Bare Metal Foil under/over Clearcoat?

[voehringer]

Hi guys,

Been lurking for a long time, first post. I've learned a lot and currently have half a dozen cars at different stages of build (variety is the spice of life). I've searched the forums and can't find an answer to a question I'm dealing with right now.

Should BMF for window tirm, etc... be applied before or after clearcoat. I'm color coating with airbrush Tamya acrylics or Italian red Tam rattle can. I'm clearing with Duplicolor lacquar. I polish with micromesh polishing cloths and final polish with Zanio synthetic wax. That's worked great for the cars with no BMF, but I'm concerned that if I BMF after all this it won't stick very well, but if I put it on before the clear will it look plastic-y.

Thanks for any suggestions and I'll start posting pics soon.

[MPWR]

Hey, welcome to AF!

I use BMF both ways, under and over clearcoat, depending on the situation. Clearcoat over BMF does not change its appearence, so you can clearcoat it without worries. On the other hand, it can be nice to have body sanding and polishing done without BMF in place, do you don't have to worry about damaging it while sanding. Hopefully the clearcoat will protect it, but sometimes the trimwork it gets applied to leaves it in very exposed places. It's kind of a judgement thing.

So, lets see some of your builds!

[1ofaknd]

i do both foil AFTER the clear coat.

reason being, if you slip with your knife, a scratch in the clear is WAY less noticable then a scratch in the color coat.

[klutz_100]

Originally Posted by MPWR

I use BMF both ways, under and over clearcoat, depending on the situation. Clearcoat over BMF does not change its appearence, so you can clearcoat it without worries.

Interesting knowledge to have. Intuitively I would have thought that clear would alter the BMF look but my Guru has spoken and that's enuff for me.

Just goes to show the true value of a forum - correcting a myth(os)!