Anyone know of good online links that show available colors and types of of paint?

Believe it or not, I'm considering painting one of my Lian Li's and I need a good automotive paint. I don't want spray bombs as I'm going to use a spray gun to do this (If I do).

I'm a sucker for metallics and pearls, is Yellow availabile as a pearl or metallic?

A few other colors I'm thinking about is deep metallic purple or dark metallic red.

Thanks.

Finally a paint question!! woot woot!
I have been gone for the last three days to a BASF training seminar, so I haven't been here very much lately.
I actually brought up painting the latest LL cases. You have got to be carefull, take this very serious ViperZ, your LL has been case hardened and is 30% tougher than stainless steel. Non stick pans that you cook on is case hardened with teflon. The hardness poses one hell of a problem, I wasted about four sheets of P320 grit wet/dry paper wet sanding the side of my first LL and it peeled right off. Had absolutely NO mechanical bond....bad.
I brought this up to probably the smartest person I have ever met in the paint industry, said it needs to be media blasted. LL cases are so tough they should be blasted with sand as opposed to walnut or glass beads.

The last LL I painted I sanded through the 'case hardened' outer layer. I started with 180 grit on a d.a. and cut it off, It really suprised me how long it took to get through. But by god when I got through it I had a mechanical bond I could use a etching primer on and sand flat for my top coats, had excellent adhesion, survived the 'knife' test.
I wrote a " how to " article on how to properly paint an LL, but my customer would not allow me to feature his case. You see I paint cases for some computer companies and I had signed a paper, with this company that I would not show the custom work..... and this case had plenty of custom work done to it.
ViperZ, I had worked on this project for weeks, I read through all my past training manuals and literature, emailed and or called paint jobbers and even got to speak to some of the "white coats" that work in the lab of one of the MAJOR paint manufacturers.

People may have some ideas, but let me "test" them first, I have acquired some case hardened panels, for testing. You would much rather have me ruin a panel or two instead of your baby. I love your case and I want it done right just as much as you do. I know you are a DIY, but I would paint your LL, if you would be more comfortable.

The first ones where not finished this way and where very easy. If you did paint one of the latest ones and you did nothing special, don't scrape your thumb nail on an edge or blow it off with an air hose, because you will end up with colored saran wrap flying off your machine.
If you do have a proven, tried and tested way, please let me know so that I can test. I am not a "know it all" and am learning every day. I just have 16 years mistakes under my belt and I don't want one of my 'bros to make a mistake I did.
Here is one interesting note to keep in mind if working with this type of surface........ it is not "dish water safe". Isn't that a trip.... and no the dishwasher wont remove it, just flake off where you sratched it with a spatula.


If you see a color of a car you like, let me know the year and the make and I will post the mixing label, so you can take it to a automotive paint supply store and have them make it for you.
NO you cannot put pearl in yellow paint. Whenever someone asks for a metallic yellow, I paint the yellow and mix the pearl in the first coat of clear, then pound on another coat of clear and rub. Looks awesome, the pearl just slaps you in the face, but then dissapears when the light is not on it. There is so many pearls today, red, violet, green blue, white, gold..... you just got to be creative. One nice bright yellow is on the Corvette, Millenium Yellow.


Just an idea, but could you imagine a gold pearl over the top of that?

Thanks Duck!

Whoa Insomniac, great information. I did know about the hard anodizing of the LL case, and I had learnt that painting it may be a problem from one of your previous experiances.

Thanks for your care of a fellow Bro Actually It's different LianLi I want to paint, a PC 65. You bet I'll wait until you have some test results in.

I do have acess to a sand blaster, however I soon won't for that place is shutting down. I thought I would maybe take it to one of these Public autobody places where you can rent equipment and booth time, but I certainly would be interested in having you do the work as well Insom. You know what your talking about and from what I have seen of your work, it's impecable.

Flying colored saran wrap... ROLFLMAO, yep definetly don't need that!

I love that Corvette yellow, The gold pearl idea is simply delicious!

I'll peruse some cars colors that I like and them we'll have to talk Insom.....

Thanks for all that great information!

Insomniac, what color do you think this is?

It looks to be some kinda pearl red, mixed with a candy base...

I think I would like this color

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House of Kolor is a well known maker of fine quality auto paints. check em out here www.houseofkolor.com

Thanks for the link MB!

I really want one with on line swatches (samples) of color. Much like this one here from Falcon.



Product Link

those are nice, but who is to say how realistic they are? the best bet is to do what Insom suggested. go to the mall or home depot ot supermarket and look at the cars until you find one that has a color you like, then he can look up what the mix in it is. or go to an auto body place and see what they have to show you. you may have to tell them that you are considering painting your car (or "the one at the shop") for that though.

EDIT -- i have also heard of (though not seen) a computer program that paint shops have that will let you mix the paint on the program first and supposedly show EXACTLY what it will dry to. It lets you mix as much or as littl pearl, kandi and/or fleck as you want supposedly. Insom should know more about that then I do, but that may be the way to go if there are a lot of body shops near you. IIRC, the guy that told me about it said he used it at NAPA, but I've never seen a NAPA that had something like that so the whole thing may have just been BS.

Do you know anything like that Insom?

The problem with showing paint chips or other colors on your computer is that monitors will often display colors incorrectly. A particular color may look great to one person, but it may display differently on another computer due to different gamma, brightness, hue/saturation settings, etc.

Of course, you can't really get an accurate idea of a color by looking at a spray-bomb cap, either. With stone-textured paint, for example, it gets progressively darker with additional coats.

I think you need to look at actual paint chips, which is what they'd do if you were looking to repaint a car a specific color. I'm thinking a deep burgundy (with a bluish prismatic effect) would look great for the Hot-Rod case.

Sorry ViperZ, I missed your post about that BMW color.
The color was used by BMW from 1996-present. It is code 362 and it is called Sienna Red II Pearl Metallic. It is a beautiful color, has a lot of gold and red pearl. Looks dark and then when the light hits it, it slaps you in the face with the gold and red, awesome. Great PC color....but then I have never questioned your taste. Some peoples taste is all in their mouths, but you are 'da man.

Mist & Coel, while I'm aware of the limitations of looking at colors on line, I would still like to see it, just so I get an idea to the expected color. An image sample even if it's inaccurate is still better than just saying "Smokey Amethyst" A color chart would let me narrow down my range For instance it's easy for me now to say I would like that yellow or orange in the Falcon sample above. It's now easier for me to find some pint color that may best match that.


Insom, no.... U Da Man!

I'll have to drop by my local BMW dealer and have a look see then. I did not think that was a stock color on the car. However your discription of it seems to be a perfect match.

Thanks!

ViperZ, if you can get my color book back to me in a week or so, I will send you my House Of Kolor paint swatch book. weighs about a pound if I had to guess. Just PM me your addy and I will ship it to you, but I do need it back. They run about $65 and I have a page that isn't in all, the Kameleon Kolors.
Let me know, I will help you in any way I can.

Insom, thank you so much for the generous offer

I should be good for now. I'm going to look at that BMW color and then visit an auto paint supplier in town. If I absolutely get stuck, I may then take you up on it.

You're the best man!

that bmw color looks sweet as hell...thought i think ill go wit a blueish color like aht

hey viper i dont know if this will help you out any but here in the states you can buy House of Color "little cans" for models like at wal mart and hobby shops.Just saying this and maybe Insom might be able to help and these little cans might be a good jump off point for some samples if they are a close match to the auto shop color

well i havnt yet seen a LL painted

Check out www.krylon.com for some paint colors. They have the "Make It Stone" as seen on Coelcanath's rig. They also have the Mystique series that will change color depending on the angle. The have some other funky craft paints that may look cool on a case.

If you see a BMW that has a cool paint job, just walk up there with a chizel to chip some of it away. Make sure the owner isn't around, and you can run really really fast. (kidding of course!)