Flat and semi gloss paints

[NorCalGal]

Anyone on here used any of the flat paints?. I'm thinking of using a semi gloss and want to get some feed back from someone about care and maintenance, is it worth the hassle? Seems that 2 stage with the flatter in the clear is the way to go.

[mongocanfly]

I'm no pro but I was told that when its painted you can't do anything else to it...like wet sand, buffing and such..martin and stomper will know...might ask this in the paint section for more answers

[my56chevytruck]

Originally Posted by NorCalGal

Anyone on here used any of the flat paints?. I'm thinking of using a semi gloss and want to get some feed back from someone about care and maintenance, is it worth the hassle? Seems that 2 stage with the flatter in the clear is the way to go.

You need to check out Eastwood's paints. I've used their 1 step, Hot Rod Flat Grey. Mix with hardener and paint, done. They have many colors to pick from.
This is the reason I used their products along with great technical service.

[mr48chev]

Since the satin/ flat look has now hit the new car market there are a lot more options out there than just flat black, flat red or flat gray. Most of the new car stuff is base coat/clear coat so care isn't near as big an issue as spraying it without clear coat and trying to keep up with it.

I'd color look at the new car dealers in the area and see if something rocked my socks and go from there.

I should add that most good paint supply stores that would deal with folks who do custom paint can mix a satin paint in any color you might want. There is also satin clear coat in various degrees of satin.

[Black_Sheep]

You can use satin clear over any color basecoat so don't limit your color options to the single stage "flats" on the market. As Mongocanfly mentioned, any sanding, rubbing or buffing will change the appearance because you would be altering the surface texture.

[mr48chev]

Back in 1973 I painted my 48 1972 Chevrolet Placer Gold lacquer. The guy at the paint store didn't tell me that I needed the clear for it and while it looked great I could never get it to shine. It was almost 20 years later that I figured out the reason it didn't shine was that it hadn't been clear coated. That was when I happened to look it up in a paint catalog and saw the notation that said it needed clearcoat. A satin paint job 40 years before they were cool.