Mottle & Blending Issues, Cromax Pro 

Cromax pro is actually a great system it’s all I’ve sprayed and If you follow the procedure you’ll never have any issue blending. As long as you do your blend right after you lay that wet bed you’ll never have an issue. When dealing with silvers and golds and course metallics up the controller to 30% in the base. Really improves blending and application. 1.5 coats and go !

I'm a huge fan gun man .....I love how you keep it real and Shoot Straight I've been a body man for 30 years but I've never painted professionally just painted at the house have learned a lot and truly appreciate all the time you have invested in sharing your skills and knowledge

sweet words of wisdom! I can listen to you all day! 😂👏👍 Basically it's in the hands of the painter and his many years of experience to get great results! awesome job blending that silver!👍👌👊

Hi. I'm from germany and painting with cromax several years. Maybe I can give you a tip, for me it works great. My cromax technic guy, who paints for over 30 year by himselve, painted with me together several stuff and showed me this trick. By the way he also paint 1 extra coat by difficult colours... after putting the blender on, paint your colour and then you are in the blending area, turn your wrist to the side , where the blender is, so much that your spraygun show parallel to the car. Then turn your wrist back in, paint normally to the other side and if you also must blend there turn your wrist and arm out, so you spraying parallel to the car, too. It sounds crazy, I know, but it works. You have no overspray because of the blender and your paint will show the smoothiest blending area you have ever seen... it works great. I don't need a mixture of blender and paint. It's important that you do this also with the first and with the second half layer. Try it and you'll see it works wonderfull. I hope my english is not too bad and you know what i mean...

Nice video man! Nice to know there are other people out there that feel the struggle! I used cromax pro for about 3 or 4 years and I always was having these problems. I work in a high temp/low humidity area so I would have trouble keeping panels wet especially on high metallics. I have since switched to the mosaic line and couldn't be happier.

Great video, lots of good info. At the end of the day the results are what really matter. And it takes a good painter to work thru those issues and figure out what works. Good job.

Excellent tutorial Gunman ✨👍✨

Great video! I've been shooting Cromax Pro for the last few months. All of your impute is priceless! Thanks for addressing these issues. If possible please upload a 3 stage pearl job in Cromax. Keep killing it buddy!

A very old man once said to me "" use the force Luke"" Trust yourself, so what if its different paint, so what if its a DIFFERENT technique, You have many many many years of knowledge............... USE THE FORCE LUKE

I love your vids. I had major mottle issues today with my silver... it was humid. We use PPG eviorbase. Doesn’t cover for crap and I had a lot of build up and my edges wouldn’t go away with a tack cloth. Freaking sucks. I miss solvent

Good tips I just did some silver Birch on my Dad's truck. It seems the tech data sheets are the basic starting guide to the spray out card and a few test sprays on a old fender etc works best. My paint work is a once or twice a year at most. Thanks

Good video! Currently spray Envirobase HP, going to a shop that sprays Cromax Pro. This information is great!

Thanks much for the help. Been watching you for a few years and love your professionalism. I also bought a prolite from spray guns direct last month and am ready to blend a silver on a Jaguar this week. Lets hope there are no black halos!

Just an update on that car with the sweat marks Gunny i took your advice and gave them a slight rub with 2000 grit and buffed not only did it get rid of the marks but i was a little worried i wound knock down the factory peel but it turned out perfect cheers again mate. All the best Mike

We use Spies Hecker Hi-Tech 480 which is basically the same system. Things we've found are: We mostly base over primer (600Grit) which is one color for everything. I personally spray the first coat like clear followed immediately by two effect coats (outside/in). I raise booth temperature to 110F and wait 15 min. Turn off the booth lights and check for coverage with Sun-gun. If another coat is needed, I spray another effect coat and that's usually enough. If not, I re-appy blender with one or two more effect coats. I spray the base as thick as possible 10% solids, 20% metallics with Tekna PRO/PROLite 1.3 HVLP30. We use hardener in the base a lot. Helps it dry faster and ensures adhesion. I haven't had many issues with mottling and when I do, it was due to a previous paint job. When blending, we're told and I'm learning to just twist the wrist like a motorcycle handle without letting off the trigger. Hard to do when so use to doing it the more traditional way. This paint is sensitive to booth conditions in regards to airflow. Too much or too little is bad. It has taken our company of painters a couple years to dial it in. Iwata guns break up the base so fine that they wash out the metallics. Although I use Teknas mostly, Sata guns handle this paint really well. We do use solvent cleaners, but mostly prefer the waterborne types. Gets 99.9% of the contaminates (especially sweat) and controls static. My 2 cents, peace to you Gunman.

if coverage is a issue especially red tri coats put one coat. blow it completly dry then spray as if you just started. game changer

Gunman, sometimes the best results in anything are obtained by stepping out of the box, keep up the great work and never fear to try what you think will work, sand paper and a little paint make a good eraser.

Hey Gunman! I use the Standox Standoblue system which is pretty much the same and when it comes to the spray out cards I have 3 different cans of cromax spray bomb 1k a valueshade 2, 4 and 6. I put a quick coat of one of them on the spray out card and it works much better. Cheers.

love your videos gunman I have learned of alot😆

do it the way that works for you. been using water for 8 years now and always learning new things i have only ever sprayed solvent base coat once.

Love the channel! FYI a heat gun gets rid of sweat marks in seconds. Its the only thing I found that works.

When i have to prime over a door edge like that, i just open the door and use 3/4" tape and tape along the door edge, both doors (not the outside) and just mask with the paper facing inwards into the jamb. Close both doors with the paper inside the jambs and just prime right over it. Unmask and then all you have to do it knock down the hard edge with 600. Primer cant get inside the jamb and youll never have to cut in a jamb again. Kind of hard to explain , but very easy.

love the videos.

Love it! youre a gene pool(genius)

Thanks for all this info-

Dude, you rock

Two and a half coats worked great for me

mint job bro!

Great to be with u

good job!

You touched on a few reasons why I didnt like the Cromax system when we demoed it compared to Sikkens Autowave and PPG Envirobase. We ended up going with both a Sikkens and PPG system. We probably use the PPG systems the most, we love it. Its even easier to use than the Cromax system. Good video as always!

A 50/50 mix of binder-balancer works pretty good as a color blender... similar to using DBC500 in with PPG

Im surprised they havent got you all the right color cards that coincide with each shade of your undercoats. Makes a huge difference in being able to see the coverage and how it effects the final product

I use ppg enviro base and I never use blending agents at all and I never have any problems. I use spectral greys on every colour and on most colours it's usually 2 coats on every colour to achieve coverage but sometimes I have to put an extra coat on to achieve this but it's no big deal just dry it off and carry on Ppg is a true waterborne. I'm experienced with 28 years under my belt and I love solvent but it's water that I love . PPG all the way for me Mate I love your videos and appreciate your passion keep it up

Hi 👋 gunman I like how you apply the base coat because how you apply it you make it work very well 👍👍👍💯💯💯💯✅✅✅💪💪💪💪🙏🙏🏆

hey gunman I have been using the ppg evirobase for 5 months now.it's so much easier to use compared to what I have seen with the cromax...U don't need to use a base blend and the procedure is so much easier. we Spectro all our colours and I very rarely have to match colours..they have a match rating and anything lower than a10 rating I just mix the colour and just paint it..no need for colour matching..also the blending with the envirobase is awesome..I think it's by far the best waterbase system on the market. hope you get to use it one day and you will see the difference

Nice job thanks 🙏

If you notice it seems not to cover, Slow your gun down, We teach that you need to receive 80% of coverage on your first coat, depending on the size of the repair, you may have to give it a dwell time (Short Flash) before applying your half coat at distance. Depends on Humidity, witch i know you have cause my son lives in Brisbane, I’ve been there and its sillier to us in Canada in mid summer.When doing a small spray-out, you have to pause before applying your half coat, if you apply your half coat to quickly your half coat will sink into the wet film and will loose your match and darken your colour. I don’t like the idea of adding WB2091 to be honest, I just spray it wet and allow it to flash off slowly for best Met control . Everyone is different but I find best not to.

the sales rep from penta ,sikkens,ppg global in there seminars says first you spray the blender over the entire panel first then you spray 2 to 3 wet coats over primer area until cover fading the end.you then mix 50 to 50 with mix basecoat an blender an fade out the edges always tack rag between coats.when doing three stage pearls same process but you spray the blender between each coats

I like to add an extra coat of base. as well. most colors seem to really benefit from it

good work

I work for Maaco and we use Sherman Willams I’m actually in training there and been trying use your videos as a guide wish me luck mate

Great work gun that guy is right don't mask over a wet car man that's a problem did that year's ago when we firstt started useing it live and learn. Like you alway's say get out there and paint some shit but first bog that car!

Whatever works! Sometimes you just have to make it your own.

you can get aerosol primer from Cromax, they come in VS 2, 4 and 6, you can use those on the spray out cards just before you spray them and also on any cut throughs you have on the panel, it air dries realy fast, thats what we use in the bodyshop that i work. Regarding the paint mottleing, we use the previous generation cromax, it's a 2 wet coat system and straight after a drop coat useing half trigger on the gun, so not so much paint and holding the gun at a distance and going in a criss-cross pattern, after it dries if we have any mottle we can still do another drop coat in the same criss-cross pattern and with lower fluid, you just go lightly over it without getting the paint wet, just a mist coat, the paint rep doesn't reccomend doing a drop coat after the paint flashes off but it works for us even on silvers, after you drop coat it the paint will have a more matt finish to it but the colour still matches. This might work for Cromax Pro aswell, give it a try

we use imron at my work (custom paint on helicopters) and we have found that with any metallic that if you use any amount of reducer it makes it model no matter. we just stopped reducing metallics and never have any issues. we love imron

Gunny I too sprayed solvent for years and years the transition to water is a challenge it's a different beast thinking out of the box is a must all the things you are doing are spot on but for me what I have found is water likes to be sprayed softly therefore you need a gun that atomizes at super low air pressure and 80 to 95 percent overlap

TYVM 💯👍

hi gun man I use spies hecker water borne at work I smash on one very wet coat then clear

I use cromax pro every day and for most colors 1 and a half coats is fine... however with the high metallic blends or anything you dilute with 2091 try 3 10 Inch passes with an outside in technique after wet bedding with straight 2091

great work do a video explainning blenders

you say about not spraying non sanding wet on wet primer on repair panels. just my input what we do... we use a piece of foam edge masking down the door edge, leave it sticking out a little apply wet on wet.. push the foam edge in and then apply basecoat.. allowing base and clear to travel a little bit further. just my 2 pennys!

Easy fix use a different gun tekna with a 1.3 tip that gun our using won’t put enough paint on ! Love Axalta been using it for over 10 years with out issue . Very good video though !

interesting you use 1000, we use grey scotch Brite at work for scuffing clear for blends and for primered areas we use 400 grit on an orbital and I haven't seen any problems yet, we use all 3m products and cromax pro paints, will have to try things your way and see how they turn out

Spray your spray out cards when you spray the job. So when you seal your bumper seal your spray out card. You also didn't "flick" you drop coat. You need to flck the rist

Iv notice with metalics wen people do smart repairs they do one coat then the gun is sat for flash off the alloy flakes sink, that causes a massive failure in blending as its too silver,been thinking about some sort of mini sturer in the cup to avoid this? Maybe it's been invented ?

It’s what works for you

hi gunman.... i used Cromax Pro too and i have the same problem..... with and extra coat you dont have any problem with how looks the metallic or aluminium?... the Waterborne base look Nice and soft like when u paint 1.5 hands? ir ir ser a little dusty??? thank for all yours vídeos im a fan of you from Argentina...

nice video

Sweet episode mate. Keep then coming!!!! How much was that job if you don't mind me asking? The whole side.

I have found, if I get a sweat mark in a clear coat, from the plastic..... Spraying straight 2K thinners over the marks, and then evaporating it with a heat gun usually get rid of the marks...... Spray the thinner nice and wet.

open tack rag! GOOD FOR YOU MAKING VIDIO!

Thanks for rhe info ,slsp what brand of paint would u recommend for an older corolla project car i am thinking of doing ?

You're job is to make the car look good... they're job is to give you the info that usually doesn't work!

On silver you should use a darker sealer or primer underneath! As the blend 75-80% overlap and if your having a problem with the wet bed if you use it you shouldn't be painting

do you have any explanations on when you get damage on the door where do you have to blend and also on hand techniques and how to do it I would like to talk to you

Nice work man, what pressures are you spraying at for base and clear?

you are so lucky man to have a spray booth and painting in a hot country im from dublin where it can range from 26 celcius to minus 10 ive been painting cars for 45 years and still love it

Help me plz!!! I painted my truck put lots an lots of work into it and my base coat has tiger strips in it idk why it happened and I cleared it like a dumbass do I have to sand it all back off or is there something else I can do ty love the videos man you are most definitely the master my friend

the ctrl coat must be done on wet paint film. but from how many technique are there, ... as a hobby painter and the info I gathered from the net and not only , I`m applying the ctrl coat (solvent) by increasing the air pressure a bit and moving away from the panel to have a max. spray pattern , using large hand movement (all this in wet paint film). my sequence is , 1 coat - flash off - second full coat immediately followed by the controll coat. I`m using TE10 cap and Duxone paint system , hobby level but never had issues. for water based system like this in the video , I assume that the technique is a bit different. many many thanks

Just gotta figure out what works for you, it changes everytime i spray depending on temp and humidity

Hy guman i want now if the mix of clear and paint 50 and 50 can use for blend

hey, so gunny. cromax says 1.5 coats on the data sheet with no flash in between. as you did a 2nd base, did you flash it or was it more a 2.5 coat? i do spots outside so no baking and are looking to go water and are concerned about drying times? a single 1.5 is ok, but if its 2 flashes with extended times due to water, then this could add up with no bake. thanks

Hey Gunman, do you have to scuff the blend panel before you spray the wet bed on it? Thanks.

hi, did you have the same problem when using 6000? I find the coarse silvers are a bit transparent and need the extra coat.

We used to use Cromax Pro at our shop before switching to spies hecker solvent. Yes you do lose coverage with putting the blender in your base but you're not supposed to use that to spray over the primed area which is why you're having coverage problems. The axalta guys here in the US say this, blender in one gun, diluted basecoat with blender in a second gun, and the full strength basecoat in a third gun. You lay your blender down, then spray the primed area with your coat and a half for coverage with the full strength basecoat, then switch to your diluted basecoat gun right away and do the blends and you should have no problem with coverage or dark halos on the blends. I wouldn't be using diluted basecoat over primer like you are it just creates more work and more problems I'm not trying to say you can't but this is another way that you can try so you can see if it helps with your problems. Hope you see this gunman so you can try it out!

I bought a used camera and measuring instrument from EBAY in the USA. Can I use it without registering as a member of Axalta or DuPont? Can it be used with US specifications in Japan?

Recently sprayed my first panel. The brand I used was $50 a quart, chromax pro was $250 a quart. Is it really that much better❓

we use Glasurit 55 line at our shop and are under no pressure to switch to water... Yet. Not looking forward to the day I have to put up with shit like this.

Hey gunman, pissed I didn't win a mini gun . Ha ha , enjoyed the review though, found this video whilst trying to find the best way to blend whilst painting Found this video and wondered what you thought of the product this guy is using ? Interesting !!!!! Regards from Cairns

What do you use for base coat blender or wet bed?

This is how i use spieshecker 480.. just after watching your video as you mentioned the colour is so strong and good coverage. What do you think about doing the blend aera with a 50/50 mix... then changing guns and doing repair aera with full colour?

to me it looks as if the rear door looks a darker shade of silver than the front, awesome job though gunny.

Gun, What sort of respirator do you have here? Thanks

mate don't put your base blender in your colour to much dilution .I always do my blends first put on your wet bed and blend to the furthest point working your way in making sure you have a tight overlap. when putting colour on primed areas especially on light colours I fine if I use the old cross hatch technique . so 2 coats as per data sheet then cross hatch even over the blended area while wet all in one application . I find this works well

Gunman! Gun settings for base?

Do you go slow on control coat or fast??? Confused

Hi ,am aladdin from germany. I wanna ask you ,if you can mixed explain in another movie how can i mixed 2k color how Fluid it must be . thanku

Hey gunman...you spray base a clear very well but you are not spraying this base coat properly...cromax pro or standox standoblue which is the same but if sprayed properly it's way faster than solvent

At 20:38 there is a bit of a mottle, or is it just me? And i might be mistaken but at 23:15 the colour "sits" a little bit funny?

I am guessing by now you have it nailed, but in this video you are spraying it like solvent. Axalta water is way different than solvent. I spray spies, exactly the way they tell you to do it. I only use the 50:50 mix with BC on tricoats.

Basecoat blend agent over entire job,will fill any scratches better,then blend colour into that,mix colour and blender together at end if need be to lose a difficult blend,silver sucks.

Axalta has sprayed out color chips. not sure what your being told. Want coverage on 90% of colors then slow your gun down. Compared to all other paint line Axalta has better coverage…case closed

Hey Gunny, if I got mottling on a 76 Jeep Wrangler. Can I just sand/scuff the spots smooth that are mottled and proceed to spray or do I need to sand back down to primer? Spraying a Honda Woodland Green Pearl with about 8oz. Of Alabaster silver Metallic added to a quart of the Green Pearl.

LOL,pull dont fling.how many minutes ? and they do have value cards,plus value info.

Does this paint require clear coat

Blending metallic paint = impossible. It's best to just repaint the entire panel. Base coat doesn't cost enough to justify the risk of having to repaint the entire panel. It's hard to even see these types of problems on camera but in real life they are easy to see. Mottling = too heavy of application. These metallic paints, especially the lighter colors require a lower pressure or they won't spray evenly. You need to mist them on there at like 22 psi. You are the best judge of your own work because you can see things that others can not see. In a nutshell, metallic paint is a royal pain in the ass, the problem is that almost every damn car on the road has metallic paint these days. It's not just you Gunny it's a problem for EVERYONE!!

i have a question bro.. the bleending and fade out thinner. is same?.

If you put down a wet bed those 800 scratches shouldn't be a problem I assume since you're a professional you're using blender

I'm spraying Cromax Sublime metallic pearl on my Challenger's hood (underside first for test) and their suggested 1.5 coats over value shade 2 was HORRIBLE. I've resprayed it with two more coats of base and still not enough coverage. I'm now going to hit it one more time with two more, maybe three coats. This is getting VERY expensive. I'll probably never use this Cromax system again. It's a diluted ripp-off.