s a basecoat/clearcoat system. As long as you don`t go through the clearcoat when polishing, you`ll be fine. A lot depends on how thick Ford made the clearcoat. On my motorcycle, I painted 6 coats of clear, wet sanding with 1500 grit between coats (just enough to knock down any orange peel, and provide a smooth finish for the next coat). This is working out well. A heck of a lot better than the micro-thin clearcoat Chrysler applied to my Y2K 300M :(



Seems I can just look at the clearcoat on my `M, and it`s gone. Very frustrating. :sosad Hopefully Ford put a thicker clearcoat on your car.



The Chameleon paint was about 5x more expensive than conventional paint. Thankfully, with a motorcycle, I didn`t need much. Probably less than you`d need repainting a fender or a door (not much bodywork on my cruiser). With the base coat that expensive, I was emphatic about putting on as much clearcoat as practical (too thick, and you`ve got other problems, such as cracking and crazing - been there, done that, too).



Good luck!:2thumbs:

[UncleWede]

Hey, I did the chameleon thing on my cruiser too, but just as an accent along fender edges, bottom of tanks, and an outline to the lightning bolts on the top. Got a decent coverage of clear, and no problems as long as I clean it properly.

Painter only used a portion of a spray can to apply. Right price, but it did leave a bit of a lip on the masking.

[Arved]

... but it did leave a bit of a lip on the masking.



That`s one thing I`d like to learn how to do - avoid the masking lip. Best I`ve been able to do is to pull the tape while the paint is wet, and to hit it after with thinner so the lip settles down. This kind of just rounds the edge, though. Others seem to be able to get a seamless edge, and the only way I can figure out how to do that would be to mask off the second color, then repaint the first color to bring it to the same paint thickness as the second color.



I know there`s got to be a better way, but I haven`t found it. Kind of strays from the original thread, though. Wish there was a forum that dealt with paint and body work as good as this one deals with detailing (or the BITOG forum deals with automotive lubrication).



Keep the shiney side up, and the sticky stuff stuck!

[jokerwylde]

I agree, I use opti-seal on my Mystic, and it seems to help with the flop. Also seems to bring out the flake in the paint a little more than the waxes I`ve tried.



miahman98, the reason he wants you to be careful is that the paint can`t be purchased from a regular paint shop. In order to get it, you have to fill out paperwork proving the car had the paint from the factory, and then BASF (if I recall) will send out the amount the body shop needs. As I recall, the paint is around $400 per pint. A 1/2 oz bottle of touch up cost me $40 a few months ago.



here`s mine:

http://www.mustangmods.com/ims/u/3371/7896/258230.jpg

[Garry Dean]

Is that aftermarket Chameleon, or is it the stock Ford Mystic paint?

[jokerwylde]

that`s Mystic

[Drsuce]

i ended up with SIP,106fa, poli-seal and collinite 476... i got my lazer red GT done this week, maybe the cobra will be next week :D



joker, being that you own a mystic aswell, do you know of this "dull" state that i speak of? where the paint just looks green or purple? or should i maybe put all that down to lighting conditions?

[89gt-stanger]

BEAUTIFUL stangs guys. I wish I knew how to create that kind of gloss on mine. :(