Creation
Paint
Our Xirallic paint contains special particles that react to light more vividly than normal metallic paint. Sunlight brings the colour alive.
There are 22 standard colours, but we’ll use any paint colour you request, match a sample, or even create a completely new shade, just for you. Two-tone schemes are also possible.
We don’t just paint our cars: we strive to create an incredibly deep, flawless shine. It all starts in our state-of-the-art ‘clean room’, where our craftsmen work alongside advanced robots, spraying the bodyshells with successive layers of water-based primer, base coat and high-gloss clear coat. There’s a curing process between each layer, along with an inspection and careful cleaning.
Once the bodyshell is complete, an electrophoretic coating (e-coat) is applied over the entire surface of the body structure to give the Phantom corrosion protection. During this process, the entire bodyshell is dipped in paint and an electrical charge is applied, causing paint to be deposited on both the internal and external parts of the car body. This is followed by the application of 15kgs of neutral primer, 15kgs of coloured base coat and finally 18kgs of high-gloss clear coat to the body panels. Each bodyshell is then sent for inspection and finishing by specialists such as Paint Associate, Lisa Taylor.
‘First, we check the painted body for any slight imperfections', says Lisa, 'partly by sight but more by hand - you develop particularly sensitive fingers in this job. We ring each mark with a Chinagraph pencil, which doesn’t damage the surface, and then gently sandpaper it, before polishing with lambskin until it’s completely smooth and shining.'
‘The biggest challenge is sanding to exactly the right level to smooth out the mark, but not to go too deep. Sometimes I’ve just got the polish perfect and I spot another tiny imperfection and have to begin all over again. In general it takes three polishes on a light colour to get it to my satisfaction, and up to five on a dark colour.’
