intercoat clear questions

[turbotim23]

Hi getting ready to custom paint my car. It's going to be a very heavy flake on top, a very thin red candy stripe over the flake in the middle of the car and over the middle center section of hood and a cheap stock color below the red stripe on lower bottom parts of the car. I've read that it's better to use a intercoat clear to spray the flake with and that intercoat clear helps the candy bleed through problem when spraying candy strips. I have a lot of questions though. First is there a type of intercoat clear that will work with all paint types? My plan is a cheaper omni brand paint on the bottoms of car and I'm thinking of possibly using omni clear as the final topcoat clear as this is a beater car and I need to keep the cost down. What one is the cheapest intercoat clear or most commonly used? I was hoping to find something locally. How long does it take to dry? I'm hoping super fast as my painting conditions won't be the best and that would be less dust in the paint. How many coats can you build up of it? Can I use almost all coats of intercoat clear to cover flake? As in many coats to cover flake then wet sanding then less coats of top coat clear? My paint job might take me a lot longer because I haven't done any of this before, any time limits on how long before spraying with topcoat clear? Thanks for your help I searched here but most questions on intercoat clears never get any answers. I Hope someone can help me! Thanks Tim

 

[TAZ]

Tim,

This is a very involved job to get correct and to make it nice.
You can buy any interclear (which is just a basecoat). Not for sure what questions did not get answered in your searches that came up....All interclear is just a transparent basecoat. I know some users do no list enough details to give an answer.
As far as how much do you need? We don't know what type car you have, so it would be hard to say. Probably a gallon to be safe.
Cheapest? You'll just need to price around. I use the same interclear as the paints I use.
How long will it take to dry. Really depends on how much you stack it up. Probably will need a 1/2 day or so just to give it sufficient time to let it cure. You don't want to pile up 10-15 coats, then immediately start adding top clear.
Also, you didn't mention what you were using as a base. Black is the most common. You want to spray the flake to cover the black. Then spray the topcoat clearcoat. Then you will need to resand and reclear again. Maybe even sand and reclear again.

 

[turbotim23]

I'm spraying the flake over black, the bottom of car is going black anyway. I most wanted to know if using it or top coat clear was best for spraying the multiple coats needed over the flake and for the wetsanding stages. I was hoping it would cut down both time and film thickness by using it over flake rather than top coat clear,using it to wet sand the flake out and then fewer coats of topcoat clear.

 

[TAZ]

I would use interclear with the flake in it. Then clearcoat over this (if I understand you correctly).

Also, you "should" do the black last. If you spray black, then mask it off, and spray the flake up to this line, you will have a very nasty edge to deal with. Easier to do the flake, clear, sand, THEN do the black. The edge will only be the thickness of the black you just sprayed on.

 

[chopolds]

With the flake, it also depends on how many coats you'll be putting on. Intercoat clear is not good for building film thickness. So if you tend to put the flake on heavy, in multiple coats, you might have a weak film using intercoat. If that is the case, use a final clear, using reducer/hardener to set up real fast. Youd just have to wait a couple days until it ucres, then sand and do the rest of your graphics.

 

[turbotim23]

So I should just use intercoat clear only when spraying the flake. I would think the spraying the flake would tend to be thicker coats. So if I get too many coats of intercoat clear I might have problems? I don't see what's the point of using it then. Do you use it because it dries so much faster than top coat clear so it speeds up the paint job? Thanks for pointing out the order of painting the stripes I didn't think of that. So you would completely finish clear coating the flake and sand it out then do the black and final clear coating. I plan a narrow red stripe on side between silver flake and black bottom[red candy over the flake]. I'm a little worried about the red bleeding through edge of tape . I understand this to be a problem with candy paint. I read it helps if I spray a coat of intercoat clear before spraying the candy red coats. Do you have any other tips on stopping the bleed through probem? I would think spray the flake and sand it out then intercoat the red stripe area, spray the red then anther coat of intercoat clear then do the black bottom. atleast you wouldn't have any tape bleed through problems on the lower tape edge of the red stripe. Thanks Tim

 

[chopolds]

The first coat of intercoat clear to prevent tape creep works well (bleed through is more like a color bleeding up into fresh coats of paint over it) Intercoat was really formulated to seal up paint so you could tape over it quickly without pulling off metallic or pearl flakes. It can be used as a carrier for Candy concentrates, dry pearl, or flake as well. But todays resurgence of large flake might change the recommendations of using intercoat. HOK's ultra mini and mini flakes can be put in intercoat without a problem, as they are small enough not to need excessive film thickness to hide, and then cover your base. But larger flakes might not fare so well.I think with your paint job I'd do the silver first, let dry completely, sand it, shoot the black, as black basecoat will dry quickly, not need any intercoat to tape over, and have a longer window to recoat with clear. After the black dries, do your candy stripe and proceed immediately into the clear. You could use regular candy or candy concentrate mixed with intercoat here, since you'll be clearing quickly. But the "real" candy will be stronger. Esp if you need to put on more than 3-4 coats for the color you want.

 

[bondofreak]

intercoat can also be used as a wet bed and the final fade in a blend when mixed into the reduced base....the intercoat is reduced as well before mixing into the reduced base. just sayin

 

[Lars31]

If he plans on doing the "bass boat" size flake he would be better off putting a couple of ground coats of clear on and then using a dry flake gun to cover it. Then bury it with clear and after its dry, wet sand the whole thing with 800 wet and then tape off the stripes and do them in candy concentrate and recoat the whole car with another 4 coats of clear.

If this is a beater car why are you wasting this much money on it? I would just perfect my technique on an old fender or better yet a hood and do this paintjob on something nicer than a beater.

 

[bondofreak]

Good post