I am ready to paint my car but I ran into a problem. I know the headlight pockets are mostly painted matte black, flat. OK but what happens when you clear coat over the flat? Would I have to get a flattening agent for the clear to paint only over the pockets? Or would I leave them uncleared?

when i repainted my car i paint the front bumper cover the color then clear coated then i scuffed the headlight pockets taped it off then used sem trim black for the headlight pockets

Thanks for the reply, looks like I double posted this question, I thought the 1st didnt work. Any chance you could post a picture hodder? Someone else told me to do the same thing but I would like to see the results.

i will get you some pitures tonight when i get home from work

I ended up painting my headlight pockets because the body shop "forgot" to do it. I taped the pockets off andused some steel wool to scuff the area to be painted, then I sprayed with trim black. I have to say it came out really nice, surprised myself. Just make sure you use good tape, you don't want any paint to bleed. Really freshens the front end up nice.
onthedownlow

Cant clear over flat. It will come out gloss like.

You can buy satin clear, and it will have a satin type finish over the flat but still not flat.\

Why do you want flat buckets anyway? They hold a lot of dirt and dust. That would be a pita to clean. You have to tape them off when you wax/buff. Eventually after many washes they will become not as flat. No reason you cant hit them with gloss black IMO it would look better too.

here are pictures that i promised all i did tape off the headlight pockets scuffed and cleaned then sprayed with sem trim black the front ground effect was also done the same way they were done over a year ago

That looks real good, hodder. Thanks for the pics. Downlow yours would look like hodders then? The car came with flat, that looks better to me. Thanks for the reply tho blackb