Not really a detailing question, but more of a paint question.

I was looking through the website for "House of Kolor" paints, and they have an ultra-black paint called "Jet Set Black". What I thought was interesting was that for extra "jetness", they suggested clearcoating it with a 50-50 mixture of regular clear coat and black paint. In essence, the "Jet Set Black" paint is used for both the base coat and for half of the clear coat, much like a "candy" paint job where you shoot a tinted clearcoat over a metallic base coat.

Has anyone tried anything like this, and does it make a big difference compared to using a regular clear coat over the black?

 

Funny what you find on totally different car forums. I have an '87 El Camino that, well, really isn't too much of an El Camino anymore. Let's just say there is a lot of money in it and a lot of 'vette parts including a full suspension.

Anyway, I had to laugh when I saw you post because that was the exact color that the car was painted in. There is no metallic in it (at least I didn't have any in mine). By tinting the clear coat you can get a super glossy paint job without as many base coats being applied. On top of that if there is a blemish in the paint it is far easier to correct since you can use the tinted clear coat as the paint for the repair depending on how deep the blemish (scratch) goes.

On my car there is still 4 coats of base and 3 clear coats on top of that but I built that car as a show car and wanted the slickest paint job you could find. Be aware, without even going that nuts the body needs to be perfectly straight because the paint is so deep and endless looking when viewing it if there is any imperfections in the paint or body panel it will stick out like a sore thumb.

Using that paint is very, very expensive. Pretty much all House of Color stuff is.

As much as I had enjoyed the car it is with my fathers collection in Florida and never made the move to NC with me when I moved here 3 years ago. Thankfully, I think I have a buyer and will get pretty much what I put into it back out of it.

 

I am patiently waiting for pictures of this

 

Lexus has been doing this for years on their black paint. It's evident just by taking a polisher to the paint..your pads turn the same color as though it was a single stage finish.

IMO, with a car that's been properly polished and waxed using premium quality products..there isn't much benefit in terms of depth or gloss by tinting the clear....but for people who don't polish and wax like us OCDers..it's a good compromise.

Richard

 

Octane... is right. I think that what gives paint that deep wet look is not only the quality of the reflective surface(how smooth and polished the clear coat is) but also the ability to see into different layers of the paint(how deep the paint looks). The house of kolors recommendation achieves that as the "intermediate" layers of clear coat have a certain opacity but also by not completely obscuring the base coat. Now this can be achieved by using certain detailing products and layering them, albeit one must maintain this detailing standard to continue the results. One of my favorite layering combos is using Poorboys EX-P sealant(polymer sealent) topped with a layer of wax. I like Natty's Blue. Here are some pics of my Celica with those products.

 

I'll see if I can get some up. When the build was being done I had the whole documented and took all of the pictures in RAW format. Did this to have high quality pictures to keep and, if ever need be, could zoom in on sections of the build process to see something if there was an issue or a new modification.

I just found out yesterday the car will be officially sold next week. Looks like the seminole tribe in S. Fla wants it for something.

Give me a few days and i'll see what I can do to post up some pictures.