I painted my chevelle last week with the marina blue sherwin williams formula and it seems to have come out almost leaning toward like a midnight blue. I laid down 3 wet coats of base and 2 coats of clear.
My first paint job.
I had some flaws in the color, so I sanded the clear with 600 and will reshoot it next week. Funny thing is that after I sanded the clear with 600 the color looked correct ( more of a light blue,marina blue)
Does it matter how many coats of base or clear goes on to chane the color?

Shot mine the same color only ppg dbu last weekend and it came out a little on the dark side compared to the original paint hidden various places. It still looks fine to me and more correct than so many others I've seen. Don't know if the amount of clear has any effect but what choice do you have? You still need the min. 2 coats.
By the way, when you wet-sand that clear, make sure you get rid of the sludge right away, it'll help with the final clean.:thumbsup:

DOes it haelp to give a mist (drop,fog) coat of color before the clear?

Dan, I don't post much in the body shop area and I am not a profesional by any means but, we wet sanded my Chevelle with 1500 and then 2000 to get it flat (orange peel out) . The DA, with 2000 and water, left some orbital marks in the clear that I wasn't happy with so we hand sanded those areas, again by hand. After that, it was hit with 2000 foam pad(s) and then 4000 foam pad(s). Then buffed.

Johnathan, my painter, said even 1000 grit was too coarse for sanding before buffing. But you have to remember this is a high end shop. He said your car was now ready for a cleaning and clear as he shook his head and walked away.
After I convenced him to come back and talk to me, he said this," Man, there's not even enough clear to buff after you sand with 600. I'd have to clean that thing up and shoot at least two more coats of clear on it before I'd even attempt it. And then you would have to sand it all again, with 1500 and then 2000. Buff that B***h, and then she'd look, sick."
Dan, like I said before, I am not a profesional. But, John is.:yes:
Sorry.
Eric.

IMO, it's difficult to tell from pics. provided, but I think it looks pretty close to what I remember. :) Maybe some one more familiar with Marina blue can/will give their opinion. :yes:

BTW, looks like it's coming along nicely, you should be very proud. :thumbsup:

What has happened is I shot the car last Wed. at class.
After I shot it with base, I saw some areas with dust particle in, soooooo
I thought I would be smart :sad: and lightly sand the particles with 1500 paper before I clear coated.
Well when I sanded these areas the paper loaded up and created some scuff marks in the base. I thought no big deal, but when I cleared they really showed up.
So, the instructor told me to stop, wet sand the areas I cleared with 600 and the base areas that were not cleared with 1500 and I will reshoot it tomorrow.
Now, you know the Rest of the story.

I didn't want to go into all that but there you have it.
The thing is the areas I cleared were darker than the areas I cut in 2 years ago, with the same paint (from same can)
I was reading my book and found that there are several ways to lighten or darken metallic paints, just by the way it is applied.

Very wet coat= darker
Higher booth temp = lighter
faster solvent = lighter
move solvent = lighter
Maybe I will try the faster solvent.
At least now I know it is not my imagination that the color seems darker.

Those "tricks" to lighten or darken a color are new to me but then I don't do this for a living. I do know how tricky a metallic job is to lay down consistently even when you have the gun setup correctly and have a very steady hand.
Don't use a fast reducer, you want the slowest reducer you can get away with.
Remember any color variations you see in the base will be apparent through the clear.

Good Luck...and try hotrodders.com in the body dept. for a knowledge base that can't be beat.

you can also lighten the color with higher air pressure. humididty will also affect the color. as will reduction and on and on. even the distance of the gun from the paint surface can change the color.

you can also lighten the color with higher air pressure. humididty will also affect the color. as will reduction and on and on. even the distance of the gun from the paint surface can change the color.

I think I will try a light mist (drop) coat before I lay down the cear. Going to shoot this afternoon. I'll let you all know how it turns out.

looks pretty darn close. I went through this exercise with my painter about 15 years ago. the only paint we could make match was dupont marina blue for a 1967 corvette....they had no records for chevelles...

All you have to do is call the PPG library and find out if the color is a direct mix or it's an offset. Also see if there are any variances. Whoever is mixing it can alter the paint with the tints on the system to get the result you want. Same principle applies no matter what brand you choose. A darker value is what you seem to want. An instructor was mentioned in this thread and I can't understand him not telling you this or allowing someone to sand a metallic basecoat prior to clearing.

As far as laying on the color drier to lighten it this is because the metallic is standing up more. Basecoats and clear and how the eye percieves them are directly affected by the principles of refraction. This is based on Snell's Law and should be taught in at least it's simplest form so students can apply it to shooting and mixing colors. Or at least know when they are dealing with someone who does not understand this field well.

And a paint code does not care what car it's on. The tints in MM are the same on a 67 Camaro or a Chevelle. Same appies to Marina Blue.