The chart is all the same color but there are lots of variables. Alt 1, alt 2, VS1 etc! just trying to understand what to order.

That colour is what's known as a 3 layer pearl.

The tables on the left of the card are the formulae for the solid white that goes underneath the pearl coat, for which the formulae are on the right.

VS1 means Value Shade 1 which is near white. Usually used for primers, but in this case they're using it with base coat binders, so it goes on top of the primer.

Alt 1, Alt 2, Alt 3 are the alternates or variants of the original formula. If you had the Dupont software it would also tell you the colour shift for each variant, e.g. more blue, darker, yellower etc. Without that information you really have no ay of knowing which variant is the correct one for your car. Note that there are probably a lot more variants than those shown on that card.

Mix, or have mixed, a small quantity of each and spray out onto a card, then see which one is the best match. Alternately, get the distributor to spectro your car and the software will identify the closest varient and even adjust those which are also close to get a better match.

hi chris

That is exactly the information i needed been confused all day. One more question but im fairly sure i already know the answer. The shop says {i believe} 1:1 reducer for undercoat and topcoat. I guess this is not exact when adding thinner is that correct? What should the consistency be when pouring into the gun cup?

It's been decades since I've used any Centari,but if it states to mix1/1, then yes, that's what you should do by volume. That is, if you pour 8 ounces of paint, then add 8 ounces of reducer. Make sure you have the correct reducers as thinners are generally used for lacquers and reducers are for enamels. They do make and sell viscosity cups to measure the flow but in 35 plus years I've never used one. I mostly used the volume method and adjusted from there once I started to spray

I pulled an old can of Centari I had and the reduction ratios are generally 4 parts paint to 1 part reducer then it varies depending on what activator you use. Unless things have changed.

Reducer quantities depend on the binders used. I use the 6000 and 610 quality binders and reducer quantities are 30% (4:1) of unreduced paint volume and 80% respectively. Never used 600, but it is the old standard basecoat with 5:4 paint to reducer weights. The binders are the XB155/XB165 and AB150/AB160 codes in those formulae. The AMxxx codes are the colour tinters with AMxx5 indicating a Xirallic pearl.

For those not familiar with the Centari system it uses a common range of tinters which are quite concentrated and different binders, depending on the use required. One system is therefore capable of making various qualities of basecoat, 2K, acrylic lacquer and even vinyl paint by simply changing the binders and reducers. The advantage is significantly reduced inventory costs since only one range of tinters is needed for almost every need. Space efficient too with only a single rack required.

6000 is the top of the range basecoat with very high coverage, full VOC compliance, wet-on-wet capability, better colour matches, etc. Very nice to use but also quite expensive with high tinter to binder ratios and the binders themselves also quite dear. You get some savings with exceptional coverage but the cost means that we use the 610 range as everyday base in the shop. Looking at the formulae it appears that the 600 range sits somewhere in between, using similar mixes (weights) of the tinters but a higher ratio of reducer in the final mix compared to the 6000.

if you really wanted to get technical you should be using a viscosity cup and going by those recomendations

PainterDave wrote:if you really wanted to get technical you should be using a viscosity cup and going by those recomendations

I didn't want to get to technical but id like the job to look good . I googled viscosity cups and if i could buy one locally i would but it looks like i would have to import from china...

Anyway i think i have enough answers to give this a try this weekend. Worst case i sand everything off anf try again lol

Apologies, I hadn't noticed that you were halfway around the globe.

In the states, Centari is an acrylic enamel. Old technology. My guess is that your Centari is equivalent to our Chromabase system here which is 1 to 1 mix.

Kevin Campbell wrote:Apologies, I hadn't noticed that you were halfway around the globe.

In the states, Centari is an acrylic enamel. Old technology. My guess is that your Centari is equivalent to our Chromabase system here which is 1 to 1 mix.

No problem but its difficult as a lot of products here seem to be region specific meaning it might be the same product sold in the states but using a different iten number here. So Google doesn't always show enough informative results.
And tds are also hard to come by.

The local paint supply shop uses all centari for colors and nason and chromax for clears. The best thing seems the prices are a lot cheaper than in the west

There's got to be a cheaper brand of it around your part. TDS sheets are all on the web now.