I've been reading a little bit about pearl coats. Apparently they go between the base color coat and the clear top coat, but do they change the hue of the color coat? Or do they just give it more depth, and "glow"? Are PPG's Radiance pearls any good? PPG is the brand the paint store closest to me sells.

I have a metallic dark green on one of my cars, and was thinking it might set it off a little bit more, if I put a pearl coat on when I repainted it.

I have a pearl over paint job on my car, it's a blue pearl over viper red, it does somewhat change the base coat color, the lighting has to be just right to notice there is a blue tint....

My car was shot with Dupont paints, I've never seen a PPG pearl paint job, not much help there...

Heres a pic,look along the roof & quarter panel lines, not easy to see...
http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s101/redracer17/008_08.jpg

Pearl is a tricky thing. I have seen it added directly to the final coat of clear and then left alone. I have also seen it added underneat the final clear coat. Both ways are acceptable and will look virtually the same. Pearls make the color seem deeper and will add a little bit of color change, depending on amount and tint of the pearl.

PPG pearls are very nice, they aint cheap though. Yes pearls can change the color of paint, and can give you a flip flop or color change effect in the right lighting depending on what pearl/base combo you use. You can put em on between the base and clear or you can tint the first coat of clear with em for a more subtle effect, the later is what I do for ghost flames and such. If you ever have any panels that need to be repainted, blending or color matching will be an issue, not impossible but difficult.

mine was added in the paint and then cleared .something he tried and turned out nice

Heres the firewall on my car and is ppg vibrance series Wineberry over pure gold

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d34/BLUE72CAMARO/Camaro%20pics/100_1318.jpg

Hopefully the whole car will be that color before long!

Pearls can added in a multitute of ways. No method is better than any other it just depends on the effect you are going for. Even chrysler uses pearls
in some of their paints.

Both cars look great. Maybe I'll add pearl to my red '74 when its time to paint it, too.

Probably my best best is to spend a few bucks getting a pint of my base color, some pearl, and some clear, and spray it on a spare piece of sheet metal, to see how it goes and how it looks. The car is a '72 442 with a vinyl top, so at least I don't have to worry about trying to spray the roof. Its always hard for me to get the gun to go evenly while hanging over the roof.

PPG is a very good brand as is DuPont / Hot Hues, and House of Kolor. There are also good quality paints from Planet Color (Sherwin Williams), the brand that some NAPA warehouses carry, (Sorry, can't remember the name brand!).

You really have to look at a lot of cars and colors to get an idea of the effect you are going for. Many painters will use contrasting pearls to add significant highlights to the major bodylines that reflect the edges more.

The other thing is that certain custom and OEM colors are what's known as a Tri-coat where there is a base color, a translucent effect or pearl color (commonly in a similar color as the base), and then the clear which gives the finish more depth as well as protection and shine.

Check with your local PPG dealer and see if they have the translucent pearl sheet samples that you can hold over a base color and see the effect and color differences for yourself.

mine is being painted pearl. its essentially the old color just brighter with more pearl.

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b362/flybye70ss/DSCN0724.jpg

it seems there is a lil green in mine. i am taking a better camera next time for the body shots.

Mines a factory Nissan colour, with extra pearl added, just makes it look a little deeper.