Any custom paint gurus here??

[YNOT]

I`ve got a customer whom I`m designing a paint scheme for his 1969 Sebring MG. We`re close to nailing down the design and he`s thinking of using a gloss black for the main part of the car and a satin or matte silver/charcoal for the stripe.

I`m attaching my rendering here for reference. The design has changed a bit and will now be a single stripe as opposed to the double stripes, but this will give you the idea...



My concern is...I`m not sure about care/maintenance of matte or satin paints, so I`d like to help him be sure he wants to go this route before finishing the car and having issues with the paint.

I`ve seen some satin and matte finish cars and they seem to show fingerprints badly. Plus...what happens when the paint gets scuffed or scratched? On a clearcoat, obviously you can polish out the scuffs/scratches, but is that even possible with matte/satin paints?

This guy is pretty picky with his cars and this will be garaged and mostly driven to shows and the like. So it won`t be sitting out in the elements 24/7 as a daily driver...BUT...I`m just trying to weigh the pros and cons so he knows what he`s up against if he opts to go this route.

If anyone knows of any good custom paint forums that you can direct me to, I`d greatly appreciate it.

Thanks in advance for any tips/advice you can give.

[C. Charles Hahn]

Matte/satin paints definitely can`t be polished as it will alter the level of gloss (or lack thereof), though they can be `waxed` with one of the specialty products for such finishes (e.g. Swissvax, Dr. Beasley`s, Chemical Guys) -- and if he doesn`t mind it looking satin instead of matte he can even put a coating like Opti-Coat over the stripe area as it won`t cause a significant change in the look of the stripe. With proper wash technique he shouldn`t have to worry about scratching/swirling too much.... I`d just send him to the forum to learn about proper care.

If scratching IS going to be more of a concern, has he thought about the possibility of using matte vinyl for the stripe instead? That way a section could just be replaced if necessary.

When it comes to custom paint advice if there are other questions you have, talk to Kevin Tetz (and/or GaryL) over on his Paintucation forum:

http://www.reggiewatkins.com/paintucationforum/