Nova Burst Megashift | Gloss Liquid Wrap
NOVA BURST MEGASHIFT
We liquid wrapped this Lexus with a Gloss Clear Coat for a scratch resistant, gas resistant, more durable finish. This peel-able auto paint will last 5+ years, protect the factory paint, and peel off easier than vinyl. Here’s how we did it.
MASK
Like with any of our projects, this one starts with a good clean and mask. The factory paint on this Lexus looks great, no wonder they want to protect it. Every car has its specific needs when it comes to masking. This one had some rubber gaskets in the door jambs that would be a pain to remove so I pulled a little trick out of my sleeve. I sprayed tire shine down the gasket so the paint would not grip to it and I could just peel it off at the end of the project. Definitely important to clean all the tire shine off of the panels so it is only on the gasket. The window trim gaskets were a little close to the body of the car as well so I used some J-Tape to hold them back. Other than that, the car was pretty simple to mask. The roof is glass and staying black so a couple sheets of Plazmask help cover all the way from the front windshield to the back.
BASE
The base coat is going to be white but it also has to be thick enough to ensure peel-ability when the time comes. This size car needs about 2 gallons of base down which is very monotonous and time consuming. I decided to split it up by using 1 gallon of light grey then 1 gallon of white. This gives me a better idea of the coverage and thickness of each coat. I’m using a compressor and Spectrum Black Widow HVLP gun with a 1.7mm tip for the base.
COLOR
The customer chose to go with a Megashift Pearl called “Nova Burst” and also wanted to spice it up with some of its corresponding flake “DR 20”. I actually sprayed this combo on my personal car which is what gave her the idea. I ended up using 25g of pearl and 7.5g of flake total in 2gal of un-tinted base. Still spraying out of the Black widow with 1.7mm tip. The flakes can clog up the nozzle sometimes so I keep a towel in hand to wipe it off. I wish I had doubled the amount of flake looking back. It wasn’t quite vibrant enough for my liking.
CLEARCOAT
For the Gloss Clearcoat I switched to a clean gun, Iwata Kiwami4, and a 1.3mm tip. This gun is actually amazing for the price. At this point I had been suffering from technical problems only receiving about 20-25psi to my gun while spraying. I tried switching regulators, cleaning all filters, everything I could think of but couldn’t pinpoint the problem. I ended up deciding to spray the gloss anyway which was a big mistake. The low psi allowed much larger droplets to come out while spraying leading to a chunky finish that was definitely not deliverable. I decided to buy a new regulator for the gun and ended up fixing the problem. If only I had not been so stubborn and did this before hand
FLOWCOAT
All is not lost however. This project was definitely savable and I had already budgeted time to flowcoat the whole car. I used some 800grit sandpaper and a DA sander to smooth the whole car out then some 1500grit paper for more delicate areas like body lines and panel edges. After a nice wipe down I mixed up another batch of clear. This time I added 3g more pearl directly into the clearcoat just to get some more color on the car. I had never done this before but it came out great on my test panel so I decided to take the risk. After triple checking my fixed psi (28) I put one last coat on the car and allowed it to dry for about 4hrs.
UNMASK
While unmasking, I could see that the finish came out really good. Very little orange peel or dry spray and the color was that perfect combination of subtle and vibrant in the right light. The flakes were a great addition although I still wish I did more and when the sun hits it you get some bright greens and purples. Needless to say the owner was very happy. As always, everything we used is listed below and if you are interested in getting your car done give me a call!