Primer color?

[free99]

Hey everyone,
Kind of a weird question, but let's see what the consensus is:

I picked up an aerosol can of custom-mixed red micro-flake spray from a local automotive paint shop.

The guy who runs the place told me about an old school trick local cholos would do when customizing their cars, involving painting a checker pattern using black and white primers, then subsequently going over the whole pattern with the main color paint, and then clearcoat. It apparently imparts a subtle change in the paint color.
Fella goes on to suggest that my red flake would look really good over a black primer, but I have trouble believing that. Wouldn't the red over black result in a muddy brown, vs the white primer?

What are your thoughts, or anecdotes?

[Gorminrider]

There's certainly a lot of truth about the undercoat affecting the final colour. Sometimes, the instructions specify which primer to use.

[rphillips]

This seems almost a trick question. There are sooo many different types of paint & applications, some the primer will make a huge difference while with others there will be absolutely no difference...Just my opinion.

[Cipher]

Hey everyone,
Kind of a weird question, but let's see what the consensus is:

I picked up an aerosol can of custom-mixed red micro-flake spray from a local automotive paint shop.

The guy who runs the place told me about an old school trick local cholos would do when customizing their cars, involving painting a checker pattern using black and white primers, then subsequently going over the whole pattern with the main color paint, and then clearcoat. It apparently imparts a subtle change in the paint color.
Fella goes on to suggest that my red flake would look really good over a black primer, but I have trouble believing that. Wouldn't the red over black result in a muddy brown, vs the white primer?

What are your thoughts, or anecdotes?

Youtube and consult the manu of your paint
Candy apple red uses the multi layer technique.

[Buffalo Bill]

Red is a transparent paint, so the primer shade makes a big difference.
Choose the primer for the final brightness, rust red primer will give a dark red, middle gray or light gray is safe, white will be the brightest.
You could also try an undercoat of silver, gold or yellow if you feel creative.
Test a couple primers first before you commit.

[nvr2old]

I think if it were me, I'd spray a light grey primer then spray a base coat of solid red as close to the micro-flake red color that's in the can. It'll take very few coats to cover that way, followed by the clear coats.

[free99]

I think if it were me, I'd spray a light grey primer then spray a base coat of solid red as close to the micro-flake red color that's in the can. It'll take very few coats to cover that way, followed by the clear coats.

You were spot-on with this advice, after a lot of experimentation, it wound up being the best path forward. Light grey filler-primer, several good coats of metallic, couple coats of clear. I'll post pics tomorrow once I get a picture of the tank in the sun.

[free99]

Red is a transparent paint, so the primer shade makes a big difference.
Choose the primer for the final brightness, rust red primer will give a dark red, middle gray or light gray is safe, white will be the brightest.
You could also try an undercoat of silver, gold or yellow if you feel creative.
Test a couple primers first before you commit.

Thanks for this advice, I found red over gold flake looked the nicest, but of course the local automotive place only had a single small can, and I needed two. Wound up going with light grey primer, came out pretty nicely. But, sage advice I'll earmark for the future when I paint the GS1000.

[free99]

Just testing: