Painting Stripes on a 2010 Camaro SS - Striped Right

Just like two fat burnout marks say a gearhead has been here, two fat stripes across the hood and decklid says a car means business. Back in the '60s and early-'70s Chevrolet was king of the muscle car mountain with multiple platforms stuffed full of tire-shredding power. As the '70s wore on, the power output slumped and Chevrolet's street presence kind of slipped.

Chevrolet is aiming to regain its muscle car clout with the '10 Camaro. The SS version is one of the fastest F-bodies ever offered from the factory so it should wear the stripes its earlier brethren had. You can get a Camaro with a stripe kit from the dealer, but its not going to be paint like the old days. Thanks to the modern need to be cost-effective, Chevy decided to tack on a set of vinyl decals. While the decals are simple and cost-effective to apply, they are still just glorified stickers and because they are sitting on top of the paint the edges are going to hold dirt and dried wax. To give the car the stripes it's worthy of, we decided to find a car and have a set painted on by a professional.

Here is Mark Going's Cyber Grey Metallic SS right before it was pulled in the shop. By the end of the story it will...

Here is Mark Going's Cyber Grey Metallic SS right before it was pulled in the shop. By the

We talked Mark Going into taking his factory-fresh Cyber Grey Metallic SS over to Clean Cut Creations in St. Louis to have John Meyer and his crew (Richard Kuehl and Tim Genz) stripe it up. John is well-versed in muscle car painting and agrees that the new Camaro should have painted stripes buried under the clear.

John had an idea to make these stripes a little different than most by changing the outline color to a high contrast orange instead of the matching black. If you're not into the orange then you can glaze over a few steps, but as you can see the orange adds a little modern flash to a classic design.

... have a killer set of stripes that will be buried under the clear instead of stuck on top like GM does with its vinyl decals.

... have a killer set of stripes that will be buried under the clear instead of stuck on t

If the depths of your painting skills end at a rattle can (spray paint), then this story will show you the amount of work something like this takes and why paint shops charge what they do. Now, if you fancy yourself a painter, then there are a few killer tips in here to keep them symmetrical and help reduce the bump under the clear to keep the finish nice and slick.

Also, John at Clean Cut Creations is now offering a stencil kit of these stripes to simplify the masking process and allow you to focus on shooting the slickest coat of paint you can.