ON CLEARCOAT: I do my best to avoid Clear Coat on MY vehicles. I prefer to rub-out a finish when it becomes dull, & find my vehicles that have single stage paint have looked better longer, with my diligent maintenance. Unfortunately when clear coat fails/flakes/discolors, you're screwed, & in for a big expense - can't just touch it up, a RE-DO ONLY. Give that option some thought when contemplating buying a new paint job.
Craig, you have forgotten about
EVERY blue and white car that GM painted in late the 80's and early 90's!!! They were ALL SINGLE STAGE AND ALL THEIR PAINT FELL OFF MANY YEARS AGO!!! The only cars of those that have paint still on them are the ones that were completely repainted ALREADY!!!
There are SOOOO many factors that affect a paint jobs longevity including brand of paint, experience of the person doing the job, the enviro-conditions at which the paint job was performed, and most importantly
THE QUALITY OF THE WORK. Single stage (SS) paint is just as susceptible to problems as a base/clear (B/C) job, it just doesn't seem like it as single stage paint isn't used very often anymore except for industrial applications. And the reason it is used so widely on industrial applications is cost efficiency. Regardless, the number 1 reason for failure on
ANY paint job is
POOR PREPARATION, which all boils down to the experience and knowledge of the person/s doing the work. This is also why most body guys do only body work, most painters only paint, and preppers only prep. There is so much to know about body and paint in EACH DEPARTMENT it can make your head spin. I have only met 3 other people who can take a car from start to finish on their own like I can, 1 person was the guy who taught me, one guy was not good at body work at all but was a descent painter, the other guy I'm now good friends with.
As a general rule, single stage paint is more durable, but again, it all depends on the exact conditions of the entire process as to how long the paint job will last. SS paint can be wet sanded and buffed like clear coat, but you have to be much more careful as the paint doesn't have as much build or hardness as clear coat and you can sand through your color much more easily ruining the paint job. Also, if you are spraying a metallic SS paint, you
BEST make sure you get it right the 1st time. If you have to wet sand a run out of metallic SS paint everyone will know exactly where you screwed up because once you sand through the metallic flakes it sticks out like blaze orange amongst camouflage. The plus side to single stage paint is that it is cost effective, easy to buff/polish, easy to touch up. The major down side is that single stage is not as UV resistant as base/clear and will need to be garaged for maximum life, also, it is impossible to get the deep gloss from SS that you get from B/C.
Base/clear is a little more tricky to work with and definitely takes a skilled technician that knows what they're doing to get it done right. As Craig stated, base/clear can chip, peel, and flake
IF THE CAR IS NOT PAINTED/PREPPED PROPERLY! And I can't stress that enough. I've seen many guys (some of whom worked for me, and most of which I wouldn't
LET work for me) that can talk the talk, but when they start to walk the walk, they forget to tie their shoes and stumble the whole way falling down before the finish line. But when a car is painted with precision and excellence, the result is like NOTHING SS paint could ever dream of being. As I mentioned in an earlier post, even high dollar show cars that are painted flat or matte are now B/C using VERY expensive PPG matte clear. Also the benefits of B/C are unmeasurable compared to SS, including, better over-all longevity, easier to clean/maintain/wax, better appearance, better color match, better color depth, color can be blended over only damaged area and then clear the entire panel, better UV resistance, will not distort color when high-speed buffing, and
unlimited color options! Downfalls include being more expensive, shows sand scratches if not prepped properly, clear coat flaking and peeling if not prepped properly, marbleizing of color if not sprayed properly, and more succeptable to enviro-contamination. All of which (except enviro-conditions) are controlled by the quality of the technician performing the work.
For the record, I use PPG products and spray base/clear most often, but I also use single stage and rattle can paints as well, it all depends on what I'm doing and WHAT IS THE BEST PAINT FOR THE APPLICATION. Paint jobs can be beautiful, but they can also be downright hideous, but it's all in the hands of the technician. How much they know, how much they care and just how big of a bad ass they
REALLY are. On a final note, quality/brand of paint makes a HUGE difference. I've been shooting PPG products for the last 7 years and have had the best success with them. I have painted a handful of show cars that were appraised at $35,000 PLUS when I was finished restoring them using PPG paint, and those customers speak very highly of my work (One customer went out of his way to track me down after I quit the last shop just so I could do all the touch ups and what not out of my garage
). Other brands worth mentioning are PPG's economy lines, Omni and Shop Line. Also, DuPont's Chromabase line is an efficient way to go if PPG/Omni/Shop Line are not available. Spies Hecker is phenomenal paint, but on the expensive side. Sherwin Williams talks the talk but I haven't had much luck with quality results with their products so I don't use them anymore.
Scottie
Topic: Clearcoat question (Read 4179 times)