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Summit Racing Paint

103K views 74 replies 15 participants last post by  V8 Super Beetle 
#1 ·
Has anyone used the Summit Racing paint system? I was just curious of the quality compared to some of the bigger names.
 
#29 ·
adantessr said:
Wow , You deserve to be proud of those results ! ! BTW . Did you use any reducer and if so , what ratio ? I didn't reduce mine at all. First time I sprayed anything without reducer .
Thank you! I'm pretty happy with the results I'm getting with some inexpensive paint and a paint gun in my garage at that.

I used some of Summit's "Zero VOC" reducer. Just a touch though. Something like 4:1:0.5.

I'm still not finished. There's a little urethane wave if you look closely. I plan to sand and paint flow a wet float coat. I'll post back with results, although it's coming out pretty nice as is. :thumbup:
 
#30 ·
V8 Super Beetle said:
Thank you! I'm pretty happy with the results I'm getting with some inexpensive paint and a paint gun in my garage at that.

I used some of Summit's "Zero VOC" reducer. Just a touch though. Something like 4:1:0.5.

I'm still not finished. There's a little urethane wave if you look closely. I plan to sand and paint flow a wet float coat. I'll post back with results, although it's coming out pretty nice as is. :thumbup:
If I read this right you added 0.5 parts reducer to 4 parts paint and 1 part activator ? I am going to do some modifications to my T-bucket this winter and am planning to do an entire repaint with the same color because of fisheyes in the paint job on it now . Although no one but me knows they are there it still bothers me .
 
#32 ·
That's just a guess off of the top of my head, but 0.5 reduce, 1 part hardener / activator and 4 parts paint is right.

I hear that. I'm in the process of actually sanding these panels and I'm going to spray an over reduced coat so it'll lay out like glass. I'm just being very picky about how this paint job is turning out. :)
 
#35 ·
V8 Super Beetle said:
That's just a guess off of the top of my head, but 0.5 reduce, 1 part hardener / activator and 4 parts paint is right.

I hear that. I'm in the process of actually sanding these panels and I'm going to spray an over reduced coat so it'll lay out like glass. I'm just being very picky about how this paint job is turning out. :)
Whoah there . I would definitely NOT spray any over reduced paint . Over reducing paint will reduce its gloss . When I was in the paint and body business , nobody in our county could match my paint jobs on gloss . It wasn't anything magical, I just mixed my paint exactly according to manufacturers recommendations and always sprayed my second and third coats right on top of each other to let them flow together . All the other shops in the county over-reduced their paint to make it flow . I know , I was friends with most of them and was around on more than one occasion when they painted a car. Eveyone wanted to know how I got my paint so shiny . I used catalyzed acrylic enamel back then . I was not about to tell anyone my method . I hesitate to call it a secret, but it was different than what the rest of the shops did. So now I have shared this with you . DO NOT over-reduce your paint . You will NOT be happy with the end result . If you want it ultra smooth then let it dry for a couple of days and then color sand with 2000 grit and then buff and polish . It will be flawless afterwards . Mine is smooth and flawless other than the aforementioned fisheyes from my compressor spitting oil . I use a disposeable filter from Harbor Freight at the gun now .
 

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#37 ·
adantessr said:
Whoah there . I would definitely NOT spray any over reduced paint . Over reducing paint will reduce its gloss . When I was in the paint and body business , nobody in our county could match my paint jobs on gloss . It wasn't anything magical, I just mixed my paint exactly according to manufacturers recommendations and always sprayed my second and third coats right on top of each other to let them flow together . All the other shops in the county over-reduced their paint to make it flow . I know , I was friends with most of them and was around on more than one occasion when they painted a car. Eveyone wanted to know how I got my paint so shiny . I used catalyzed acrylic enamel back then . I was not about to tell anyone my method . I hesitate to call it a secret, but it was different than what the rest of the shops did. So now I have shared this with you . DO NOT over-reduce your paint . You will NOT be happy with the end result . If you want it ultra smooth then let it dry for a couple of days and then color sand with 2000 grit and then buff and polish . It will be flawless afterwards . Mine is smooth and flawless other than the aforementioned fisheyes from my compressor spitting oil . I use a disposeable filter from Harbor Freight at the gun now .

Thanks for the advice! I was actually referring to an over reduced coat of clear. I've been spraying the car with two coats single stage followed by two coats clear. I didn't get to the clear with the black parts yet cause I need to sand out a run. After the two coats of clear I'm sanding with 400 grit and was going to lay down a coat of clear that's reduced about 4:1:1. So, not very reduced.

Does this not sound like a good plan? I didn't want to cut and buff cause I would have to buy the supplies and money is tight right now, but I may just have to pony up and cut and buff to get the results I'm after doing the "flow coat" method.
 
#38 ·
V8 Super Beetle said:
Thanks for the advice! I was actually referring to an over reduced coat of clear. I've been spraying the car with two coats single stage followed by two coats clear. I didn't get to the clear with the black parts yet cause I need to sand out a run. After the two coats of clear I'm sanding with 400 grit and was going to lay down a coat of clear that's reduced about 4:1:1. So, not very reduced.

Does this not sound like a good plan? I didn't want to cut and buff cause I would have to buy the supplies and money is tight right now, but I may just have to pony up and cut and buff to get the results I'm after doing the "flow coat" method.
I would NOT over reduce anything . The clear coat could get hazy . Just bite the bullet and get an air powered polishing kit from Harbor freight (about $30) and I got my qt. bottles of buffing and polishing compound from NAPA . Not cheap . $15 for the buffing and $23 for the polishing .
 
#40 ·
V8 Super Beetle said:
Thanks again. I got that idea from other painters. Also, Summit Racing's "Ultimate Paint Job" guide refers to this method. See attached. I understand what you mean about the clear becoming hazy.

http://static.summitracing.com/global/images/instructions/the ultimate paint job.pdf
Thanks for the links . It is their product so they ought to know what will work . Since they recomend that process it ought to be okay . As I might have said , most of my experience was with activated acrylic enamel and I just have to go by that . It may be that over-reduction is okay with activated acrylic urethane . I can still see the other guys over reduced paint jobs that would not hold a shine after just a couple of months and mine were still holding a shine years later without ever having been waxed . The last car that I painted was for myself in 1985 and it was still shiny in 1997 when I sold it and it was the first car I painted with activated acrylic urethane .
 
#42 ·
adantessr said:
.......... DO NOT over-reduce your paint . You will NOT be happy with the end result . If you want it ultra smooth then let it dry for a couple of days and then color sand with 2000 grit and then buff and polish . It will be flawless afterwards ............
I agree with Adantessr on this. Over reducing will make the paint lay
out smoother, but not necessarily glossier. To get lots of gloss, the
clear resin in the paint needs to rise to the top of the film, and the
pigmented solids sink to the bottom. Too much reducer hinders this
effect. It's best to do it as described above...... :)
 
#45 ·
I just got off the phone with their paint tech.

I asked him what they would consider an over reduction for a "flow coat". He said it's all preference, but normal reduction would be 4:1:1 (paint, activator, reducer). Over reduction would be 4:1:1.5. He also mentioned you would make your clear passes fast with the over reduced flow coat. If you get a run, don't worry. Sand it out and lay another coat.

I also asked him whom manufactures their paint. Is it Kirker? He said, "They get their paint from a sourced out manufacturer who's been making paint for over 150 years. People have been making guesses from PPG, Kirker, Sherwin William's, etc. I can't tell you who it is though."

Seemed like a nice guy and knew his stuff.
 
#46 ·
V8 Super Beetle said:
I just got off the phone with their paint tech.

I asked him what they would consider an over reduction for a "flow coat". He said it's all preference, but normal reduction would be 4:1:1 (paint, activator, reducer). Over reduction would be 4:1:1.5. He also mentioned you would make your clear passes fast with the over reduced flow coat. If you get a run, don't worry. Sand it out and lay another coat.

I also asked him whom manufactures their paint. Is it Kirker? He said, "They get their paint from a sourced out manufacturer who's been making paint for over 150 years. People have been making guesses from PPG, Kirker, Sherwin William's, etc. I can't tell you who it is though."

Seemed like a nice guy and knew his stuff.
Well , I can see where that would be okay . I was thinking by over reduction they meant something like 4:1:3 , which would bother me a lot .
 
#50 ·
since summit does not make paint just what kind of tech help do you think they will have ???? and over reducing clear is trying making up for poor gun control or adjustment. it is never the answer.
 
#51 ·
shine said:
since summit does not make paint just what kind of tech help do you think they will have ???? and over reducing clear is trying making up for poor gun control or adjustment. it is never the answer.
Shine , I think that brings us all the way back to one of my first posts . I'd rather mix it right and spray it like it supposed to be sprayed instead of over reducing . I noticed the other guys I used to associate with had trouble getting their metallics even so they used to over reduce and spray at a distance . I used a Devilbiss siphon gun with a high volume air cap (not legal anymore I gather) and I had a 15" wide pattern at 12" from the spraying surface . You had to be on the ball with that one . Emptied a qt. cup in just a couple minutes . It's what I used to paint my T-bucket by the way . Just don't tell anybody , okay .
 
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