What you should know about the Xeralic car painting
Wings and roof shimmering in the sun, a shimmering hood… What is it? The vehicle of the future? Not at all! This is a stylish car, which has successfully “survived” xerolized painting. Today this technology is no longer something extraordinary, yet not every driver has heard of it, or knows all its pros and cons. What makes it unique? What rules do you need to know to get a successful result, and are there any pitfalls that make drivers give up this method? What is xeralic?
This material is a dry pearlescent pigment used in the three-layer painting of the car. The complex manipulation results in a smooth, silky surface with a distinctive shimmering effect. When you look at it, you get the impression that a professional hand has evenly scattered millions of tiny sparkles all over the fenders, hood and roof. Due to the volumetric structure of the pigment, the car looks “deep” and even soft. For comparison: if metallic is added to the coloring material, the shimmering occurs only in one plane, if pearlescent is applied in two, and if the technique of xeralic painting is applied, the surface will begin to shimmer in four planes. Do you want your car to sparkle from the roof to the wheels? Cover its whole body with glitter. Do you want to highlight individual elements? Have the masters apply this “magic” only on the hood, fenders or other parts. The paint will show itself best under sunlight, however even in the shadow it will loose many of its facets and will advantageously highlight your “four-wheeled friend”.
The pigment looks especially effective on dark tones – green, red, blue and even black. There are seven variants of its color, and it is best to choose the one that is close to the base. Do not be afraid that it will not be visible and will be “lost” in the background. On the contrary, the results will be stunning! From the standard nacre, which enjoys no less popularity than the xeralic paint, the latter differs in a high degree of color saturation, so with it the car shines more spectacularly. In origin, they are aluminum particles coated with oxides of other metals, only of a more regular shape and with greater transparency. This explains their resemblance to colored diamonds. As for mother-of-pearl, it is made of the natural mineral muscovite, which is far from being perfectly transparent, so it has less luster. Three coats of paint
The first is the so-called base, which sets the overall color tone. The second is the glitter pigment itself. The third is the varnish. At first glance, everything seems very simple. So why not experiment on your own? In fact, when working with the second layer, there are many nuances to consider. For example, that the gloss in pure form can not be used, and it is necessary to dilute it with a special base in different proportions, depending on the composition. And only specialists know what the correct ratio is, so it is more correct to contact the center of body repair. It is also logical that the following question arises: why not add glitter to the first layer? You can do it, but the effect will be minimal, and instead of a noticeable glare in the sun you will see a meager shimmer that will be barely noticeable. If you add pigment to the lacquer in order to simplify the technology and make it a two- instead of three-layer, the large particles will be unaesthetically protruding and “scratchy”. In addition, they can damage the base layer.
The concentration of glitter in a transparent base can be different. Experts select it individually in each case, depending on the client’s preferences and the need to achieve a particular expression of glitter. Just in case, it is better to write down the formula of the mixture. Unfortunately nobody is insured from unplanned repair, and you may have to paint the car repeatedly.
Car body painting with Xerox. What is this material and how to work with it?
The market for car painting materials is constantly evolving and now there is a wide range of different coatings for the car body available to car enthusiasts. One of these solutions is the auto paint Xeralique – a technology where for the application of the paint coating use three layers of material in the form of paint, base with a special pigment and lacquer. Due to the attractive appearance of the resulting coating, this technique is used to highlight your car among the general mass of vehicles.
But due to the high price of materials and work, as well as the impracticality of the coating itself, not many car enthusiasts choose painting with xeralic.
What is Xeralic?
It is a material that is used in the painting of surfaces, and by its structure it is a dry pearlescent powder. After proper application of this pigment on the car body you will get in addition to the main color the effect of a film with glitter, which will shimmer depending on the angle of the sunlight. By the idea of manufacturers Xirallic – a material alternative to white pearl, which is also often used for paintwork, but the difference in the technology and materials for the manufacture of pigment.
Classic versions of pearlescent paints have micro-particles of muscovite or potassium mica added to them, which in turn provide a silvery hue. In the case of xeralic, there, aluminum microparticles are added to the pigment, which have precise facets. As a result, a kind of glitter is obtained from aluminum, and they are also strengthened with metal oxides and additives that increase the reflectivity of this material.
The main advantages of xeralic compared to mother-of-pearl
Let’s highlight a number of advantages that you can get by choosing xeralic to get a shimmering coating for the body of your car.
- Preservation of the saturated color of the paint substrate. At the same time, it is not distorted.
- In good light, the treated surface will shine and shimmer, while in bad light a silky film effect is created. This provides a beautiful look to the car and gives it a unique look.
- The shimmering effect will be enhanced by the fact that the xeralic provides shimmer in four planes. In comparison, pearlescent uses two planes and metallic only uses one.
The aluminum sequins themselves are also colored in several colors, mostly this:
Especially beautiful and distinct pigment stands out on the dark paints of the base coating of the car, for example, dark blue or burgundy.
It is desirable to choose the color of pigment according to the tone of the base coat of paint, so that they are combined, or to take a silver or xeralic pearlescent. On the market you can even find chameleon-like xeralic, where the facets of the pigment are painted in different colors and enhanced with reflective materials to give a deeper effect.
Technology of car painting with xeralic
If you have decided to conduct all the work with their own hands, then we will try to describe to you the main features that you need to consider when applying the coating and describe the process itself.
We organize the working area and purchase materials.
- All work should be carried out in a closed garage. It must be clean, warm and ventilated. Dust can spoil the result, and since the materials are expensive, it will lead to a loss of time and money.
- It is necessary to prepare the surface, this will require a tool in the form of a grinder, paint sprayer. In addition, you will need consumables: abrasives, sandpaper, degreasing agent, primer, wipes, personal protective equipment.
- Paint and varnish materials for finishing coatings should preferably buy from one manufacturer to avoid the appearance of defects due to the differences and peculiarities of their composition.
The technology of obtaining the desired effect consists of three stages, in each of which one type of layer is applied.
1st coat. This is the main auto body paint, which you will pick up with the help of computer programs or ask for help from a colorist. It is this color that is the substrate on which the following layers will be sprayed. Usually these are darker shades of body colors.
2nd coat. Pigment is applied. It can either be ready-made with a base, or consist of two components that will need to be mixed. The color of the base and aluminum particles try to choose according to the tone of the substrate.
The 3rd layer. This is a varnish coating. It provides a protective layer, and on the finish it is polished for a better visual effect.
Article on the subject: Determining how many liters of paint you need to paint your car. Tips and approximate figures.
It is worth noting that adding xeralic to the undercoat, without using a second coat will result in particles and visual results will be almost invisible. If you skip the second step and add pigment to the varnish, then the smoothness and evenness of the finish coat is disturbed and, accordingly, its life is reduced.
If we talk about the proportions in which to add pigment to the base, then everything is individual, and it depends on what result you want to see at the end. You can paint the whole car with Xeralic, as well as individual parts, such as the hood of the car.
The process, which you can do yourself, is as follows:
- Prepare the surface, grind all the problem areas, remove rust, and mat the old paintwork. Then degrease the surface and apply primer.
- Wait until it dries and apply 2 to 3 coats of base paint, which is used as a substrate. Take breaks for drying. Matt the dried surface with fine sandpaper.
- Mix the Xeralics pigment with the base and spray it onto the body or a part of the car. Try to keep the layer even.
- Apply varnish in 2 to 3 layers. After that we polish the surface. Also if you want to get a good result, you can polish both the first and the second coat of varnish.
Then we wait for the paint coating to dry and check the result.
Video example of how to paint a car part using Xerox.
Cons of using Xerox
In addition to the beautiful visual effect obtained from the addition of pigments, there are a number of features that serve as a negative factor deterring many car enthusiasts to the use of this coating.
- Expensive pigment. Indeed, the quality material costs money, and if you will resort to the services of a master, rather than do everything with your own hands, it will cost a solid sum of money.
- With any damage to the paint layer the repair will be expensive.
- Rather complicated technology of the work, as it requires experience to apply an even layer of pigment.
Have you used Xeralic to repaint the body of your car? If so, please share your opinion about this coating and the end result in the comments.
