issue with black hood stripe.

[fgross2006]

I have a question. Whats the correct paint and procedure for painting a flat/Satin hood stripe? I had my car body worked and painted last summer and it came out nice except for the hood stripe. They used the same SEM plastic and trim paint on the hood that was used on the body side moldings. it has no UV protection so it turned to a cludy finish and started peeling in 2 spots.

The body shop took it back in, grudgingly, and only fixhed the spot that was rusting on the front edge of the hood and looks like they blended it about halfway down. leaving a cloudy look along the edge up against the windshield wiper grille. They matter of factly told me I had gotten my money's worth out of the resto and paint and they are not inclined to take this car back in for anything more. Also theres rust showing up in the truck chanel but thats not as agravating as the black hood strip looking like crap.

A local parts store I go to often has a body shop section and they guy that mixes their paint told me they should have done with with a 3 part kit that has reducer and hardener with the paint to make the flat finish dry as a hard shell. Any suggestions on this? Even the local speed shop declined to decal the hood because the paint is so poor it will ruin the look of the decal . These pics are how it looked the day I picked it up from the shop a few days ago.

[homer302]

I agree that does look like arse. Sorry about your luck. But it's obvious you aren't going for a factory correct finish anyway so here's what I would suggest. The last one I did was proper urethane paint. The entire hood was painted with the same color paint in fact. It was a black car so that explains that but the idea should work for you the same. They taped off the sides and painted the center with a flat clear, which never had an issue. So the whole hood was painted with the same paint and just the center had a flat clear on it. The sides had a gloss clear. It was the body man's idea and it worked great. I could scrub bug stains without making a "shiny" spot in the flat if that makes sense.

[fgross2006]

I agree that does look like arse. Sorry about your luck. But it's obvious you aren't going for a factory correct finish anyway so here's what I would suggest. The last one I did was proper urethane paint. The entire hood was painted with the same color paint in fact. It was a black car so that explains that but the idea should work for you the same. They taped off the sides and painted the center with a flat clear, which never had an issue. So the whole hood was painted with the same paint and just the center had a flat clear on it. The sides had a gloss clear. It was the body man's idea and it worked great. I could scrub bug stains without making a "shiny" spot in the flat if that makes sense.

but can I put a flat clear on top of the cloudy black finish?

[steam_mill]

Go to a place that does car wraps. Ask them to do a flat black wrap. Shouldn’t be more than $100.

[dagenham]

To fix the problem correctly you should sand off that black paint. It looks like they sprayed it from a rattle can. A black base coat with a flat or satin clear topcoat should then be sprayed.

[ashley roachclip]

No need to send the black off .
Mask the edges , scuff with 320 maybe as fine as 500 .
Repaint with a single stage black with a flattening agent .
The paint store you mentioned , can mix up a sample and spray it out, until you find the effect you are after .

My 84 by the way , was painted a satin =flat black from the factory.
Along the edge of the strip , were decal stripes , that went down beside the grill .

Too many people , paint this stripe gloss black ...
Just not the way they came new .
My car , is all 100%factory paint .

[KevinK]

I painted my hood and scoop on my 84 GT with a Sem trim rattle can. It Came out better than that. I was not perfect but I only invested like $30 in the paint job. I believe Trey posted a while back about doing a 2 stage and getting the flatness correct with a durable clear. Good luck. Btw were you trying to duplicate the GT stripe with the pin stripe decals?

[1983-GT]

I repainted mine with SEM trim black, slow reducer & sprayed from a gun, while the sem rattle cans are pretty good, it's just hard to lay it out consistently on a large area like a hood. It does match the grill sheen so darn close. mil thickness is important when it comes to lasting against UV's. any paint with a hardener in it is going to be better in longevity & you do have to be careful spraying over the top of another paint that doesn't have a hardener. The solvents are more likely to get into them & loosen them up, so depending on what you sprayed & what your going to spray you might need to take the old stuff off. I would at the very least test some areas.

83GTJIM painted his hood about the same time I did mine. I think he might have used something other than SEM, I am not sure but hopefully he will chime in.

[1983-GT]

Here are a couple picts I have. Not saying you should Go the SEM route, but it worked out pretty well. I have used it for years on trim parts, but this was the first time I used it on large panels. I did spray black sealer in-between the factory paint & the SEM though. Cheap insurance imo.

[bwguardian]

The SEM product is an interior paint. It will not hold up to the UV and/or engine heat unless there are additives mixed with it as stated above.

[1983-GT]

The SEM product is an interior paint. It will not hold up to the UV and/or engine heat unless there are additives mixed with it as stated above.

I would disagree with that. I've Been using SEM trim black for decades. I think we might be talking about two different things? I am sure not saying a 2K product isn't a better & more resiliant solution, but Trim black is dang close to the correct sheen & finish & it is an acrylic based paint. Its pretty surprising for an inexpensive 1:1 reduce and spray paint.

When you say interior paint, Are you talking about SEM's elastomeric color coat? I have used that as well. Great product for interior panels.

Again, I am sure not saying a 1K paint like this is the best, but sem trim black looks crazy close to the original paint that mine had under the scoop. I have plenty of single stage & BC blacks & flattening agents in my shop, but flattened urathanes have a very different look to them up close. I have found that using flattening agents in urethanes does shorten their life if they are in the sun every day. The Sun beats everything eventually......

[smitty54]

The body shop did mine and it has held up well. I guess it's the quality of the body shop that you use

[gr79]

That's flat black for you. Looks pretty good except for the blotches.
Flat, Matte, Satin, semi, gloss. Basically same levels of sheen as house paints. Eggshell is another.
Many variations in between using different material combos.
All brands of trim paint or bumper coating i have used are not flat.
Most off the shelf spray auto interior paints (Duplicolor, Rustoleum) are either flat or gloss. Neither look correct.
Dark flat paint shows marks from dragging a finger across, has a grayish look. A towel or cloth drags on it.
A smoother finish, like matte or satin, is more forgiving and i believe correct.
The more gloss, the smoother the surface is.
Prob why some owners repainted stripes, say like on older muscle cars, gloss black to enable waxing.
Not always correct, but owner rules.
It was well known not to wax non gloss black painted hoods on a performance car.

[bwguardian]

I would disagree with that. I've Been using SEM trim black for decades. I think we might be talking about two different things? I am sure not saying a 2K product isn't a better & more resiliant solution, but Trim black is dang close to the correct sheen & finish & it is an acrylic based paint. Its pretty surprising for an inexpensive 1:1 reduce and spray paint.

When you say interior paint, Are you talking about SEM's elastomeric color coat? I have used that as well. Great product for interior panels.

Again, I am sure not saying a 1K paint like this is the best, but sem trim black looks crazy close to the original paint that mine had under the scoop. I have plenty of single stage & BC blacks & flattening agents in my shop, but flattened urathanes have a very different look to them up close. I have found that using flattening agents in urethanes does shorten their life if they are in the sun every day. The Sun beats everything eventually......

Maybe so, I know the SEM charcoal for the 1985 and 1986 cars is the only way it comes...interior paint...at least it was when I did my car a couple years back. I went the expensive route 7-8 years ago...really wasn't all that bad...and it still looks like the day I picked it up!

[homer302]

No need to send the black off .
Mask the edges , scuff with 320 maybe as fine as 500 .
Repaint with a single stage black with a flattening agent .
The paint store you mentioned , can mix up a sample and spray it out, until you find the effect you are after .

My 84 by the way , was painted a satin =flat black from the factory.
Along the edge of the strip , were decal stripes , that went down beside the grill .

Too many people , paint this stripe gloss black ...
Just not the way they came new .
My car , is all 100%factory paint .

This is all true and it's also true that every picture posted here is not factory correct as well. Everyone thinks the flat black followed the bump in the hood and it does not. It's about 3/4 - 1 inch past that raised portion in the hood and cowl. Go look at any original one and you will see. Everyone is taking liberties with what they believe is correct. It actually makes more sense to have the stripes run up the hood and right next the cowl. I have no idea why, but Ford did not do it that way. That's what I meant in my first post when I said it was obvious the OP is not going for a 100% correct finish. I think it looks better with the stripes running up next to the hood bump and cowl vent, but not a single one ever left Ford that way.

[kfxmatt]

when I did mine I looked to get a quart of the sem 39153 but they do not sell it.only trim black.so I had the paint supplier cross reference it to standox paint we used to paint the body white.id say its as close as possible.i also masked mine off like homer said

[homer302]

^^^^Not sure if you are still working on your post because it has no content other than a link but that's an 85-86 in the link and it's a sticker. Or originally it was. They make a template where you can paint it now but it was not painted when new. The 83-84 was paint and not a sticker and the treatment was totally different. Nothing the same there. However, since we are here, that looks correct for an 85-86 hood treatment.

[kfxmatt]

I was working on it.sorry.yes I used the template.sorry I see its a 84.

[homer302]

No worries, you were just trying to help. And it's pretty obvious that the OP left this for dead. And since we are still here, LOL there is still some debate whether or not they ever made black trim on the 85-86 cars. I personally don't ever recall seeing one that was black. Every one I ever saw on the lot was charcoal and that is when they were brand new. I went every year to the dealer to sit in the new ones even though I could not afford one. But the charcoal is out of favor today so as I mentioned above, I think people might be taking liberties with what they WANTED it to look like. But I know there are people on both sides of that argument so I will leave it alone. I can't say they never made one with black trim and don't pretend to know.

[fgross2006]

No worries, you were just trying to help. And it's pretty obvious that the OP left this for dead. And since we are still here, LOL there is still some debate whether or not they ever made black trim on the 85-86 cars. I personally don't ever recall seeing one that was black. Every one I ever saw on the lot was charcoal and that is when they were brand new. I went every year to the dealer to sit in the new ones even though I could not afford one. But the charcoal is out of favor today so as I mentioned above, I think people might be taking liberties with what they WANTED it to look like. But I know there are people on both sides of that argument so I will leave it alone. I can't say they never made one with black trim and don't pretend to know.

Im still reading the replies on this thread. The manager of the body shop called me today saying she felt bad that I left less than thrilled with their half a hood stripe repair job. She said she cant even find out who painted the hood stripe. She says their painter acknowledged painting the car white but said he didn't do any of the trim or the hood stripe.

She kept telling me my hood is aftermarket plastic but I told her I have pics of the hood stripped to bare metal in her shop. She says she is trying to find out what was used to paint the stripe last year to figure out a remedy to this issue but I feel like I'm getting smoke blown up my tailpipe.

I think the easiest fix is to paint the stripe satin black and clear coat it satin as well. but I don't think she will be offering any warranty work on this again. I don't even know if a decal can go over the stripe I have now. The local speed shop told me 2 weeks ago they declined to put a decal over the satin paint in the condition it was in before they fixed the rust spot. Correct me if Im wrong but I kinda feel that the trim all should have gotten a clear satin as well.

[wraithracing]

Im still reading the replies on this thread. The manager of the body shop called me today saying she felt bad that I left less than thrilled with their half a hood stripe repair job. She said she cant even find out who painted the hood stripe. She says their painter acknowledged painting the car white but said he didn't do any of the trim or the hood stripe.

She kept telling me my hood is aftermarket plastic but I told her I have pics of the hood stripped to bare metal in her shop. She says she is trying to find out what was used to paint the stripe last year to figure out a remedy to this issue but I feel like I'm getting smoke blown up my tailpipe.

I think the easiest fix is to paint the stripe satin black and clear coat it satin as well. but I don't think she will be offering any warranty work on this again. I don't even know if a decal can go over the stripe I have now. The local speed shop told me 2 weeks ago they declined to put a decal over the satin paint in the condition it was in before they fixed the rust spot. Correct me if Im wrong but I kinda feel that the trim all should have gotten a clear satin as well.

I agree with you that the hood "blackout" treatment is crap and I would never let something like that leave my shop no matter what! I also wouldn't allow a rust spot to leave the shop either without being taken care of properly. I don't know what was agreed to by you and the body shop, but again just looks like poor quality work to me.

As many have stated there are several ways to get the "correct" look for the hood treatment. IMHO if the car is garaged most of the time and not left out in the sun, then a single stage "satin/matte" paint can work just fine and hold up long term. Spraying satin/matte paint can be very difficult if you are not experienced so there are issues with that.

I personally prefer to do this type of paint work using a BC/CC system. Spray the black base coat as normal, then spray a "Flattened" clear over the base. Generally a 60% gloss reduction gets you a very similar look to the factory sheen in my experience and provides the long term durability and ease of cleaning that most of us want.

The last point I will make is that again I don't know what you and the body shop agreed upon, but spraying all the trim with a clear satin is not what I would consider a "standard" procedure. Maybe you expected and wanted that and I understand. Honestly that is how we will do the trim on Erratic50's 85 Saleen Clone as I think it's best practice and my preferred method, but it does cost more in both labor and materials so that has to be taken into account when bidding and discussing the price of the work. Otherwise the standard procedure would be to use a "Trim" paint such as SEM or even the trim paint in most Major paint lines where the paint is a single stage that has been flattened already and is a one step process. Maybe not what you wanted to hear, but in this case, unless spraying the trim with a satin clear was discussed and paid for, then I have to side with the body shop. Good Luck!

[fgross2006]

I agree with you that the hood "blackout" treatment is crap and I would never let something like that leave my shop no matter what! I also wouldn't allow a rust spot to leave the shop either without being taken care of properly. I don't know what was agreed to by you and the body shop, but again just looks like poor quality work to me.

As many have stated there are several ways to get the "correct" look for the hood treatment. IMHO if the car is garaged most of the time and not left out in the sun, then a single stage "satin/matte" paint can work just fine and hold up long term. Spraying satin/matte paint can be very difficult if you are not experienced so there are issues with that.

I personally prefer to do this type of paint work using a BC/CC system. Spray the black base coat as normal, then spray a "Flattened" clear over the base. Generally a 60% gloss reduction gets you a very similar look to the factory sheen in my experience and provides the long term durability and ease of cleaning that most of us want.

The last point I will make is that again I don't know what you and the body shop agreed upon, but spraying all the trim with a clear satin is not what I would consider a "standard" procedure. Maybe you expected and wanted that and I understand. Honestly that is how we will do the trim on Erratic50's 85 Saleen Clone as I think it's best practice and my preferred method, but it does cost more in both labor and materials so that has to be taken into account when bidding and discussing the price of the work. Otherwise the standard procedure would be to use a "Trim" paint such as SEM or even the trim paint in most Major paint lines where the paint is a single stage that has been flattened already and is a one step process. Maybe not what you wanted to hear, but in this case, unless spraying the trim with a satin clear was discussed and paid for, then I have to side with the body shop. Good Luck!

And I'm actually not to thrilled with the idea of putting a decal on now that I have no way of know how they fixed the rust spot. Its smooth and black now but if it comes back under a decal it would ruin the hood so I have to keep it with a paint finish for at least a year before I can be sure rust wont return.

[1983-GT]

I also found it interesting that the stripes are really the body color. My 83 was primer with the black center, then taped off & the silver was added to the sides. That might be why ford left the black down the hump a little & onto he flat areas. Much easier for them to tape off & put the pinstripe tape over the edge when done. But they were obviously painted as economically as possible being there wasn't even paint under the rear spoiler. At least thats how my 83 is.

[homer302]

"Economically" is one way to say it, LOL. Talk about cutting corners. They did everything they could to save money when painting these for sure. Every one I have seen was not painted under the spoiler either. Any body color under the hood I think is actually just "overspray" that accidentally found its way on the shock towers, not intended to actually protect anything.

[fgross2006]

The manager of the body shop that did my paint job called me the other day to offer me one of two solutions.

1. they will strip the black paint off and I can take it to a speed shop to be decaled. For $150 to strip the black paint which she says she is splitting the cost with me.
2. They will redo the hood stripe with flat black paint and flat clear coat for the price of $600.

Theres no third option where they make this right and it don't cost me anything. Also she keeps insisting my hood is fiberglass even though I have a pic of it stripped to bare metal in her shop.

Looks like I have to find a local shop that can redo the stripe correctly for less than 600 because no way im paying that to them.