Top Shelf Paint Job Paint Choise

[Roadster62]

If you wanted the best looking paint job what brand and type paint would you use. This isn't a "Fine Point" question, just a general best looking finish using the best paint. What is your favorite?

[mrtexas]

You would want urethane paint, single stage or base/clear. Ask the local body shop what brand of paint they use. It won't be the most expensive like a PPG. I bought PPG single stage because I was more interested in having a close approximation of a Model A color. Since then, the place I bought the paint has come out with their own line of urethane blended to the same color as the PPG for 1/3 the price. For my 2nd repaint I went with the Restoration line at 1/3 the cost. Many will say use the same brand primer/base/clear. I didn't think it was wise to spend an many extra $hundred for all PPG primer. I'm sure the PPG line of paint is excellent quality, but they aren't the only ones that have excelent quality.

You will get lots of opinions on this one.

[Purdy Swoft]

Urethane paint will be the most durable, especially if it will have a lot of outside exposure to sun and weather. Base coat clear coat will be the easiest to do an undetectable repair if ever needed but will have a plastic look, like new cars today have. Most brands have single stage urethane or base coat clear coat. I used Sherwin Williams when I had the body shop before retirement. My favorite primer is Featherfill made by Evercoat It fills better than any high build two component primer that I have ever used. Featherfill is isocyanate free and uses a peroxide type hardner like used with fiberglass, it is also less expensive. the choice is yours.

[Kevin in NJ]

Urethane is the best paint type to use. Well there are better types, but you do not want to pay for them. Yes, you can get a nice paint with the plain enamels. The plain enamels do have some draw backs and the cost is not huge compared to the advantages of urethane.

Single stage- where you just apply the color coat can be made to have an appropriate shine with a normal buff out. Put on right it can be too glossy.

BC/CC will always have the super gloss the A did not have when it was original.

More expensive higher quality paints have higher solids contents which means they cover better. Undercoats such as epoxy and filling primers can be purchased from quality suppliers such as SPI for much less money than getting major brand name stuff. SPI has a good reputation for quality products.

Please understand when I mention finish shine I am not thinking points show car. The original type colors and shine looks better, to me, then the super gloss easily attained with BC/CC. When painting you are likely to have a mess up and need to color sand some and buff anyway. So you end up with a factory look at no extra charge.

[Purdy Swoft]

Originally Posted by BRENT in 10-uh-C

Are you sure about that? Most painters will tell you that when you spot-in clear, it will always leave a faint "ring" at the edge. Single-stage does not do that.

In the collision repair business it is almost always necessary to blend into the next panel when parts are replaced for an undetectable color match. The recommended method by the Sherwin Williams paint rep. was to scotch bright the adjoining panel, blend the base paint and then clear the full panel. In other words it is not recommended to attempt spotting in the clear. If a spot repair is necessary we would scotch brite the whole panel, spot the base coat and then clear the whole panel. If properly done it is undetectable. Customers are picky as hell about color match, the insurance adjusters know this and didn't mind the extra. Body shops held out as long as they could using acrylic lacquer because it could be blended and spotted to a pretty good degree. First the pressure was on by the paint companies to use acrylic enamel but it could never be sucessfully blended and spotted without leaving a ring like you mention. When the paint manufacturers discontinued the paint formulas for acrylic lacquer on the newer clear coated cars the body shops had no choice but to change to the more expensive and poisonious urethane base coat clear coat system. Most cars were base coat clear coat so very little single stage urethane was used. People that wanted an all over paint job usually didn't want to pay the high cost of single stage urethane. After the body shops learned how to spot and blend the urethane clear coat It was the finish of choice because it was easy to get a perfect color match.

[BRENT in 10-uh-C]

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Please allow me to give my version of "easy" as I give this same instruction to my customers.

When they get a chip in the paint, I tell them to clean out the chip real well with a pencil eraser by twisting it between the palm of their hands (just like starting a fire with a stick). Next flush out the chip with wax and grease remover (supplied by me). Next open the can of touch-up paint (also supplied by me) and use a toothpick to dab paint into the "wound". Then they are to allow it to dry. Come back the next day and carefully repeat the process until the chip is full of paint and the area looks like a "sore with a scab". Then I supply them with some 2000 grit sandpaper and a small stirring stick where they will lightly rub across the paint and after 5 or 6 strokes, the touched up area will be flat. Then they are to use some rubbing compound and a soft towel and buff to a lustre. Because pigmented urethane does not leave a ring, the chip is gone and the repair is made in the owner's garage (--or driveway) without any hassle or the need for a spray gun or compressor. To me, THAT makes my way easier ....but to each his own I suppose!!

[Mike V. Florida]

Originally Posted by Roadster62

If you wanted the best looking paint job what brand and type paint would you use. This isn't a "Fine Point" question, just a general best looking finish using the best paint. What is your favorite?

That's open to alot of interperation. What do you consider a fine paint job for a Model A.

Is it one with the 60 to 70% reflectivity like what left the factory or one that looks like it is still wet?

[Dick Carne]

I've just finished painting my current project, and I used the PPG "Shop Line" single stage paint. Although I'm no expert, what folks more knowledgeable than me have told me is that the single stage paints are much easier to touch up or to re-spray panels. Similarly, it would seem to remove at least another whole step in the painting process - perhaps less chance for problems and less cost by not having to re-spray the car a second time. Also, to me, the base coat/clear coat paints look artificially "shiny" - I've got plenty of "depth" with the PPG single-stage. As to the use of PPG "Shop Line" versus "Concept", I priced two gallons of color and one gallon of black with all of the attendant reducers and hardners - there was over $1,000 difference between the "Shop Line" and "Concept" paints. After seeing the finished job, I'm not sure I can tell the difference between the two.

Good luck whatever course you decide to take.

Dick

[Purdy Swoft]

Originally Posted by BRENT in 10-uh-C

Please allow me to give my version of "easy" as I give this same instruction to my customers.

When they get a chip in the paint, I tell them to clean out the chip real well with a pencil eraser by twisting it between the palm of their hands (just like starting a fire with a stick). Next flush out the chip with wax and grease remover (supplied by me). Next open the can of touch-up paint (also supplied by me) and use a toothpick to dab paint into the "wound". Then they are to allow it to dry. Come back the next day and carefully repeat the process until the chip is full of paint and the area looks like a "sore with a scab". Then I supply them with some 2000 grit sandpaper and a small stirring stick where they will lightly rub across the paint and after 5 or 6 strokes, the touched up area will be flat. Then they are to use some rubbing compound and a soft towel and buff to a lustre. Because pigmented urethane does not leave a ring, the chip is gone and the repair is made in the owner's garage (--or driveway) without any hassle or the need for a spray gun or compressor. To me, THAT makes my way easier ....but to each his own I suppose!!

Very good brent!! If you are doing touch up that method is pretty much universal and will apply to any type or brand of paint.

My referance about easy to repair was not about minor touch up or my way is better than yours, I'm not that childish!!! I never implied that clear coat could be sucessfully spotted. I was reffering to the repair of fender benders and replacing parts where matching of colors would be required. Also this was not a recommendation that anybody should paint their model A with base clear finish. Just a real world view of how paint matching was done in the colision repair shop with base coat clear coat finishes. I thought this may be of benefit or interest to a person considering doing the paint themself. To be perfectly honest any paint that is spotted will usually come back to haunt with a ring in the area where the painter attempts to burn in the edge with reducer.

I'm not tring to sell paint or services. I'm just sharing my experiences as a painter, bodyman. Actually I painted my daughters model A coupe black with Sherwin Williams single stage urethane. Most paint companys sell single stage urethane and yes, to each his own.