Ok ive never really painted a car before i painted a couple trailers, but thats easy and it didnt have to look all that good.

I want to paint my car a Dark metallic jade green (or something along those lines) I know how to primer thats not a problem. But the painting has got me worried

First off what is the base coat? if im going to paint my car a dark metallic green what do i use for a basecoat? how many basecoats do i put on? then how many coats of the green should i put on over that?

also what are pearls and marbalizers? they seem like they would look really nice but im not sure how to use them. I want this car to look as nice as it can be especially in the sun i just want the color to come alive. Im on kind of a tight budget but I already have several brands of reducers, and hardeners (mostly sherwin wiliams) out in the shop

Also it would proabbly look good to put clearcoat on but ive heard clearcoat is not as easy as normal paint. AHHHHHHHH IM GETTING LOST IN ALL OF THIS someone explain to me how this all works.

one more thing ive noticed you can buy small jars of metal flakes. If you have a metallic paint and u add metal flake powder(whatever its called) to it say a different color does that give a cool effect?

base coat is the color, depends on brand for coats, the lable should tell you. Stay away from all the extra stuff on your first job, it's hard enough to get the first onme to look good without adding stuff that can streak. I think base clear is easier to paint, being if you get a run in the clear it cleans up easier, you can't wetsand a metallic very well, and base is tough to make run, adding metal flake is kinda like the others it can end up looking like a tiger all striped, if you want to see what those things will do get a junk hood and play that's what the schools do is have you experiment on a "junk" piece

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As usual archemedes provides excellent advice. I got rid of my junk hoods a week too early!! Any metalic is tough. I am just spraying straight, bright yellow and have found that base clear is THE way to go for so many reasons. You need a gun you can work with. Notice that I did not say an expensive gun. I spent around $100 for an HVLP gun that is not really all that HVLP. I practiced and messed around til I got it right. Base is a lot like spraying primer. Clear takes practice. I believe that it is better to get a really wet coat from the first application, even if you run it. Than to get an unacceptable amount of orange peel. I would say to get some cheap metalic base (maybe a paint store goof) a gun other than your primer gun with a decent nozzle (I bought 2 tips with my gun, a 1.3 and 1.7 and all of the stuff I am spraying likes the 1.7 more) and a piece of straight, smooth metal about 3 feet wide and start to practice and experiment. You can master this if you are patient.

[This message has been edited by earlysecond (edited September 29, 2003).]