Primer color for Dark Red's

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PostPosted: Sat Sep 28, 2019 9:29 am
Should I go with a gray primer for a deep dark red top base/top coat? No candy, but this base does have some metallic flake. It is Eastwood/s single stage urethane.



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PostPosted: Sat Sep 28, 2019 11:28 am
personally, with that color and being S/S urethane I don't think primer color is going to be a problem, especially if your doing a complete. now if your doing a panel it might make a difference with SOME colors, some are a little transparent and some brands don't cover good.
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 28, 2019 12:43 pm
Reds are very transparent, if im doing very dark red metallic i go to very dark gray almost black undercoat
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PostPosted: Sun Sep 29, 2019 3:40 am
Today I did bonnet and roof on an 80 Series Toyota Land Cruiser in 3H4, Mulberry Red.

This is quite a dark red and correct Value Shade for the primer is VS5. This is a slightly darker mid grey. Because the car is a bit old and paint a little lighter, from fading, than original compared to the formula, I went with Value Shade 4 to get a better match. In fact, this is the shade of the original Toyota primer.

Had I used Value Shade 7, which is dark grey/almost black, the end result would have been too dark.

Generally, dark reds, or any reds really, respond better to a lighter primer colour. Because they're so transparent the lighter base accentuates the colour. However, you need to be careful - some do need a very dark base. As always, test by spraying out some cards with different combinations and always heed the paint manufacturer's recommendation for that colour.
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PostPosted: Sun Sep 29, 2019 8:00 am
So I've just been wondering about this for a few years.....Is there a general "trend" toward more "transparency" in the newer basecoats???? And if so, what's the thinking or tech. behind it? In our newer wood manufacturing industries I've watched the trend go the other way with extremely highly pigmented stains. They are doing it with wood because you have much crappier (read that as cheap) imported paint grade woods being used in the construction.
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PostPosted: Sun Sep 29, 2019 10:13 am
Great question Darrell.
I have always tried to get a "true" color by spraying enough coats of base that the undercoat color wouldn't matter.
When you consider that is what spray out cards are for. Black and white squares that you apply base to until you cannot see a shade difference that makes perfect sense. However, we have had tri-stage colors for sometime now, where the undercoat combines with the base to produce a particular color and effect.
This seems to be increasing in popularity with the paint suppliers as well.
Now it seems that a particular shade of primer is necessary and to me that is troubling.
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PostPosted: Sun Sep 29, 2019 12:55 pm
Exactly.... if this "trend" continues/expands I can see a lot of newbies to this biz/hobby shooting themselves in the foot quite a bit trying to figure out "where" in their paint package they went wrong. Okay, so this.....currently in a new, new, new, paint code is their a specific reference to a particular primer color/shade????
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PostPosted: Sun Sep 29, 2019 12:58 pm
If your primer is making a difference to your final color,
then you're not putting enough color on it, period!
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PostPosted: Sun Sep 29, 2019 4:28 pm
Well, yeah, that's what I was always taught but PaintDave and NFT5 are both stating that the bases themselves have "some" transparency. I had a newer Vette that I worked on a few years back. For my own color matching samples I could not (no matter how much base was hammered on) get the right look. It was a tri-coat and I thought I might be having trouble with the mid coat. NOPE.....changed up the primer, boom, right on the money.......
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PostPosted: Sun Sep 29, 2019 6:18 pm
I'm with Dave and nft5 I've had several problems with reds and yellows mainly all with base coat translucent the word to describe them. I did my hotrod years ago with dupont chromabase in Dodge stealth red. I had the car in light tan primer except for the drivers door, I had ran out of the tan and used some light gray of the same brand. put the door on and sprayed the complete car, guess what the door is a different shade. actually quite different in the direct sun.
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