Laborghini "Arancio Borealis" is a "tri-coat" paint, meaning that it is applied to the car in 3 stages: a base coat, (in this case White), a mid-coat, consisting of the orange pearl, and a final clear coat.
Normally you would have the car all in primer and then apply the white base coat, but we already have a good foundation on the car from the old paint job, so by recommendation from the paint supplier, and in order to save us a lot of extra time and work we used a brilliant white catalized primer / sealer as our base coat. This saved one entire painting session on the car.

The entire car is blown off with compressed air and wiped down with prep solvent and a tack rags. Then the white primer / sealer is applied:





Paint is bad stuff to inhale, but catalized paint is particularly nasty stuff. It will harden IN your lungs, TO your lungs.
Billy wears a mask even shooting outdoors.



Two coats of white primer sealer now applied, sanded smooth between coats and after the final coat.
It's almost ready for some color:



At this point the finish was so smooth and nice we could have put clear over it and had a beautiful white Fiero GT

[This message has been edited by randye (edited 07-18-2009).]

We rolled the car back in the garage and allowed the primer sealer to cure for 48 hours and touched up some small problem areas and made certain that everything was nice and smooth with just a little "tooth" to the surface with 800 grit sandpaper. You don't want it super smooth. You want it to have just enough roughness to hold the color coat well yet be a nice even "egg shell" consistancy over the entire car.

We're just about ready to get some ORANGE on this car, but first we made sure that we had a nice low humidity day with no rain forecast and no strong wind.
The driveway was hosed down and cleaned to get all loose dirt and debris off it and the ground surrounding the driveway was wet down to keep any sand, leaves or grass from blowing onto wet paint. We let the driveway dry completely before starting. The evaporting water would have acted just like high humidity and possibly caused the paint to "blush" or have cloudy areas in it.

Now let's start getting some color on this car!



We are using R+M brand paint mixed to the Lamborghini spec.
It's a good quality paint and at $800 a gallon, not cheap.
We are also using a HVLP gun to apply the paint.
This means we won't be kicking up a lot of dust with high air pressure and we will be able to lay down a nice layer of paint on the car.
This particular paint goes on a little thin, but that's OK as we want to build up our color coats slowly and evenly.
It's also why this color is applied over a white basecoat. Most light, bright, colors have a lot more vibrancy and brightness to them when applied over a white base as opposed to a gray primer.



On the first light coat we are paying attention to edges, corners and other areas we don't want to be too thin once we're done, so we hit most of those first.
Notice that we have taken the wheel well liners out and removed the wheels and have the car sitting on jack stands so that we can get under the rocker panels and inside all the edges we need to hit.

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We have applied 3 nice color "Mid coats" to the car now, allowing each coat to "flash off" for about 15 minutes between coats.
This allows some of the volatile solvent in the the paint to evaporate, but leaves the paint "tacky" enough for the next coat to bond properly.



We had a couple of tiny bugs land on our fresh paint, but a small wad of masking tape rolled into a small cone shape allowed us to "pick" them off after the paint had flashed enough. This left some tiny uneven spots about the size of a pencil eraser on the fresh paint.
The small spots where the bugs had been picked off were "misted in" with the gun before we applied the first clear coat.
Can't tell they were ever there now.



All the colors coats and 5 nice coats of clear on the car:
We had about 4-5 more bugs the size of gnats land on the final clear coat as it sat drying, but we left them alone since the wet sanding later would easily remove any trace of them.
Keeping the driveway clean and no wind, meant that we ended up with no dust or dirt particles in the finish.


The driveway doesn't have orange paint dust all over it. Just a little primer sealer from a few days earlier where we got a little sloppy...
A few weeks later I sprayed on a strong concrete cleaner, let it sit for about 30 minutes, and it all hosed off nicely. No scrubbing!
The HVLP gun puts the paint on the car with very little overspray.
Notice how little is even on the masking paper..

[This message has been edited by randye (edited 07-18-2009).]

Both bumpers and decklids, as well as the mirror housings, headlight doors and aero moldings were also painted during the same painting session.
The bumpers and decklids must be painted while off the car to get all the edges and undersides painted correctly.

[This message has been edited by randye (edited 07-18-2009).]

Next we went back and used the airbrush to touch-up some small areas and get into any corners and crevices we missed with the HVLP gun.
Both color and clear were "melted in" these areas and matched up with the fresh paint elsewhere.



Special attention was given to areas that normally would only be seen if you were specifically searching for them.
We don't want any of the old color showing *anywhere* on the car.

The car was rolled back in the garage and the new paint job was allowed to dry for 72 hours and then the body panels were carefully reassembled to the car:
We will need to "cut & buff" the nose, but I have placed the badge on the nose loose just to see what it will look like.
It will be off when we begin the final finishing steps.



Door panels going back on:
Notice that the aero moldings have been left off.
We want to wet sand and buff the door panels and moldings separately so that we can get to all the edges of the moldings and the door panels just behind where the moldings attach. Details count!


Rear bumper going back on.
Yeah, I had to remove the door panels. Forgot I needed to install the door handles and locks first!!


I managed to scratch a couple of small edges when reassembling the body panels, but they were quickly fixed with the airbrush.
Always set aside enough of your original paint for touch-ups!!

The door panels and bumpers are flexible, so you want then mounted back on the car to stay as rigid as possible while cutting and buffing the finish.
If you try to buff them off the car, you'll be constantly fighting with "floppy" panels and leave an uneven finish.
We will do the first "cut & buff" on the hood, rear decklid and headlight doors off the car to avoid burning the edges of them or the edges of the fenders.
These are always problem areas and we don't want to have to re-paint burned through edges at this point.

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"Cut & Buff" time!

Use both a cutting pad and a buffing pad. Don't try to use a single pad for both, you'll leave swirls in the finish.
This was a "show" finish so we actually changed both pads several times to ensure we kept them clean and fresh at all times.

The hood and rear decklid have already received their first cut & buff and have been placed back on the car now.
Note that we still have the tops of the fenders loose and pulled slightly away until we finish buffing and polishing their edges and the inside lip.



Work with your "cutting" or rubbing compound first and work in small areas, then "feather out" to wider areas later.
Cut, then buff, each individual section of the car one at a time.
Rinse the surface with clean water frequently and wipe it dry to gage your progress. Once you have a nice smooth, even surface with the cutting compound, *then* move on to the polishing pad and compound. Do one step at a time.
Get too aggressive with the buffer here and you will be repainting burned through areas.
You don't want to do that at this point.
Work smoothly and carefully. Let the buffer and the compound do the work.
Don't stay in one spot. Keep moving and don't push down on the buffer hard. Just hold it firmly and keep it from wobbling around.
Be smoooooooth.




Here you can see why you leave the aero moldings off until last.
We have buffed and polished all the way down to the mounting rails and have all the edges of the molding done too.
There won't be any un-polished recessed areas or grooves we couldn't reach with the buffer.
The body trim molding is also left off until all the polishing is done so that we can get right up to, and into, the recesses.
Once again, it's all about the DETAILS....Billy even made me take the door handles and locks back off AGAIN to get everything polished!



As smooth and glossy as you think the paint might be before you cut, buff and polish it, you will be amazed at what the results are after it's finished properly:
Here we are using a terrycloth bonnet on the buffer and a final finishing, swirl remover / glaze compound.

[This message has been edited by randye (edited 07-18-2009).]

All done and reassembled and cleaned up....and just a week before Daytona!

Nothing left to do except "debut" the car there,



have good looking friends pose beside it,



Go to more car shows,




and win Best of Show trophies:




That's how to paint your car outdoors.

[This message has been edited by randye (edited 07-18-2009).]