The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Gloss vs. Satin

I have a two part question. I am preparing to paint my 47 1/2 ton. I plan on painting it black. The sheet metal is in very good condition but I know black is not very forgiving and will show imperfections more than other colors. This will not be a show truck and I am not too worried if on the bed side it is not laser straight or there is some other imperfection. I was looking at paint options on the Eastwood site and this caused my questions.

First, I am a rookie in regards to auto/truck painting.

I am considering going with a Satin Black. I was not considering it until I saw it on their site. I was going to apply a single stage paint.
Which is more forgiving, a gloss or a satin black?
Being a rookie, is one harder to get good results than the other?

This question is just an opinion question. Thoughts on the gloss vs. sating finish for a vintage truck.

Dave,

IMHO, thinking the satin finish will provide more "hiding" of minor flaws and imperfections much better than gloss.

My DD (Silverado) is gloss black and you can see every door ding and imperfection, even when not recently washed - lol.

Lot of folks in the last couple of years have been sporting the satin look. Think it looks just fine.

It all boils down to what "you" want it to look like and are happy with!

Just my 2-cents.

Some additional research I have done indicates a satin finish is more difficult to maintain. Especially if you get an scuffs or dings. I am on the fence. Leaning toward the glossy. Does anyone know about how much paint I will need? Is a gallon enough?

I owned a jet black Corvette for 20 years and let me tell you...I'll never own another gloss black vehicle. Absolutely, positively the hardest color to keep clean and shows every flaw, every speck of dust. Drove me crazy. Wash and wax, leave it for 10 minutes and it's covered with dust again, that wouldn't be visible on a red, gray, tan, royal blue, or any other neutral color. Satin in any color, especially black, would be a much better choice than gloss black, IMO.

Having said that, a perfectly clean and shiny gloss black is a real show stopper, extremely impressive, and has a look like no other color. It's just hard to keep it like that.

My current daily driver (since 2014) and previous vehicle (had for 8 years) are/were both black. Black doesn't scare me. To your point, they look great when they are clean.

I did show the Corvette for several years, and if you're not entering shows you'll like it much better. Got sick and tired of having to be a perfectionist!

Satin finish on any vehicle looks like crap. Shiny gloss on anything(cars, houses, whatever) is much easier to maintain and doesn't look dirty all the time.

To answer your other question about whether either satin or gloss is easier to apply, I think there wouldn't be a difference in application. Although gloss might need polishing after it dries to get rid of any orange peel, etc. I don't know if you can polish satin and still have it satin.

Maybe Mark (MNSmith) has some experience with that. I haven't done that many paint jobs.

I shot the Eastwood single stage urethane gloss on my 51. Kade (grandson) said he wanted it shiny black, which pretty much meant it had to be shiny black.

You are correct, black will show every imperfection. But like you, I wasn't doing a show truck, so I figured it's gonna have it some imperfections down the road anyway.

Single stage urethane, for me anyway, was very user-friendly. If I remember (this was about 4 years ago), it took me right at 2 gallons.

I haven't seen any difference in application. The last satin I sprayed was some chassis/brackets and such. Stuff I don't worry about having any amount of peel.

The outcome will be determined by the prep work,the more work prepping the nicer it will turn out .

Just thinking out loud here᠁ Isn’t this how it goes?


Gloss is glossy.

Flat/matte is the dull ugly look that looks dirty all the time, shows scuffs, and is fugly.

Satin is the silky, sexy look in between gloss and matte/flat.

When I did my truck, I went to my paint supplier and said I’d like some flat black paint. “No, no, you don’t,” he replied. “This is what you want.”

He talked me into a Low-gloss black. It was a single stage polyurethane. Boy, oh boy, he was right.

This may be what you’re looking for if you’re thinking “satin.”

https://www.stovebolt.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/galleries/1415429/1951-gmc-9430-1-ton.html

This is the paint I used below.

Nicer looking truck Fox. I assume you did the work to make the fenders fit the dually? Nice conversion. I do like the look of your paint.

Thank you.

Yes, I built the extensions for the duals, box sides, and the dual running boards.