I feel this is a tricky question or maybe im just looking it the wrong way...
I finished doing my body jambs last summer here is some pics.

i put some time and effort into them.









After sanding them i sprayed a self etching primer over all the sanded surfaces, guide coated, fixed issues then i seal coated everything. it turned out great as you can see









My doors them selfs the jambs are painted and doors are hung to perfection, hatch jamb, hood jamb, fender jambs etc etc its just the body's door/t-top jambs that are not painted yet... Im really debating whether i should just single stage them like all the other jambs and then just install the t-top gaskets because i cant adjust my window tracks right now with out the gaskets and then i can put all my interior back in and then drive it finally my only real concern is how would you blend in the exterior paint to the door jamb paint and make it look like it was painted in one shot? id rather just do them when the exterior gets painted but i wont be ready for paint for a few years i think...

 

Generally, when you jamb the car out, the paint would naturally feather out onto the outer panels, then you would hang the doors, etc, weatherstrip and such. Then when painting the outer panels, the paint would feather itself into the door gaps and such, no tape line. I'm almost sure show cars would do it different though. I'm a collision guy. However, you always want to paint the car with the doors and fenders on anyway, so the metallics lay the same all the way across. Hopefully someone else will chime in.

 

Yea that is my plan to have all the panels on the car before being painted. There is pearl in the paint i know how hard it is to lay down pearls and metallic on flat longer panels. The t-top gaskets can all be roped back taped off the only thing i cant imagine in my head is blending in the C-pillar area to the exterior with the gaskets and channel in place.

 

Yeah, i get what you are saying. When doing it the way I explained, you get some "overspray" look to the area in the jamb, especially after the clear. And as to the c-pillar area, i get what u are saying. I usually just look at it and figure stuff like that out come masking time, but I can't really imagine it as i'm in Afghanistan now and don't have my car to look at. I'm not usually a painter, i'm the body/prep guy, but I have never had my boss (the painter) make more than minor corrections in my technique. But we are a collision shop mostly, so the "OEM" quality is ok, and I think you are going for a much more refined look, which i'm sure will be tricky to figure out.

 

yea im not sure how to blend the single stage to the dual... in my engine bay the bay is two stage and some of the other parts like the booster is a single i can see a deference... but again it pearl... If i didn't point this out you would never know but the bay and its peace are not as critical as blending the C pillar in with the exterior since the peace bolt the the bay unlike the C pillar/rear quarter panels...

 

bump anyone else wanna add in?

 

IMHO--
You have done a Superb job building this!!!

When we painted ours, we did the jambs first, then the rest of the body.
I would think 2 stage would add some type of added protection against rubs // scratches..??..

 

I'v been reading up on this more seems BC/CC is the way to go but im still a bit nervous seen c-pillar is part of the door jamb and is also part of the exterior you can see so im not sure how this will be blended in once the exterior is shoot i would like to do the car in one shot but i can't more or less forced to do this in stages... and i heard pearl is hard to blend...

 

Why can't you paint all of that at one time? You have the perfect opportunity to shoot everything at once.