Metalflake Paint Job - The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby

Not the first time John's been a flake.

Unsure of how much flake to add, we followed the guidelines on the package, which recommended adding 2 teaspoons of flake per 1 quart of clear paint when applying over a dark base. Sounds good to us. We mixed the paint and got ready to spray. No need to strain this stuff before pouring it into the gun.

Going on a tip from our local paint supplier, we used a siphon feed gun to spray the flake. Editor Glad happened to own such an animal, this one from Sears. We used the gun as equipped out of the box. We wish we could tell you what size the fluid tip and needle were, but they were not marked. They are big, though (probably about a 1.8 or 2.0 tip), and thick enough to spray roofing tar. And that is exactly what we needed to do the job.

After scuffage with some Scotch-Brite, we fogged a test panel first, spraying three medium coats, waiting about 10 minutes between each coat for the paint to flash. Our spray technique was the same as spraying straight clear: hold the gun perpendicular to the panel about 6 to 8 inches off the surface, overlapping 50 percent at each pass. One important difference, however: Be sure to agitate the paint in the gun after each pass to keep the flake suspended in the paint.

We were really happy with the way the flake was distributed across the panel, but it may be a good idea to vary the way you travel across whatever you are spraying, alternating from vertical to horizontal on each pass to make sure the flake lays out the way you want it to. Confident in our flakiness, we tackled the CC/Rambler's roof in the same manner: scuffing with Scotch-Brite and spraying three coats of metalflake.

Following the last coat, we immediately mixed a batch of straight clear and switched to our regular siphon feed gun, which we loaded with a 1.5 fluid tip. This picture was taken after two coats of clear. Notice how the surface is still bumpy from the flake underneath and also how the flake looks too close to the surface?

Though we planned on spraying just two coats of clear, we ended up spraying six coats over the flake to give the right amount of depth to the finish. See the difference in this photo?

Six coats of clear (plus three more of flake) is a lot of paint. It is imperative that you unmask the car before the paint dries completely. Pull off the tape while the paint is still sticky-within an hour of the last coat. When the paint is still soft, it will sort of ooze back into the parting line where the tape used to be. If you wait until the paint has cured, you'll rip big chunks out as you pull the tape.

Here's an important lesson we learned after doing this job: The flakes will not all lie flat, no matter how good you are with the spray gun. They'll tumble around in the air and land in random order on the surface. Some will be standing on end and poking through your clearcoat. To fix this, we need to wet-sand the whole roof, sanding through any of those flakes that are standing up, until the paint is perfectly flat. Then we need to spray at least two more coats of clear to cover any exposed metalflakes. The flakes are often aluminum and will oxidize if exposed to the elements. You can't just wet-sand and buff the roof, leaving any flake exposed. We've all seen the way painted aluminum wheels will tarnish if the paint gets chipped; the same will happen to your flake job, though on a smaller scale. Sand down the standers and paint the roof one more time. Then you'll have a retro paint job to make all the old guys at the cruise night jealous.