The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Flat or semi-gloss finishes???

Howdy All --- Has anyone here looked into or applied any of the "new" HotRod Flatz or other semi-gloss paints? I'm thinking I may want my '46 NOT looking too glossy or just painted. Using semi-gloss black on the fenders along with a slightly flattened finish on the rest of the body will give it a little patina...plus help diminish less than perfect body work. Any thoughts or experience in this area?

I'm gonna follow this thread because I'm considering the Flatz paint too.

Another forum member told me "I've looked into FLATZ and it's a single stage urethane satin finish. The other way is to spray a black base then a clear with flattening agent in it. These new satin urethanes could be good as urethanes are durable. Of course the satin look is a matter of taste!" Of course, he was assuming I wanted black, but I think the same could be done with any color (I guess).

Other single-stage, two-part auto enamels (like PPG's) can be flattened to varying degrees by adding a recommended flattening agent.

Oddly enough...I was just watching the TV show "American Restoration" and the guy who owns that shop in Vegas was passing on some shop tips. He stated that any kind of paint, lacquer, enamel, any kind...can be flattened by adding a small amount of cornstarch! But then I did some Googling and it looks like a hit or miss proposition compared to using factory made"flattening" agents.

Tango - the corn starch thing is an old school solution rodders used before flattening agents were common, a painter I know locally picked that up as an apprentice ages ago, takes experience

Bill

I really start to show my age when it comes to "flattened" exterior finishes. A kid at work thinks it looks cool and stealthy. (Same moron who likes bling, lights under the car, and loud stereo) stealthy huh? I tell him that to me it just looks like tinted primer and says "I was too cheap to spring for real paint". Sorry to impose my opinion but I just don't get it.

I seem to recall someone telling me a couple of years back that most of the hot-rodders use John Deere Blitz Black paint to get that satin-flat-black paint look. If thats what you're looking for I'm told the price per gallon is VERY reasonable and that it'll stick to almost anything.

Good luck!

just finished ours with B/C C/C and painted the cab gloss silver and the fenders/running boards with a charcoal semi-gloss/satin clear. Used a flatening "paste" in the clear. 30 minutes after the fenders were sprayed I thought oh crap this didn't work the way I thought, too much gloss. cleaned up and went home. Looked at it in the morning and "crap" again, yep too glossy for sure. Waited a few days, after talking to a buddy, and the 6th day wham! perfect! a smooooooooth semi-gloss/satin finish. Don't know why but it took about a week for the shine to go away. Things I learned 1) measure the amount of flattener you add to the clear and make notes. 2) spray a test panel and wait a week for the gloss to come down. 3) remember this is different than the regular B/C C/C in that you can NOT rub it out, if you do the shine will come back, so make sure everything is clean(parts, gun, etc), you can respray though.

Hey WishekBruce --- Many thanks!...the John Deere implement paint was one of the old school tricks I'd been trying to remember. Not flat, not glossy, just a nice sheen and tough as nails from what I recall. Thanks again. Is this a great forum or what!