Painting with Pearl White

Ok, let me get this straight. Is this the proper way to get a successful shiny pearl white paint job? I dont think I did it right on my 300zx.

1. Primer
2. TS Pearl
3. Clearcoat
4. Sand then Compound and Wax

Is there anything other steps I forgot?

Your steps look perfect, what happened?:confused:

Compond + clear coat = flat color for me..

I've never used TS pearl, but I remember people saying it isn't a basecoat type paint, but rather a transparent sparkle paint. Perhaps you should have applied it over gloss white?

Originally posted by Veyron
Your steps look perfect, what happened?:confused:

Well with my 300zx, I never sanded it b4 compounding the clear coat so it was'nt as shiny as I had hoped.

Originally posted by TheSyndicate
I've never used TS pearl, but I remember people saying it isn't a basecoat type paint, but rather a transparent sparkle paint. Perhaps you should have applied it over gloss white?

Yea it is transparent, I was thinking maybe I should lay down some coats of gloss white b4 pearl too. But would I have to sand and compound and wax the white b4 the pearl or can I just clear coat the pearl and white then compound. Im thinkin compounding b4 pearl and clear is a bad idea, eh?

Originally posted by Camber


Well with my 300zx, I never sanded it b4 compounding the clear coat so it was'nt as shiny as I had hoped.

Remember, your first step after clear coating the pearl white is to sand the clear in order to level it. The first step in polishig(leveling) is the most importatant, it's the step where orange peel is removed. From there you proceed to use higher grit sand paper than you started with, then the compund, then wax. Sounds like you skipped sanding the orange peel out of your clear and went straight to compound.:)

Originally posted by Veyron


Remember, your first step after clear coating the pearl white is to sand the clear in order to level it. The first step in polishig(leveling) is the most importatant, it's the step where orange peel is removed. From there you proceed to use higher grit sand paper than you started with, then the compund, then wax. Sounds like you skipped sanding the orange peel out of your clear and went straight to compound.:)

Yep, I did'nt kno as much as I did now when I did it.

yes you need to spray down a white base coat first before spraying on the pearl or else you'll end up with pearl grey(assuming youre using grey primer). so you should be doing it in this order

1. prime
2. white base coat
3. pearl
4. clear coat
5. polish
6. wax

you might still have to sand and polish in between these steps if you get severe orange peel.

Originally posted by Ragnarok043
yes you need to spray down a white base coat first before spraying on the pearl or else you'll end up with pearl grey(assuming youre using grey primer). so you should be doing it in this order

1. prime
2. white base coat
3. pearl
4. clear coat
5. polish
6. wax

you might still have to sand and polish in between these steps if you get severe orange peel.

Perfrect!:bandit:

I had the same problem, I though the paint was'nt shiney, but I figured the paint was supposed to look like that >I think<. Just wait a while and spray clear over it if you want it to be shiny, but that paint is pretty hard to get off.

My 300zx did'nt look that grey with no white base coat. I think not using a white base coat is a way to reduce orange peel on it. I mean, you are going to clear coat it all, so whats the difference?