I am painting a 1968 Mustang from top to bottom. The color that I am using is Lime Gold Green which is a metallic. I am concerned about "tiger stripes". To help reduce the chances of "tiger strips" I would like to paint from left to right on the top of the car then on the second coat for the top, paint from front to back. How can I reach from one side of the car to the other? I am concerned that if I paint just half of the top then paint the other half I might of have a dry line which will show as a stipe.

Thank you in advance

don't try and put it on real wet like one would do with S/S. med. coats work the best if everything else is right, gun setup, air press., reducer. it should go on fine.
Jay D.

In my experience, two things contribute to tiger stripes.

Firstly, not maintaining a consistent (and appropriate) overlap; and,
Secondly, not holding the gun perpendicular to the surface.

The first can result in areas missed or having insufficient coverage while the second will lead to areas having heavier coverage on the low side and lighter on the high.

Both can be avoided by practice and careful attention while painting.

I wouldn't try to paint different coats at 90 degree angles. On a roof still go front to back but start the second coat with an overlap over the first i.e. don't follow exactly the same lines. If I'm a bit concerned about evenness of coverage I'll do a final drop coat at 45 degrees, but this would be rare.

With a roof (or bonnet) start on one side and move towards the centre then pick up that wet edge from the other side and cover towards the edge. If you start in the middle from both sides then you will end up with a dry line.

One thing that really helps is having a gun with a wide fan and making sure that you set it up correctly. This enables less passes and consequently less chance of the dreaded stripes.

to add to what others have suggested, a drop/mist coat for final coat can help.
and do NOT pile the paint on- no wet coats.
guess how i learned that!!

ive done roofs as chris suggests- start on the edge and work in, then jump to the other side and complete it- and it worked great.

take your time here and plan your spray path around the car. do some dry runs with your gun.
be the paint. think like the paint:" if i was the paint and wanted to be sprayed on this car,how would i go about it?"
your moment of zen for the day.

start at the side of the top not in the middle,

so paint from window to window

not from middle to window and middle to window

that make sense ?

I got it.
Jay D.

All good tips.

Another thing that helps me when painting tops is to stand on something. Not a rickety old step-stool, but maybe a couple sheets of plywood; just something to give a couple or three inches of additional height. This makes it easier to keep the gun at a right angle to the surface.

^^^ yep, this has been a very informative post goes to show you the good people we have here.
Jay D.

NFT5 wrote:In my experience, two things contribute to tiger stripes.

Firstly, not maintaining a consistent (and appropriate) overlap; and,
Secondly, not holding the gun perpendicular to the surface.

I use a 75% overlap at a faster pace on a roof with a difficult color, but not holding the gun perpendicular to the surface is mostly important, and it might be difficult for you to know you are doing it. Try recording yourself doing a practice run.