How "thin" is too thin?
 

I have been painting for about a year now, but i am certainly no pro.. just sort of learning as I go.

My question is that I always hear "spray thin coats".. which I understand for obvious reasons (drying, sealing, paint drips ect) on doing that..

My question though is how thin is thin?

When Im painting, I will hold it up to a light, and my first coat usualy goes on light, to the point where i almost cant see it when i hold it up. Its there, but its light.

My second coat tends to be a bit thicker, with the goal being an evan coat over the first, enough to block 50% of the light through the body when holding it up to a light..

I tend to throw on a 3rd coat if im not backing the color, or use the 3rd coat as a backing, but me personaly, i spray another medium coat until it blocks out almost 80-90% of the light through the body..


Am i putting it on way too thick? is the goal for something like black, to almost block the light through the body? or should i be spraying generaly lighter coats overall and stop with the backing/final color only blocking 50% of the light?


I dont know if that makes sense or not.. ive just never found an article that explains how much paint to put on the body per color.. they always just say "use light coats" but never really explain when you should stop adding light coats :P

Something you have to remember. Yes, putting the body up on a light will see the lighter areas, but i don't think it is necessary to cover all those areas unless you plan on covering it with another color. Pearls are easy to fool you. You do not need as thick of a coat as you might think. IT is naturally "thin" but as soon as u put it down on a car, you can't see through it.
Point is, you do not have to lay the paint on "THICK" in order to get a paintjob finished. If you can't see though it when it is mounted, you do not have to add more paint. More paint will only cause you to bleed more. I tend to go about 6 light consistent coats...nothing more.