I’ll soon be test spraying the Argent grill paint I purchased from F. Badalson in preparation to re-paint my grill sometime in the future.

This got me thinking about gun spray patterns, pressures, techniques, etc. and I was wondering if anyone has any experience they can share about how to apply this paint? I understand there are a multitude of factors that can cause variation, but does someone have experience applying the paint and getting close to the original texture, etc?

For example: What tip sizes are best to use since this paint has a large grain size metal flake? I wouldn’t want the larger flakes to not eject out of the gun because they can't pass through the tip.

Any help would be appreciated.

I painted my 71 grille about a year ago with Roger Gibson paint that Frank Badalson sells. At the time Frank gave me Roger's number and and I called and he was very helpful with suggestions. I am very happy with how it came out. I can't find my notes from my conversation with Roger but below are a couple of the main things I remember.

1. He told me that he uses a touch up gun conventional, not HVLP. I bought one with the size tip he recommended, but I don't remember the size. It was a Wilmar M578DB, I think I only paid about 25 bucks on ebay for it. Roger said you don't need to spend a lot on it.

2. The pressure he told me to run was fairly high I think 30-40 lbs. I had and NOS lower grille and some headlight rings so I experimented with this a little to get the texture I wanted.

3. He told me to do quick motions, not to put on a whole lot of paint at once.

4. Because of the texture you want to get the paint mixed well in the can. I took it to the fellows who painted my car and they shook the cans for me.

5. My grille and lower grille had no repairs, believe it or not. I cleaned everything very well with soap and water, very little sanding. Then cleaned with soap and water again and rinsed well and dried. This only works if you have no enamel paint as the paint in the kit is lacquer.

6. Since mine was a 71 I only used #1 and #3 in the kit. Most 71's did not have the large flakes in like the 70's did.

7. I bought real lacquer thinner from a PPG dealer and thinned as per the directions.

8. Obviously you don't want to use a tack cloth or anything because of the texture.

Below are some pictures of my grille and lower grille. Honestly they look better in person than these pictures.

Mike Afflerbach

Great information, thanks Cudaize! Your grill and valence insert look great from the pictures.

I bought my paint from Badalson/Gibson 10+ years ago and there are only 2 cans in the paint system. The first can is the argent, and the second can appears to be a clear with very few gold-ish flakes in it. Now I understand he sells a 3-can system. What is in the 3rd can I don't have? Based on your comment, I’m guessing the new 2nd can is a larger grain argent that goes on top of the 1st can?

How many total coats of each did you apply, if you recall?

Rob,

#3 is the critical and hardest part. You have to be patient.

Also If don't own one buy a paint shaker.

Chris

Chris,

Why is #3 the most difficult? I assume your talking about the can of clear with little gold flakes, correct?

The #2 can is what appears as heavy silver metalflake and clear.That is a must have.#3 is just clear with a few flakes in it.

No I meant step 3 - adding light coats with a quick motion. In other words being patient.

I would think the size of the tip is also a very important piece of info passsed along from an expert.

Cant you look at what tips you have? One the gun came with and one you bought to use per Rogers suggestion???

I would also believe a fast reducer would help get the product to flash before it has time to flow and smooth out.

Thanks, Chris. Now that makes sense.

I agree on using a colder temperature reducer, like a DT16 or DT870 or 860. Roger actually has that in his instructions.

I'm pretty sure I read an older Moparts post where someone said they were paining their grill argent and when they were done, they noticed all the larger flakes were stuck in the bottom of the paint cup in their gun because the tip size was too small. The argent texture on original grills were/are very rough.

Sorry for not posting sooner.

It's hard to say how many coats I did as the 71 grille has a number of pockets so I shot everything one way and then the other. If I had to guess it was approximately 2-3.

The tip of the gun I used was 1.6 mm

The thinner I used was DTL16 PPG

Mike Afflerbach

Thanks Mike. That info is very helpful.

Rob