High priced paints.

[CA. 280]

As a novice painter, it seems counter-intuitive to me to spend thousands of dollars on paint products to use on cars that will spend there lives in garages, under covers or ,occasinally, on the lawn at Pebble Beach (they seem to be the ones willing to pay). If as is stated many times on this forum any paint will look good for a few years, as long as a proper prep was done, whats the point? Shouldn't pricier products be used on daily drivers, there the ones that need it. Do we get into the realm of owner ego and bragging rights?? Just thinking out loud.

[Barry]

CA;

My daily drive gets the cheap paint just for the reasons you "didn't" state. It gets knocked around, door dinged, muddied up, rained on, hailed on, sand blasted by the wind, scorched by the sun, baseballs bounced off it, peoples fat asses sitting on it....etc...etc...Its not that the cheap paint will fail...all points mentioned above will make it look used. Why do i need 800 dollar a gallon paint and 600 dollar clear to have a softball bounce of it? Its my daily driver....

Now, on the other hand, i take my 2 seater convertible out of the garage 4 or 5 times a year, it gets the good stuff because i always want it looking good, and none of the nasty stuff that attacks my daily driver will happen to my convertible just because i don't use it the way i use my daily driver......like you....I'm just thinkin out loud

Barry

[Serge]

You look at some older restos on cars at shows and you can tell which ones have been done properly and which have not. You see some 15 year old restorations that look the same as when they were done and on the other hand you look at cars with 5 or 8 years that look like crap...

If you are to spend 60K on restoring a car, its futile to go cheep on the materials as they are only a very small part of the overall bill. When you put your name on a nice car that will hit the local show circuit, you can be sure that if it doesnt age well your reputation will suffer...and even if its not your fault...so imagine if you start cutting corners on materials...

Cutting corners is cutting corners, first the quality of the paint then what to put more money in your pocket?...Just the mentionning of it raises the hair on my arms...

[CA. 280]

Sorry I was not more specific. When I say novice painter I mean novice. We're talking my own MBz, 75, 280SL and my sons 79, 450SL and a couple of friends MG's. Weekend warriors at best. Fund allocation becomes paramount. I was able to replace both front fenders and trunk lid on mine with the price difference between Omni and Glasurit. Unlimited budgets, on the other hand, are not something I can relate to. Given the use my car gets (it's never driven if the top can't be down and covered when it's parked) I feel confident 10 years from now it will still look great.

[Len]

Just about all paint looks good when it's applied, it's how is ages that indicated the price that was paid. One other factor is that higher priced products tend to be easier to repair should you make a mistake or need to recoat at a later date.

[showcar]

From what I gather from this site and other resources is that the difference in base is coverage. The more expensive ones take less paint to cover. The difference in the clears are the uv protection. I'm guessing here but imagine the high cost clears might be more glossier too, or/and have a tendency to lay out smoother. Again, not sure on those last two things.

If was to skimp on anything it wouldn't be my clear. I'd go midrange and spend a little more for my clear being that it's your outer most paint.

[Steve g]

I'm a strong believer in the YGWYPF philosophy and truly believe that there are no free lunches. Having said that I know that the signup bonuses paid, the signage, the warranties the seminars, the advertising, the race cars,etc. that the big name companies pay on their first line products has to come from somewhere.

In my case I use Dupont products. In their first line being sold under the Dupont name all of these things are built into their pricing. But you don't ever see large signage outside a bodyshop saying "Nason used Here". The consumer would have no idea who or what Nason is. Nor do they offer the warranty. A warranty that is at times used more as a goodwill tool than a compensation for damages from a faulty product.

So, the Nason clear is half the money the Dupont Chromaclear is. Is it half the product? I'm sure that the formulas are different, it would be bad business for the boys using the Dupont stuff to find out that the Nason is the same product. But of the difference in price, just talking the difference here, what portion of that money was being used to pay for the promotion and what portion for the enhanced product? Am I paying 50% less for a product with a 10% diminished performance. Or what are the numbers, I really don't know.

I've been using the Nason clear for several years now and the cars that I still can track are holding up very well. The oldest application is probably 7 years now in an area that has real winters, -40, salt when it's warm enough to work etc. They look great. I love the way the Nason goes on. Their panel clear is out of dust in 5 mins, great for a hobbiest working in less than sterile conditions.

The color is a different storey. There are some colors not available in the Nason line, some not even in the Chroma line, you have to go to the Chroma Premier. The truest matches to the original colors are definately in the high end colors. Coverage is poorest in the low end.

When I painted my 67 442 which is a nut and bolt frame off resto I used Chromabase (with the Chroma Premier activator) for color and Nason for my clear. I have what I believe is the closest match for color, I like the DOI of my clear and I'm sure my trailer queen will weather at lease as well as those that are out on the mean streets.

Just another viewpoint.

Steve g

[djdemetre]

no offense but if your a novice then why mention pebble beach?
the owners of those vehicle could care less about materials cost.
but if it matters much then i would put good quality paint on my nice rides that i want to last.all paint looks good at first but the top end european paints will give you the good looks for a long time and when you spend that much time taking a car apart,doing body work,prep and paint,sand and polish,how often do you wanna do it?

[Chainshot]

Great topic in my opinion. Here is my '66 that I painted 10 years ago with Omni BC/CC. I sold the car soon after and saw it again last year at a cruise night. The OMNI still looked good.





It was an all over paint job with Omni. Why should I pay the extra ?

[Chris L]

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Great topic in my opinion. Here is my '66 that I painted 10 years ago with Omni BC/CC. I sold the car soon after and saw it again last year at a cruise night. The OMNI still looked good.





It was an all over paint job with Omni. Why should I pay the extra ?

Good point.I too used Omni for a few weekend car show jewels that have held up great for many years.

[Polish Painter]

Was the clear MC161 ??

[Chainshot]

I think so...it was a long time ago. Sounds familiar though.

Was the clear MC161 ??

[Chris L]

161 is what I used.I'd still be using it if not for lack of customer service in my area.

[88GT]

I found out long ago that skipping steps or using inferior products in an attempt to save money, always ends up either being much more work to achieve the same results and ending up costing as much if not more than if I used the good stuff to start with. Use the good stuff and charge the customer for it (it usually ends up costing the same anyway) or send the guy down the road and tell him "uh oh, better get Maacco" LOL

[Chris L]

All three done with Omni primers,DBU base mixed 1-1 with NON reactive reducer and Omni 161 clear.
Fastback 7 years ago
[IMG][/IMG]
Mach1 about 5 years ago [IMG][/IMG]
Cuda about 6 [IMG][/IMG]
I see them regularly and they are all driven and in shows.