candy over metalflake: how many coats of clear to bury the flake before you color sand
No. 1004Opened by custom_paint_flakeNov 16, 2025in Hot rod talk6 posts
custom_paint_flakeOPFired up#1
Spokane, WA33 posts · joined Nov 20251950 Mercury custom, mild chop, flake roof
steel 50 Merc, mild chop, and i am laying a flake roof over the holidays while the booth is slow. this is less a question and more me settling an argument i keep having with younger painters, but tell me where i am wrong.
the fight is always how much clear it takes to bury metalflake before you color sand, and everybody lowballs it. real .015 and .008 flake stands up off the base like gravel. if you cut and buff with only two coats of clear over it you will sand through to the top of a flake and it goes dull and silver right there and you cannot fix it without respraying. i tell people three coats to bury, let it sit a few days so it shrinks down into the flake, then two more to sand, so five total, and they look at me like i am padding the bill.
am i heavy on that? and separate question, this roof sits outside under a cover all winter after, does heavy flake and clear crack or check in the cold up here, or is that an old wives tale from lacquer days.
mod_wade_hModerator#2
Loveland, CO71 posts · joined Nov 20251931 Ford Model A coupe, flathead, juice brakes
you are not heavy, you are honest, and the guys lowballing it are the ones who come back in two years with silvered edges. flake is a texture you are drowning, not a color you are covering, and it drinks clear. i have buried big flake in six coats on a tank before and still found a hot spot on the high side of a crown.
the one thing i would add is spray the flake wetter and lighter than feels right and let the gun lay it flat, dry flake standing on edge is what eats clear. on the cold question, modern urethane does not check like old lacquer did, but any film that thick moving on steel that swings 60 degrees between a sunny day and a january night will find a weak edge if your prep was soft underneath. the cracks are almost never the clear, they are something that moved under it.
thirtyfour_resto_modRolling chassis#3
Daytona Beach, FL18 posts · joined Nov 20251934 Ford coupe, 5.0 Coyote, IRS
lurker, painted exactly one car myself and it shows, so take this as a question. when you say let it sit a few days between burying and sanding, in an unheated-ish booth in november what does that do to your schedule. i tried to rush flake once with a space heater and a fan and i am pretty sure i trapped solvent because it sank for a month afterward and left a texture like an orange.
custom_paint_flakeOPFired up#4
Spokane, WA33 posts · joined Nov 20251950 Mercury custom, mild chop, flake roof
thirtyfour_resto_mod wrotei trapped solvent because it sank for a month afterward
that is exactly it and you diagnosed your own problem. heavy flake and clear needs real cure time or it keeps shrinking into the texture for weeks and your cut-and-buff looks great the day you do it and dull a month later. heat helps but air movement and time are what actually let the solvent out. i would rather leave a flake job a week than chase it. House of Kolor publishes recoat and cure windows for their flake and kandy systems and they are not suggestions, the data sheets are at houseofkolor.com if you want to see how long they actually want between steps.
on your orange texture, that is trapped solvent swelling, not bad spray. there is no good fix but to flat it all back and reclear once it has finally stopped moving, which is a hard thing to tell somebody.
pro_touring_buildRoad worthy#5
Lincoln, NE74 posts · joined Nov 20251967 Camaro pro-touring, LS3, coilovers
from the other side of this, as a guy who drives his cars hard and does not want a trailer queen. flake roof is beautiful and it is also heavy and it is the single worst panel to chip because the whole roof is one show surface. if this Merc is going to get driven and parked at cruise nights, think about where people set their drinks and lean, because they will. i am not talking you out of it, i am saying put a clear bra on the leading edge where you can.
custom_paint_flakeOPFired up#6
Spokane, WA33 posts · joined Nov 20251950 Mercury custom, mild chop, flake roof
roof is buried, six coats in the end because the first three sank more than i wanted. letting it sit until after new year before i flat and reclear, per my own advice which i am apparently now forced to follow in public. pro_touring is right about the drinks, i have watched it happen at the local show and i will do the leading edge in film.
for anybody searching this in three years: flake is a budget liar. the flake itself is forty bucks. the clear to bury it, the time, the booth, and the cut and buff is where the whole number lives. plan five to six coats, not two, and do not park it wet.
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