Sealer Color For Dark Blue Metallic

Joe in NY

Promoted Users
I used gray epoxy to seal my car to begin with and now I'm ready to apply an epoxy sealer coat with the same gray. I'm wondering about color compatibility with the dark blue metallic. It's PPG Deltron 2000 DBC. Should I use black epoxy instead or will that paint cover well enough that it won't matter?
 
I always go dark with dark, but it depends on how good you are. If you have the light sealer, that first coat of paint you can see coverage really well, you know, the sealer poking under the paint that really lets you see your pattern, set your pace. You lose that with the black seal coat. You might end up having to put one more coat on the light to really be happy too.
 
Being a novice painter, it sounds like I'd benefit from having the lighter epoxy to paint over. I may use a little more paint but I'd know it was properly covered. Thanks guys. That's the way I'll go.
 
My suggestion is, if you do use the light sealer, is turn your lights off before you clear, and use a handheld light to run over the whole car looking for light spots. Concentrate on rocker panels, bottom of fenders and quarters, and other nooks and crannies that are hard to spray. There is nothing more disheartening than to clear your job, then pull it outside and see light spots everywhere. Unless you have really good lighting, I would suggest at least 50% black and 50% gray. It is true that spraying a dark color over light sealer will let you see how even you are applying the base, but it will also bite you if you happen to spray light in the same area every coat. It will look covered until you pull it outside, then it's a complete redo. To get COMPLETE coverage, a LOT of colors require 5-6 coats or more, evenly applied. You may try spraying your color on a sprayout card before spraying the vehicle, just to get an idea of the coverage of your particular color. When you think it's covered, hold a light behind it to verify it. Chances are you will be able to still see the difference between the dark and light areas. To me, it's not worth the risk spraying over a much lighter sealer. Sealer is cheap compared to color, and is a better product. Too much base can cause a multitude of problems, besides the cost factor.
 
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The one good part of using polyurethane sealer is going 50-50 with your first base coat. Does not work with the epoxy as a sealer. There are poly sealers that are tinted to do this, the main thing you do is save a coat of base, really not worth it. I like the shading the grey a little darker. When you do start putting coats of base on, you are probably half way thru what you need when the car starts to look good. You just get there quicker if your sealer is closer.
 
I did a 66 Chevy truck once for a guy. Made the mistake of letting him get the base. He got Omni +. It was a dark metallic blue. I used a fairly light gray sealer. It took 9 coats to get coverage! Nightmare. Ended up costing him more than if he had used a quality base. If I had it to do over again I would have mixed a very dark gray sealer. Probably would have saved me from doing 2-3 coats. Like Texas said use a dark sealer, a very dark grey would be my choice, and be prepared to shoot probably 5 coats. Pay attention to the undersides of edges and do as Texas said, get some light on it and verify that you have coverage everywhere before you start clearing. Undersides of rockers, underside edge around wheel wells, places like that. Once you have the clear on it's too late.
 
I like the idea of the dark grey. I've got less than a quart of grey epoxy left so I'll need to buy more and might as well get a quart of the black and mix them. I've only painted one car before and when I was done the bottom of the rockers were bare so I'll be paying close attention to that this time.

So, with a dark gray epoxy seal coat and painting with PPG DBC dark blue metallic, how much paint am I going to need to paint a '67 Fairlane? I was thinking three quarts of base (a gallon and a half of ready to spray) would be enough. This is a complete respray.

Shine, I've been planning to do that.
 
Miata Mariner Deep Blue over gray sealer.
Front Right View Finished.JPG

2nd 2k Primer Door Right.JPG
 
I always use dark sealers for dark colors. Just my preference. With Motobase I dont have coverage issues so it doesn't worry me much whatever color sealer I use. Usually what i have on the shelf. I typically final prime with black epoxy(on dark colors) so its normally on the shelf.

I remember one of the last times I used NASON. It was Ford EP red over grey sealer. Took a million coats to get coverage......and that was after I fucked it up the first time and you could see through it when I pulled the car outside, lol. Live and learn.....

Had issue with PPG Deltron before. Some colors just covered like shit! 9300 black burned me good once!
 
I agree the Motobase covers very well.
After one time painting with Omni I swore off the bottom line products. The better quality stuff covers with less coats, usually mixes 1:1 so you get more material and in the long run is probably less expensive.
 
Anyone want to make an estimate on how much paint I'll need? At $250 per quart I sure don't want to buy any extra.
 
Anyone want to make an estimate on how much paint I'll need? At $250 per quart I sure don't want to buy any extra.
Send Chad Sperry an email with your paint code and get a quote on Motobase. chad sperry <autorodtech@gmail.com>
Great paint and reasonable prices. Like SPI price generally includes shipping.

Unless I am just doing a single panel or trying a color out, I always buy a gallon. It mixes 1:1 so you will have two gallons of ready to spray material.
I use 8-10 oz of per panel/per coat to estimate material. This will handle big cars and trucks. Obviously a Smart Car will take less than that.
2 fenders, 2 quarters, roof, hood, etc. for panel count. If you are doing the inside of trunk and engine bay don't forget to figure those in.
And figure shooting three coats of base to get full coverage or true color as they call it. That should be enough with a dark color.
 
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So, top and bottom of the hood, top and bottom of the trunk lid, engine bay, trunk, two front fenders, two doors, top, two rear fenders makes 13 panels times 10 oz. per panel is 130 oz. or 1/2 gallon per coat or 65 oz. of base at a 1:1 ratio - two quarts. And I should figure on three coats? That's $1,500 for the base. Ho lee sh*t. I'll have to sell the car to buy the paint for it. I'd look into the Motobase but I've already bought one quart of the PPG DBC at $250 per quart to confirm it's the color I want. I did not realize it was going to be $250 when I ordered it.
 
There is probably enough savings with the Motobase, you could throw the DBC away. Obviously you won't need to. Just use it for the underside of the hood or some place where a very slight mis-match will not show.

The cost of PPG is really uncalled for and does not give you assurance of a better. job.

John

I know, I know, opinions are like noses. Everybody has one but............There will be plenty here that will agree with me. :))
 
The Motobase will be an exact match in my experience. Definitely close enough that no one will ever notice it.
To give you an idea on pricing, the 1968 GTX I am working on is an Electric Blue. A gallon of Motobase delivered to my door in Arizona is $467.
Here's and example of the color:
Q Code Paint.jpg
 
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