Paul writes:
Snip!
>One thing that puzzled me was that he originally offered to clearcoat. He
>clearcoats everything. However, today he said that this was not a 2 stage
>paint and shouldn't be clearcoated. He told me that he could use a two stage
>paint if I wanted, but the color would not be as accurate.
Just some opinions from an amateur painter...please accept with a
grain of salt. :-)
You're correct to be puzzled because the BC/CC is what most repainters
prefer to use. Once a uniform coat of color is applied, they can
"seal" it in place under the clear and they're pretty much home free.
If they should run the clear or get orange peel in some areas it's
easier to rework than with some single stage paints.
An example of this would be the original pimento red on my Spit.
There was no real red pigment in this color. It was a blend of
Magenta and yellow pigments. It fell out of mix so fast that it would
separate before it dried on the car. As a result, if you tried to
color sand or buff this paint there would be a distinct color shift to
these areas. Many colors have this characteristic. Sealing them
under clear fixes the problem.
As far as not matching as well as single stage would, I can see no
reason. But clear coated paint does _look_ quite different. It has a
"wet" look and a deeper gloss than what was original to your car.
> He feels that
>clear coat may only last @ 6-8 years, but this paint would last a lot longer
>if taken care of properly. Does that sound right to you?
I would tend to agree with this but I'm not sure everyone would.
IMHO, a clear topcoat will ultimately self-destruct because the light
passes right through. Even with modern UV inhibitors I've yet to find
a man-made clear *anything* that doesn't degrade fairly quickly.
But the stuff they're putting on newer cars seems pretty durable.
6-8 years might be reasonable and much longer if your car is an
occasional driver.
What I like about the single stage though is that it's opaque. <in
signal red, anyway>. So the top surface is protecting what's
underneath. As it oxidizes you can compound and expose fresh paint.
As long as your particular color has a tendency to stay mixed during
application you won't have a color shift problem. But be prepared for
red cloths each time you wax the car. And any red is notorious for
fading pretty fast.
BTW, I've solved my own dilemma by changing the color of my Spit from
Pimento red to Ferrari red. I pretested the new red and determined
that it was 100% red pigment. Perhaps this is why it was twice the
price. <sigh> The color is so uniform that I was able to paint my
car panel by panel over a period of weeks with no shade variations.
It can be colorsanded and buffed back with no ill effects. It would
be worth your time to make sure your new paint behaves likewise.
Ask your friend to do a test piece for you.
Cheers!
Tom O'Malley
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