hi guys, my second car to paint tomorrow with Sikkens and color code UX for ford. I am an apprentice 5 months now with a shop and have spot painted for many shops for 4 years mobile. Shop is totally different procedures for me getting used to. Basically two painters quit and they are throwing me into the booth. I know how to paint but for some reason, Im very nervous as to what to properply do here.

I have to blend rear quarter panel to rear door. When do I have to use autowave 666 for blending? Do I spray the entire qtr panel and entire rear door before base coat? Or do I just spray base to clear? Any tips would be great thank you.

a picture would be worth a 1000 words here, so we can see where the blend is to be. more info like color would also help. i'm a 45+ year experienced painter and believe me i would be nervous also, hang in there you'll be ok.
Jay D.

I reread your post several times, but i'm wondering why you can't scuff the quarter and door, do your blend and clear it all. i can't see what your doing so this is just a suggestion. i use DuPont's 222 its a mid coat adhesion promotor, sound like the same stuff. it works very good for certain blends, sometimes i do the complete panel sometimes i do just the blend area. sorry i just can't give you anymore without being there or seeing possibly what your doing. also, you're in a different world where time is money, I'm an independent where time is of no real concern. just the money
Jay D.

Jay's right - it depends on the situation and shape of repair, panels etc. That said, doing the whole panel is a bit safer since you don't want bits of metallic sitting upright around the edges.

Whether you use a wet bed at all is up to you. High reflectivity metallics that depend heavily on laying even are almost always better with a wet bed. Others, not always the case. If you've been doing small repairs then you would have come across this often enough and should have a pretty good idea of which colours are going to give you grief. TBH, I wish that wet beds were around back when I was mobile - would have saved me zillions of times.

Your gun and technique is also a factor. If you're in the (bad) habit of flicking out to blend the colour then you're setting yourself up for trouble. Blending in, with each coat within, not extending beyond, the previous one is the better method.

thank you all, I forgot I posted this but all is good now lol. Just having alot of trouble color matching white colors and silvers...

Whites are difficult because there is usually only a tiny amount of black/ochre/blue/green in the mix and you have to get the quantity near perfect. If you can do base/clear then at least you can blend. Same for silvers.

NFT5 wrote:Whites are difficult because there is usually only a tiny amount of black/ochre/blue/green in the mix and you have to get the quantity near perfect. If you can do base/clear then at least you can blend. Same for silvers.

yep one would think white should be easy, but not so its a pain. the tint can change sometimes drastically just with one drop of a tint color. age and exposure also mix into this.
Jay D.