Painting trunk lids off the car, What's your process? Options

[bbrock]

I'd like to say this will be my last painting question, but I don't want to lie. I'm planning the logistics of painting all the pieces not attached to the car (trunk lids, engine lide, headlight covers). It shouldn't be hard except I'm spraying 2-stage metallic which complicates things a little. Some considerations:

1. Metallic should be sprayed with panels oriented the same as they will be on the car to avoid funky discontinuity in how the flakes lay where panels meet (e.g. trunk to fender).

2. PPG DBC base coat has to be clearcoated within 24 hours.

3. PPG Concept clear coat requires minimum 16 hours air dry time.

I can think of a couple ways to tackle this:

1. Lay panels flat and upside down on racks. Spray base and clear on the underside, then give them a day or so to air dry. Then flip them over and and repeat to paint the top sides. That means the whole car will be painted in stages over 2-3 days.

2. Same as above but spray base coat on bottoms. Let dry an hour or two. Flip over and spray base on the tops. Let dry. Then hang them so I can clear coat both sides at once. Complete car sprayed in 1-2 days but more handling parts.

Which would be less likely to bite me in the ass? Or maybe something I haven't thought of. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/confused24.gif)

[mepstein]

Our shop has a pro painter and booth. Ive never seen them hang a panel. Only paint it on the car or lay it flat on a stand.

[bbrock]

Our shop has a pro painter and booth. Ive never seen them hang a panel. Only paint it on the car or lay it flat on a stand.

Yep, just to be clear, both options I outlined would have the panels laying flat on stands to spray the color. The second option would only hang the panels after the color has dried and would be for spraying clear only. The exception will be the doors which can be hung in the same orientation they will be on the car. I'm partial to option 1 with no hanging but have never done this before.

@burton73 I hear you Bob. Everything I have read is that metallic is tricky to paint and silver is trickier still. I've watched a lot of Youtube vids on people doing it. That said, I am very happy with how the single stage paint came out on the interior. Supposedly, one of the advantages of PPG DBC paint is that it is easier to match. I'm not sure exactly what that means though.

[mepstein]

Our shop has a pro painter and booth. Ive never seen them hang a panel. Only paint it on the car or lay it flat on a stand.

Yep, just to be clear, both options I outlined would have the panels laying flat on stands to spray the color. The second option would only hang the panels after the color has dried and would be for spraying clear only. The exception will be the doors which can be hung in the same orientation they will be on the car. I'm partial to option 1 with no hanging but have never done this before.

@burton73 I hear you Bob. Everything I have read is that metallic is tricky to paint and silver is trickier still. I've watched a lot of Youtube vids on people doing it. That said, I am very happy with how the single stage paint came out on the interior. Supposedly, one of the advantages of PPG DBC paint is that it is easier to match. I'm not sure exactly what that means though.

Other than what I mentioned I know nothing about paint but I'm happy to give you the number of a pro painter who is a friend of mine. The only downside to his advice is he could probably shoot paint outside in a windstorm and make it look good. Skill is skill.