this is funny! if you guys look really close in this photo, you can see John'* busted ride:
wheels049.jpg

man that paint looks really cool. Do you have any photos of your car to share John?
Maybe you could post them in the 'Rides' forum......please

Funny...I was thinking the same thing of this thread
https://www.gmforum.com/t279422/

(Sorry Todd...I can see now and it was really funny when it struck me)

LOL, Got to love the luster of a 3 stage buff. The car wont be photo'ed anytime soon. The snow on it was almost gone and we got a couple more inches. It'* had a rough winter and need'* to be clay bar'ed again and a new buff come spring. I am leaning towards wet sanding it and having a fresh coat of translucent blood candy laid over it followed by some clears. Waiting for the final total on the truck to come in, it might have to wait for next year.

Man you sure do spare no expense when it comes to your car.

It'* not something I really want to do, but the paint is 3 years old, and sun bleaches candy finishes, They arent opaque. You lay a base coat, then a translucent coat thats usually a totally different color. It what gives the paint the depth and unique look. The marblezing coat under the blood red candy is silver flake and the silver is starting to show through the red somewhat. Especially on the roof and hood. It still looks cool but the silver becomes more apparent all the time. For a first time looker it looks natural, but to me, the car isnt looking like fresh dripped blood anymore. It also detracts from the 3 color pearlflake in the clearcoats.

So you have a TRI-coat finish. Very cool. Very Tricky to apply.
I used to paint cars for a living.

Try four coats. Actually 4 layers, 7 coats total. I'll give a breakdown of the paint job. The marbelizing gel only works on candy paint. That created a problem. So the first layer was a couple coats of Wineberry Candy. This was a close match to the Cranberry Metallic the car came with. After it was applied and set, that was wet sanded to remove orange peel and buffed out to a nice finish. Then the SilverFLake Marbelizing gel paint was applied and allowed to barely set. Then the entire car was draped with full width shrink wrap and hit with heat guns. This causes the shrink wrap to pucker and pull up lines of the silverflake paint into the creases. Than the shrinkwrap is pulled off and the silverflake caught in the creases comes off with it, exposing the Wineberry Candy, and creates the marble look. At this point the gel paint is still pliant and high pressure air nozzles are used to slightly swirl the design. The end result is allow to set and dry. Wet sanded and buffed again. Now you have a car thats silver with red swirls. Next the entire car was painted again with Blood Red Candy translucent. This makes the silverflake turn to blood red but the wineberry candy in the swirls and marbeling even darker than when first applied. Now you have the two deeply differents reds in the paint and the depth of it all incredibly unbelievable. Next, wet sand and buff yet again. It has to be done each step of the way or the orange peel will build up and become more visible on the next coat. Finally the clear coats of hardened urethane were put on with a finger nails worth of pearl in each to catch the eye in the sunlight. I silently laugh at shows when so many say, "thats what I'm going to do with mine". I'm like ya, there is only one shop in the Northeast that can do this and you better get your dad to take out a second mortgage. The process took almost 3 weeks. I was very lucky to know and party with the shop owner and got quite a deal for showing it off at shows in his Vendor Area. It'* his most expensive and trademark finish. I'm going to split this thread from my truck one and add some "in process" photo'* for those who werent here 3 years ago to see it all.

Here'* the car, 3 weeks old with the OEM Cranberry Metallic hard sanded down to get the WineBerry to stick hard.

bonny045.jpg

Car right after the WineBerry applied

cranblood012.jpg

Car after the Silverflake/marble process

cranblood007.jpg

cranblood006.jpg

Car after the RedBloodCandy

cranblood11.jpg

cranblood013.jpg

Various finished product pics

HPIM0669.jpg

HPIM0008.jpg

HPIM0010.jpg

Pattern doesnt show much from a distance

HPIM0041.jpg

Hershey Tuner Wars '06 ~ Best Paint

HPIM0123a.jpg

Carlisle Performance and Style~ Best in Field/Full Size



carlisle1019.jpg

one word: stiffy