Logistics of painting stripes

[OUTATIME]

We've seen a lot of posts with people painting stripes, and I just can't understand how that's possible without damaging the paint somewhat - but people are doing it on their brand new cars. Can someone please explain to me how they're able to:

1. Strip the clearcoat without damaging the paint
2. Paint the stripes over the base paint without a bump at the tape lines
3. Re-clearcoat without repainting the base paint (which, I thought, WOULD have been at least somewhat weakened in the clearcoat stripping)

All of this for what seems to be maybe $1200 - $1600?

[Smokes35]

Sand paper!

a good wet sand and i dont see any reason why automotive paint wont stick to the sanded clear... and i dont care who you talk to , you're going to be able to feel where a pianted stripe stops and starts unless u have some amazing self leveling clear.

[Mr_Draco]

Originally Posted by OUTATIME

We've seen a lot of posts with people painting stripes, and I just can't understand how that's possible without damaging the paint somewhat - but people are doing it on their brand new cars. Can someone please explain to me how they're able to:

1. Strip the clearcoat without damaging the paint
2. Paint the stripes over the base paint without a bump at the tape lines
3. Re-clearcoat without repainting the base paint (which, I thought, WOULD have been at least somewhat weakened in the clearcoat stripping)

All of this for what seems to be maybe $1200 - $1600?

1) You don't need to strip the clear coat, just rough it up so the paint will stick.
2) When you lay out the stripes you use the really thin tape, about 1/8 inch wide. Unless you make any turns a 10 year old can lay these down flat with no problems.
3) Don't need to repaint the base coat as you never exposed the base coat. Just lay down 4-5 coats of clear over the whole part.

I took autobody my sophomore, junior and senior year in high school. We painted stripes and other designs on students, teachers, and customers cars all the time. If you have a straight hand and patience, it's actually really easy to do. I was originally planning on painting mine myself but I don't have a paint booth and my parents friend sold his body repair shop so I can't use his.

[Timberline]

1. Strip the clearcoat without damaging the paint
2. Paint the stripes over the base paint without a bump at the tape lines
3. Re-clearcoat without repainting the base paint (which, I thought, WOULD have been at least somewhat weakened in the clearcoat stripping)


in a nut shell this is what has to happen if you were only doing hood and trunk stripes.
1. The paint is a base coat clear coat, the clear is sanded with a fine grit to give it teeth so the new stripe color and new clear coat can bond with it. The sanding never makes it into to base color. This would be done on the entire exterior part of the hood & trunk lid.
2. paint the stripes then the clear coat the new finishes that are sprayed and used today will , for lack of a better word blend together and when finished the stripe will vertually have no ridge and you won't feel it. The new clearcoat will have the same and generally a little better protection than the factory paint.

This is not a simple job and take some talent to complete so it does come with a higher cost and is ultimately the very best way to go.
You generally get what you pay for going with painted stripes.

[OUTATIME]

Originally Posted by Timberline

The new clearcoat will have the same and generally a little better protection than the factory paint.

See, I guess this is the root of my skepticism. On all of the body work I've EVER seen, by different (and claimed by people to be reputable) body shops, it really does make me miss the untouched factory body work. There are imperfections in new body work - for example, dots/bubbles in the clearcoat, faded paint in certain areas, mismatched paint, etc. People can see these things when you go to sell a car.

So you're saying it would hold up better, or would it actually be more perfect than the factory clearcoat/paint jobs? (I see perfection and durability as two separate things)

[Timberline]

A good bodyman can achieve perfection and still have durability that is why I said "You generally get what you pay for going with painted stripes."

Once the paint has been baked in the paint booth they can sand and buff out any imperfections...just more work and many paint shops want the cars in and out quickly as possible which = mo money.
All depends on the painter etc...on what results you ultimately get.