Tinting clear coat without base?

Nduetime

New Member
I'm looking ahead to the possibility of painting my motorcycle in the far off future. However, I was wanting to see about tying something a little different than what I am mostly seeing. I'm wondering if a very small amount of paint can be added to the clear coat and sprayed over a bare tank to give it a slight color hue but still allows the bare metal the be seen. Something along these lines:
tanktest.jpg
 
I have used light coats of candy on bare metal, then clear. Candies are very transparent so they are perfect for this. I usually use a sanding disk on a grinder to give the bare metal texture and it looks great in the sun.
 
Thank you Scratcher09. I had heard that Candies are transparent but everything I see them used on is heavily painted. So something like the photoshopped picture above (not exactly the color I'd be going for) is achievable with a light coat or two of candy over sanded bare metal?
 
Yes. With traditional candy jobs, what you are seeing is a heavy layer of candy over a base (usually silver, gold, or white). But with this technique the bare metal is the base.

653ab277a50730e0e07f6d721e7c199a.jpg


In these examples, the candy is built up to be intense, but lighter coats will yield a more subtle tint.
 
Scratcher09 said:
Yes. With traditional candy jobs, what you are seeing is a heavy layer of candy over a base (usually silver, gold, or white). But with this technique the bare metal is the base.

653ab277a50730e0e07f6d721e7c199a.jpg


In these examples, the candy is built up to be intense, but lighter coats will yield a more subtle tint.

Oh I like those examples! So do you have to buy those products labeled as candy coat or can you just use a 2k clear with a tad of tint added?
 
You'll want to use a proper candy base and a proper finish clear. There's a difference between the finish clears, which are designed to give high film build and uv protection, and the base (or intercoat) clears/candies, which are designed for low film build and other qualities desirable in a base.

It's better to spray a candy then a clear, since any wet sanding done to a tinted finish clear will lighten the tint shade as the film thickness is decreased by sanding.
 
I suppose I was thinking more alone the lines of spraying a few tinted clear coat followed by a few coats of unadulterated finish clear. So using candy is the proper way but I'm wondering if it's the only way? Candies are translucent paint, applied in several coats for deeper paint/appearance, no? But deeper paint is not really what I'm going for. I understand candy is thin but couldn't non-candy paint be used in very small amounts with a clear to tint the item?
I have no experience with this and I'm not trying to reinvent the wheel, believe me when I say this... I trust the advise of others. However, I'm figured I'd ask my question since I am wondering.
 
The chemistry of a clear coat is not designed to carry pigments. Modern clear coats are already very heavily laden with solids and it wouldn't surprise me a bit if adding pigment would cause those solids to begin to precipitate. This is one reason candies are so thin.

That being said; there's no harm in trying, right? If you're mixing clear and paint at a very high ratio (let's say 10:1) and the temperature is right and you shoot it right away, maybe it will be fine.

-Deek
 
What it boils down to is people much smarter than us have sat in a lab at Dow or 3M and figured out the best way for things to work. You can try to reinvent the wheel, but why not just buy the proper paints? Once you're spraying, you're spraying, and laying down the proper candy then clear is almost exactly the same order of steps as laying down a tinted clear then an untinted clear.
 
I agree with mathil. There are things that are meant to be added to clear like pearls (very fine powder). But anything liquid could alter the chemical reaction that makes urethane clears so durable. If tinting clears all in one step could be done safely, then I imagine I would have heard of it in the years I worked within the automotive refinishing industry. I, personally, don't like redoing a job more than once so I try to stick to the manufacturers recommendations. As I said earlier, I've used light coats of candies over properly prepped bare metal and then cleared with great results.
 
I'm certainly not out to reinvent the wheel here. I have no doubt that products have been researched to death, that provides such companies and customers with the best quality product achievable. However, I wasn't necessarily trying to reengineer the product, just spitting out an idea regarding techniques and application of said products. With that being said, I'm interested in a color/s that are not pre-manufactured in candy paint. If one (I) has to go through the steps of mixing candy paint, I was wondering if I could skip this step by purchasing paint that is already in the color I'm after. But based on the feedback, I'm seeing this is probably not an approach I would like to explore. Thanks for the feedback, it's the reason these forums are here!
 
Have you tried going to an auto finish store and seeing what kind of candy they can mix up? I have one I deal with regularly and they basically add a "candy concentrate" to a neutral basecoat to mix up any color/intensity you want. If you try to buy off the shelf colors you're limited to the popular ones, but most stores can mix up anything custom.
 
Not that I would do this because I have good gun hardware but a cheap option would be to buy duplicolor anodize paint, paint 2 Coates then a bunch of clear coats on top.
 
mathil said:
Have you tried going to an auto finish store and seeing what kind of candy they can mix up? I have one I deal with regularly and they basically add a "candy concentrate" to a neutral basecoat to mix up any color/intensity you want. If you try to buy off the shelf colors you're limited to the popular ones, but most stores can mix up anything custom.

I haven't gone to any auto finish store to do as you suggested. To this point, my only research has been forum posts and off the shelf colors that can be purchased/found online. As I stated earlier, I'm still a long way off from adding color (different than what I currently have) to my motorcycle. However, now that I know this is an option, I'll certainly check this out. Thanks for the heads up!!!!

HollywoodMX said:
Not that I would do this because I have good gun hardware but a cheap option would be to buy duplicolor anodize paint, paint 2 Coates then a bunch of clear coats on top.

I've investigated the duplicolor catalog throughly...before I got this idea of a transparent bare metal look, I was leaning towards some of their color match line paints to go under some 2K clear. The only problem i'm seeing with their anodized paint by duplicolor is their color selection, although I'd be interested in seeing the smoke. I'm sill not even sure on the color I'm shooting for but I'm leaning towards brown. Conventual wisdom also leads me to believe spraying one color over another color might not give me the outcome I'd be searching for. That may be a unfair and inaccurate assumption on my part but I'm thinking the uneven color tones/splotchy coverage might not gel with my OCD. Thank you for the suggestion...gotta go and google actual photos of their anodized paints now.
 
Oh f that!!! So I might be leaning towards the Smoke Metalcast by Duplicolor if all else fails. It looks really good over chrome...according to the google images I've found

insulator006.jpg


or

9049503003_9a77bc4930_c.jpg
 
Its done all the time to tint tail lights on cars. A little bit of black added to the clear, then enough coats to get the desired effect or darkness.
 
Back
Top Bottom