£116.10
(VAT incl.)
Gorgeous diamond effect pearl paints in 2L cans
Product to select from more than twenty shades below.
Representing the most advanced colour formulas among the different types of motorcycle paints, pearlescent motorcycle paints have become the most common in the field of modern motorcycle paints today. Basically, a pearlescent paint is a paint that uses synthetic mica pigments. There is a wide variety of colours and types, which we detail below:
OEM pearlescent tints : this is a pearlescent motorcycle paint made according to a very precise recipe, obtained by colour-matching the paint of a motorcycle manufacturer. Often, because of the transparency of pearlescent motorcycle paint, a specific undercoat must be applied (a third coat – see explanations below).
« Custom » pearlescent colours : these are paints that use and highlight the beauty of pearl pigments. They can be pure (the mica pigment alone creates the colour) or combined with transparent colourants. Among these iridescent effects, both fine and coarse pigments can be found, creating more sparkling, glittery effects.
Particularities of the pearlescent motorcycle paint
Other types of paints that use the properties of mica pigment in their composition are Candy and Chameleon. In all these cases, the brightness qualities of synthetic mica pigment are used to enrich the colour and play with light reflections. The effect produced by these mica particles is much finer and more subtle than the coarser and more opaque aluminium-based metallic pigments.
The quality of pearlescent motorcycle paint comes with a drawback: pearlescent paint does not support any opaque tints in its formula. It must be logically transparent to allow its pearl pigments to reflect light. This means that most pearlescent motorcycle paints are applied over a specially designed coloured background (white, grey, black, etc.). This is the tri-coat system*.
For example, a pearly white motorcycle paint will be obtained with a white background plus a coat of pure pearl. It is not possible to mix the white and the pearl without drowning the pearl effect.
Tri-coat means three coats, with the third coat always being the clearcoat.
OEM tri-coat pearlescent shades
Does your bike have a very nice tint? More sparkly, with a strangely beautiful and deep hue? It is probably because your colour code is a tri-coat. If you are going to do a paintwork job, you will need the pearlescent colour code paint plus a second paint, called the specific undercoat.
Sometimes this undercoat (coat 1) is a solid colour or pearlescent. Sometimes coat 2 is simply pearlescent or a transparent colour.
Why can't we find a 2K pearlescent paint ?
With the exception of the famous Crystal pearlescent clearcoats, pearlescent paints are only available in the form of monocomponent paints, the classic 1K paints. And why not make pearlescent 2K paints to save time and product? There is a good reason for this: the pearls in the paints are sprayed in a precise manner, and their placement on the surface must be maintained. For this, it is important to have a very thin paint that dries very quickly to avoid at all costs a slippage of pigments, especially on vertical surfaces.
