Paint Blog 7: Paint.

What I found in the paint booth.

When I got to Carmer’s I expected… I don’t know. I expected the car to not yet be painted or something. Or to see some painting going on. Or to see something other than everyone standing around waiting for me.

Nope. Sharka had all the color coats on and it was time for stripes.

Get to work Rev!! Stripes don’t lay themselves.

The beginning.

In progress.

Apply paint here.

This is another thing I can add to my list of stupid car things I’ve personally done – mask a car off for stripes. I honestly didn’t know I’d be doing this when I woke up.

When talking about the repaint, before any work was done, Ken said that I could do the stripes myself. He seemed eager for me to do it. Turns out they really don’t like doing stripes and if they have a customer who’s able, they let him go crazy. And that’s what happened. I was given tape and the cart full of masking and was told to have fun.

Me and my tape measure had a fantastic time.

I was honestly given a lot of help and not just left by myself. Stripes were very much a group project between me and Ken. I measured most of them and got them straight with the 1/4″ fineline tape, then Ken masked most of the bodywork while I worked on another area.

Front stripes!

Ready for some white.

It took us about an hour to get the deck lid, hood, and rear panel lined and masked off. Not too bad. Then came paint.

And now for the big reveal.

Action shot!

Stripes so white.

Mazda Chaste White. That’s the base white. It took 7 coats to get good coverage. SEVEN coats.

And on top of the chaste white?

Stripes. Painted.

Toyota pearl clearcoat on top. The mixture gives a Lexus white color code. Or at least something very very close.

The Toyota pearl actually uses the same blue flake that’s in Montego blue. And the result is quite nice. Lovely even. But you’ll have to take my word for it until the car is in the sun and all sparkly.

I feel… complete.

Such stripe. Wow.

Walking around the pre-clear coat Sharka was wonderful. Seeing the stripe? The result of my work measuring, masking, and hoping? Indescribable. I could probably come up with words, but they would fall short.

And then it was clearcoat time.

I seriously didn’t think this would all happen in one day.

Clearcoat action spray shot.

This might be my favorite shot of the day. That cloud of clear. yes!

Clear coated.

Many coats.

Perfect.

All of these photos can be clicked on for a larger version. I often forget to mention that.

This is really good, you guys. REALLY good. The wear areas got 5 coats of clear (bottom of the doors behind the wheels, etc) and the edges of the stripes got 5 coats. Rest of the bodywork got 3 coats.

Without any compounding or cutting, the finish is really good. Amazing even. I’m stunned. I’m amazed. I’m beyond happy.

I feel so relaxed now. Like knowing the movie will have a happy ending, you know? Knowing it will all be okay. Hell, better than okay. It will all be perfect.

Sharka will be perfect.

Next episode.

There’s two bumpers, two airdams, and a hardtop to stripe. That’s next.