I am going to be painting my Firebird this summer and I was wondering when to put the decals on. Can I put them right on the base coat? I've also heard that doing clear coat, decals, then more clear works good. Any suggestions?

 

You can, but not having a ridge from the decals edges is gonns be the tricky part. Amazing what a Google search will tell you....

http://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-...nt+over+decals

 

Yes, I have Google searched it many times, and people say many different things. I'm just looking for someone who has some experience on this and if they have any tips.

 

It takes a butt-load of clear to eliminate the edges of the decals. If you do this be carefull not to run the clear at the decals. lol Harley-Davidson did this from the factory on some of their tanks and I think Honda bikes have them like this too. Go to a dealership and look at a new Honda and see how it looks and if you like it.

 

Ive heard its better to not since the decal may expand and contract with weather and mess up the clear. There are conflicting ideas on the issue though on the internet. I would look around a good amount before doing it. I know that the second gen trans ams had the bird put on the hood on top of the clear and the third gen irocs had the decals applied on top of the clear as well. But ive seen newer cars and cars at car shows with the decals under the clear to make it look cleaner. I personally would not do it for fear of messing up the clear.

Also talk to some local body shops and see what they say about it. I had asked about this when i got my last iroc painted and he didnt want to put the decals under the clear because of the issues i discussed above.

 

We have applied many decals to bikes and cars that have been applied between the paint and the clear. Most of what you have read is correct.

1. You will have a high spot unless you build up the clear in the area around the decal. You better know what you are doing or you will have runs and or wavy areas.
2. When paining over the vinyl you have to do it in VERY light multiple layers with flash time between the coats.
3. Depending on what vinyl is used and if the car is a daily driver it can fade at a faster rate and in 5 or 6 years start to look bad.

The firebird decals are pretty basic decals. I would suggest going to a decal shop and have them do a paint mask stensil of the decal and paint the decals on the car. You will paint the car, put the stensil on and paint the decals on the car, then clear. The decals you want will be painted on and look like the factory ones. You will have a smooth area without building up the clear coat.

 

I repainted my formula 2 years ago and bought the decal kit from Phoenix Graphix i put the decals over the base coat and then sprayed the clear over them it worked out good and i have had no problems yet, jeff

 

always do it over the clear....always. i paint for a living, so trust me.

 

Talk to BlueZee28 about this. He did this on a car a while back. Caught a lot of flack for it, but you could see how it's holding up.