28 replies to this topic

[wwinstanley]

Hi, how is perlescent paint done? My paint sprayer said he cannot do it, this left me wondering why? What makes it so hard?

[Bungle]

i don't know too much about this but what i know is-

its built up in 3 layers of different colour paint thats semi see through with a clear coat on the top

[Retro_10s]

Most pearlescent finishes consist of a solid base color. A translucent layer of a different color containing mica "pearl" flakes, and clear top coats. Pearlescent paint finishes appear to change color depending on the viewing angle ("color flip") or the way sunlight strikes them.

1997-spec Minis are available in Amaranth (changes between blue and purple depending on viewing angle, color depth changes under direct sunlight) and volcano orange (changes between lava-orange and bright red). More subtle uses of pearlescent paint change only the shade of the paint.


Metallic and pearlescent paint are the most difficult to apply, and often require large areas to be repainted to cover a small paint repair, so that the seams between the old and new paint are at body panel edges and therefore are invisible. This is necessary because variations in technique and paint color are impossible to reliably duplicate.

[wwinstanley]

What about tahiti blue which some coopers were finished in? I have been told its perlescent but after that description it sounds like its probably mettalic.

[Bungle]

metallic

[wwinstanley]

right-o. you sound like you know your stuff so i will go for mettallic.

[Retro_10s]

Well bungle had already said on your project thread it was metallic!

it IS possible there were/are two types,.. but it IS usually metallic.

[wwinstanley]

got it, cheers for the help guys.

[syholl]

You may want to check that, as when i bought my 1997 Mini from Rover, the Tahiti blue paint was definitely classified as Pearlescent, and not metallic. I even paid an extra £200+ for this....!!!

I have attached a piccy of the original order form for my Mini Cooper S, under options it is listed as pearlescent paint...

[biggav]

tahiti was available in metallic and pearlescent.

i went for volcano.

to be honest with a respray, you'd be better off finding a decent paintshop that is willing to do proper flip flop colours as the pearlescents offered by rover were tame to say the least!!!!!!!!

[wwinstanley]

This is geting really confusing. But i think i will just go for metallic. i dont suppose it would look too different would it?

[Mini_Magic]

As much as I love Tahiti blue and Volcano orange, as said above they're pretty subtle pearlesent colours. You might as well go for a metallic colour if you want something similar looking. Only really worth spending the extra for pearlesent if you want something that's different and really stands out. (just not green and brown! )

[wwinstanley]

Yes, Does anyone on here have a mini sprayed in mettalic tahiti blue, just so i can see what it looks like?

[DannyTip]

Mines metallic tahiti blue. Looks lovely on a sunny day shame it was miserable and gloomy in the pic.

 DSCF2547.jpg   161.09K   26 downloads

[wwinstanley]

That looks ace, but are you sure it is metallic, is that its origional paint sceme?