2020 Shelby GT500 OTT Painted Stripes - Painting Process

[PP0001]

With many of our members having been able to secure an allocation and being able to order the very rare "Painted Over The Top Racing Stripes" (Option Code 47W) for their new 2020 GT500 I wanted to get some sort of understanding as to how this process unfolds especially with a Suggested Retail Price of $10,000.

I do not profess to have all of the answers for this process at this time but will do my best to pass along what information that I do have and if others on our forum can add to my information and/or comments that would be terrific.

Step one of course is to get steel formed into a Mustang shell/body and then sent directly to the paint booth and painted the appropriate body color and at some point once the body is painted the clear coat process would take place prior to heading down the assembly line to become a rolling chassis and installation of the suspension engine, transmission and interior.

In the case of the Painted OTT Stripe optioned cars once the body has been painted and left the paint booth the clear coat process is then skipped with the body heading down the assembly line in order to become a rolling chassis.

Once the car has become a rolling chassis it will then be loaded up and shipped to Team Penske's paint facility located not far from the FRAP whereby the already painted rolling chassis will be hand prepped and hand painted with OTT Stripes after which time the rolling chassis will return to the FRAP for further assembly.

After the rolling chassis returns to the FRAP it will return to their paint booth at which time the clear coat process will then take place with the rolling chassis then continuing on down the assembly line for installation of the engine, transmission and interior.

My initial thoughts were that Team Penske would handle the complete OTT Painted Stripe process including the clear coat application but it is now my understanding that the FRAP will complete the clear coat process themselves.

This past weekend I was able to observe and closely inspect a Rapid Red Metallic GT500 with Painted Black OTT Stripes and came away very impressed with the look, feel and final outcome on this Pilot Production car namely "PP0021".

If this Pilot Production GT500 is any indication of the work and final result that we can expect for option code "47W" I suggest that everyone that ordered this cool option will be very happy with the outcome.

Again, I do not profess to have all of the answers for this option code process but do have some knowledge of the process therefore wanted to pass along what I presently understand at this time in the spirit of helping those who have ordered this very rare option.

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[Tomster]

Thank you for sharing Harry. I look forward to receiving my rapid red and black over the top painted on stripes optioned car this spring.

 

[PP0001]

Thank you for sharing Harry. I look forward to receiving my rapid red and black over the top painted on stripes optioned car this spring.

For those of you such as @Tomster who had or still have a GT350 or GT350R you all are probably aware of the extended wiper blade on the drivers side being able to make contact with the leading edge of the aluminum hood which was a real pain when cleaning and detailing our cars and in most cases paint was inadvertently removed and missing from where the wiper blade made contact with the leading edge of the hood.

Ford designers eliminated that issue on the 2020 GT500 as I made sure of that when looking closely at "PP0021" that the drivers side wiper blade could extend fully without coming in contact with the leading edge of the hood which is certainly the case for the new GT500.

Between an 1/8" to 1'4" of clearance.

Way to go Ford!!!

 

[kilobravo]

Harry: Thank you, thank you, thank you for the most excellent description of the painted stripe process. I too was VERY surprised to learn that only the color coat is done by Penske. It makes perfect sense. I'm so excited to see those stripes that I can hardly stand it! <laughing>

Man, would I EVER like to watch both the Penske process and, the final clear coat application. The only remaining question I have is how do they mask the rolling chassis off when it comes back for clear?

Thanks again, Harry.

Tom: I didn't know that we ordered the exact same car!

But this waiting is difficult to say the least.

 

[Tomster]

Just to be clear, the chassis is painted, pulled from the line, and transported to penske. There it is prepped, masked, and painted. It is then transported back to the flat rock assembly plant where it is then clear coated and merged back into the assembly line.....

Correct?

 

[PP0001]

Just to be clear, the chassis is painted, pulled from the line, and transported to penske. There it is prepped, masked, and painted. It is then transported back to the flat rock assembly plant where it is then clear coated and merged back into the assembly line.....

Correct?

Your above listed sequence of events is exactly how I understand the process to take place.

 

[Ninjak]

Thus the 10k price tag. That seems to be a lot of processing going on But in all seriousness, When you peel it all back, I think the people who bought this package is going to b very happy.

I did not know about the windshield wiper thing. I truly thought it was just my bad luck...

 

[HoosierDaddy]

Just to be clear, the chassis is painted, pulled from the line, and transported to penske. There it is prepped, masked, and painted. It is then transported back to the flat rock assembly plant where it is then clear coated and merged back into the assembly line.....

Correct?

Some things about the description don't make sense to me.

The first is building a rolling chassis and transporting the car with no clear coat. I don't think you can sand or contact clean a bare color coat. If done, that part of the paint would look different after the clear. I can't image the cars could make it thru becoming rolling chassis and multiple transportations without some getting "marked". In normal production its not an issue since the cars go directly from color to clear with no human contact or other processes in between. Of course after the clear, any marks can be repaired as long as they don't go into the color.

I was under the impression Ford lays the color over partially dried primer and the clear over partially dried color. Interesting if their clear process doesn't really care if the color is many days dry.

I am surprised that a rolling chassis could be inserted back into the normal painting process. I would expect a rolling chassis would not match up to whatever holds onto a body in white for the painting process.

While masking a rolling chassis for doing the clear isn't that big a deal (I watched my painter do that to my car), some areas that normally got clear would be bare color. Probably not a big deal but something to think about.

I really expected them to ship finished cars with factory clear to Penske where Penske would rough the clear on the striped panels, lay down the stripes and then put a new layer of clear on those panels.

 

[PP0001]

Some things about the description don't make sense to me.

The first is building a rolling chassis and transporting the car with no clear coat. I don't think you can sand or contact clean a bare color coat. If done, that part of the paint would look different after the clear. I can't image the cars could make it thru becoming rolling chassis and multiple transportations without some getting "marked". In normal production its not an issue since the cars go directly from color to clear with no human contact or other processes in between. Of course after the clear, any marks can be repaired as long as they don't go into the color.

I was under the impression Ford lays the color over partially dried primer and the clear over partially dried color. Interesting if their clear process doesn't really care if the color is many days dry.

I am surprised that a rolling chassis could be inserted back into the normal painting process. I would expect a rolling chassis would not match up to whatever holds onto a body in white for the painting process.

While masking a rolling chassis for doing the clear isn't that big a deal (I watched my painter do that to my car), some areas that normally got clear would be bare color. Probably not a big deal but something to think about.

I really expected them to ship finished cars with factory clear to Penske where Penske would rough the clear on the striped panels, lay down the stripes and then put a new layer of clear on those panels.

The information that I provided was from someone who I consider a very reputable source and just relaying information as it was conveyed to me.

It was made very clear to me that cars shipped to Penske would not have been clear coated and that the clear coating process would be completed at the FRAP once the cars are returned from Penske.

That process certainly makes a great deal of sense to me versus sending over finished cars to Penske with factory clear coat already completed and then starting to rough up the striped panel area and then laying down the stripes and then clear coating again.

I am not a auto body painter but have been around paint shops and cars for a long time and cannot comprehend that process at all and suggest that both Ford and Penske know exactly what needs to be done in order to attain a high level of quality especially for the $10,000 buy in by the few that have gone down this road.

The results that I witnessed this past weekend were outstanding with my wife asking me why I did not order the OTT Painted Stripe option as she liked them a great deal as well!

Just might change my mind on this option since my car is a Spring 2020 build!!

 

[havasu486]

A bit costly as if you were to take a completed car to any good painter it would cost between $5,000 and $6,000 for the same process to an already cleared car which obviously is much more labor intensive. The original clear would have to be removed without damaging the base coat. Then stripes painted and finally cleared once again.

 

[Tomster]

I am glad to hear that a completed car will not be handed over to someone outside of Ford. I cringe to think of the GT500 joyrides driving between plants. Wrapping my head around a $10K paint job.now makes sense.

 

[roygriffin2020]

With this detailed extra work, it does sound like it will turn out to be a good product. $10k is a large pill to swallow, but in the long run it will probably be worth it instead of having stick on stripes.

 

[kilobravo]

but in the long run it will probably be worth it instead of having stick on stripes.

Roy: Like many, many others who have had or have cars with vinyl stripes, me included, I can tell you that after reading Harry's remarks and, looking at as many painted strip photos as I could find, I am completely convinced that I made the right decision with painted stripes..the cost be damned and best of all, no more nicks in the vinyl.

But what I can't get my head around is bringing a rolling chassis back to the plant for final clear coat. Would this just be the body parts and wheels with little or not other installations like lights, hood vent, etc.? Then, once it is merged back in, do they then add all the items they would after normal painting? If not, the masking job would be a real PITA.

Finally, as HoosierDaddy mentioned, what about all the possible contaminants falling on the uncleared paint? Do they have some sort of electrical setup that keeps charged particles away? Enquiring Minds want to know, don'tcha know. :-)

 

[roygriffin2020]

Roy: Like many, many others who have had or have cars with vinyl stripes, me included, I can tell you that after reading Harry's remarks and, looking at as many painted strip photos as I could find, I am completely convinced that I made the right decision with painted stripes..the cost be damned and best of all, no more nicks in the vinyl.

But what I can't get my head around is bringing a rolling chassis back to the plant for final clear coat. Would this just be the body parts and wheels with little or not other installations like lights, hood vent, etc.? Then, once it is merged back in, do they then add all the items they would after normal painting? If not, the masking job would be a real PITA.

Finally, as HoosierDaddy mentioned, what about all the possible contaminants falling on the uncleared paint? Do they have some sort of electrical setup that keeps charged particles away? Enquiring Minds want to know, don'tcha know. :-)

The GT350 that I had did have the OTT stripes and they really did look good, but they were starting to chip and peel and I really don't like any sort of "stick on" anything.

That money is spent on all of the extra manual labor and hours of it. So it looks like you are getting your money's worth.

Here was mine

 

[Snoopy49]

Are they still using the same paint process that was new to the 2015 MY Mustangs?
Ford 3-Wet paint technology - Greener than the others

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