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chevynut
01-24-2015, 08:29 AM
I learned something I didn't know the other day. I am interested in putting some metallic into my beige/off-white paint, and I was told by the PPG store that you can't do that without going to tri-coat. So why can they make metallic paints in black, blue, red, orange, green and every other color but not in white and beige? Are the black metallic paints also tri-coat? My charcoal truck isn't tri-coat and it's metallic.

NickP
01-24-2015, 08:47 AM
Interesting. The Bronco is being painted with the PPG new Ford metalic brown. I don't recall it being a tri-coat. I'll have to investigate that.

chevynut
01-24-2015, 08:55 AM
I'm looking for something like this, without the blue tones in it and maybe a little more on the beige side, but not yellow. This is a tri-coat:

http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff241/vincenzo77/aston%20martin/morningfrostwhite_vent.png

http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff241/vincenzo77/aston%20martin/morningfrostwhite_rear.png

Rick_L
01-26-2015, 03:15 PM
Was thinking about this comment and I can think of two reasons for it (this is my speculation and not a definite answer).

1. The materials in your white/beige basecoat are opaque rather than translucent, which would be required for you to see the metallic, or at least see it consistently. I think this is going to be true of some other solid colors but with those you have translucent alternatives.

2. The paint mixing person doesn't know how it's going to turn out (perhaps because of #1). Going to the tri-coat takes the liability for getting it right out of the mixer's hands and into the painter's. I.e., all the metallic will be over the base rather than in it, so the amount and look of the metallic is controlled by the painter.

Justin@ECP
02-18-2015, 08:03 AM
Rick had it spot on. If you drop the metallic into the white base and lay it out..the white looks foggy/dirty with a blue tinge, and occasional blue flake. If you lay it as a base, then mid coat(thinned clear) with flake in it, and then a clear top coat..it's commonly known as a pearl or tri-coat.

My car is tri-stage pearl white, and it stinks. I just need a rear quarter re-shot, but will have to basically do the whole side, or whole car.

Trying to get a pearl white in a Basecoat/Clearcoat, or a Single-Stage often looks like a vanilla color since the gold and blue dropped in melts into the binder of the basecoat. When it's sprayed on the car, just looks like its dirty