Color matched?! I'd say yeah. Under a perfect flash light, the aerosol base coat is mildly more purple. Under all other lighting, shes minty bud.
so, recently repainted and installed my new to me Moon Visor. All went well! For those of us doing DIY customizations or repairs to our Dark Lapis Metallic trucks, it appears it is harder than necessary to find an aerosol that matches or is even available. Thanks to the forum members I was able to get close to getting a reliable link to the color needed. There is an aerosol available (as pictured) that gets very close if not as close as you'd ever need called "Ford Dark Blue Metallic" by Duplicolor. It is available at auto parts stores like the one down the road that your second cousins brother in law owns, or Autozone, etc. I've found that nobody stocks it anymore and it is impossible to search for *on* Amazon.. but if you Google "Ford Dark Lapis Metallic Duplicolor Amazon," suddenly it exists. So there's a life hack for you.
For clear I used 2k aerosol, hence the orange peel. Not worse than a newer vehicle out of the factory though.... lol... but I'm waiting a few weeks to block it flat as glass.
For those curious my process was:
-start with a visor that was painted white by Maaco, that originally had a black gel coat
-sand entire visor with sanding sponge (probably 800grit)
-sand again with 1000 wet because I intended for a thin color coat
-check for any filler or abnormalities underneath that may have been hidden by paint
-prime extra well on any areas that sanded thinner than the rest, dark gray primer, wait an hour
-dust coat metallic base coat, wait a few minutes til dust coat is dry
-first medium color coat. Wait until base coat is only tacky but not wet, check by touching blue tape not the actual visor
-second color coat application, mildly thicker and went marginally slower around areas I remembered had received less paint from previous job since visors get assaulted by bugs and debris
-wait until these coats entirely dried, about 12 hours to be certain
-sanded 1000g wet, to apply a third color coat thicker than the last two just to be sure.
-let that entirely dry. (12 hrs).
-sanded that coat with 1200g to make sure the metallic flashes properly or evenly per se, and improve adhesion (besides chemical bonding,) to the clear coat that I planned to lay on thick
-wiped down with tack cloth to get any sanding debris removed etc
-applied clear first with a dust coat, let dry to touch. Did sides and under first then top
-let dry to tacky, laid on second clear coat mildly thick paying attention to potential runs and problem areas where curves are. Again, bottom then sides then top. A little extra attention to the front curves and the corner curves that you see when getting in and out! So it can be blocked later nice and flat.
-let that coat dry to tacky. At this point the previous two coats shouldn't be soaking wet coats but not super thin. Even coverage but not overboard.
-final clear coat is thicker than the other two, with best coverage. If you're gonna get runs it should be here. You're trying to ride the thin line between maximum thickness and no runs. Not holding the can too close so the aerosol blows bubbles into your paint, you want it on a slight angle, and you want to keep moving [obviously lol]. Imagine the can is a paint brush and you're painting on an enamel paint trying to avoid pressing too hard that you create brush strokes but slow, consistent, and wet enough that it will lay nice and flat when it settles.
-stand back and don't even breathe at it. Wait until its dry to touch, and pull off the light masking tape at an angle *not straight up from the panel, so as to not peel paint up.* the same angle you'd hold a razor blade for example. Hard to put into words
-wait a bit and be too impatient not to throw it up on your roof. Mark. Drill holes. Use tons of RTV and self tappers and don't cheap out on either. Use anything you can to hold it still on the roof while you mark holes and drill as it will possibly flatten out as you add screws and change its orientation. Every screw that goes in, check the alignment. Having a sun roof helps a lot for this and it still is kind of difficult.
-maybe tap the dimmer light circuit on your 2nd gen, since that circuit is only on when the lights are on. I used an Add A Circuit Fuse Tap, they are $8 for 5 on Amazon. Comes with butt crimp connector. There is still enough clearance for the fuse panel door in the interior!
-go drive with your cool new lights and color matched visor and feel like an absolute boss. exhaust leak adds extra cool points
I'd say overall the color match is there! I had my expectations set low but I'm pleasantly surprised with how it came out. What do you all think??
What is your go to for aerosol color match paints? Would I have been smarter to just go to Maaco?
