Back in black

Today the MDX that came out second best in a shoving with a garage door went into the booth for a spot of paint. Fitting a new door and fender took care of the metal work. Now it was time to make the incident just a bad memory.

The first photo shows me putting the final touches on taping up the car so the paint goes only where it is intended. The second photo shows the car all taped up and ready for paint. Because the car is black we are not going to have to blend the paint to make it match as we do on other colors, so the car is taped up where only the door and fender are exposed.

The third photo shows the car in color, but not yet cleared. You can see a bit of a shine from the overhead light, but the reflections are very muddled. Once the color dries completely it will have almost no shine at all.

The last photo shows the car with the clear coat. If you look at the light fixture reflected in the fender you can actually see the bulb after the clear coat is applied, where before the clear was applied the fixture reflection was more of a white blob.

The paint will dry overnight and tomorrow we will put the trim back on the car and it will be ready to go home, good as new.

Inside job

Here are some additional bits and pieces of the ’32 Ford in for paint, bits and pieces that go inside the cab of the truck.

The first three pictures show the various parts in primer, the second three in color, and the last three with the clear.

The primer coat is used to seal the metal and to provide adhesion for the paint layers that follows. All vehicles painted at the JMC AutoworX shop will receive at least three coats of primer … an etching primer that binds to the metal, an epoxy primer to seal the metal and to protect against rust and a urethane sealer to seal the primers and provide a base for the color layers to follow.

The color layer is just that, the color. The color can be mixed in an infinite number of hues, but all two-stage paints, the only type of paint used at JMC AutoworX, goes on flat and lifeless. It is the next step, the clear coat, that provides the gloss of the paint finish.

The final layer is the clear coat. The clear coat not only protects the color layer underneath from damage, it is also the layer that provides the gloss that one expects in an automotive finish. The difference the clear coat makes is striking and can be clearly seen by comparing the second set of photos to the last.

The difference is clear, isn’t it?