YaNi

iTrader: (2)

I am going to paint my FC RX-7 in the near future, so I have been getting prices from the local paint distributors. The car is Blaze Red (SQ) color with the standard peeling clear coat. I have prices from Sherwin-Williams, Dupont, and PPG. Each brand has its own paint lines which vary in price.

Ex.
Basecoat - Blaze Red
PPG Omni--------------------PPG Deltron
$100--------------------------$400


Clearcoat
PPG Omni--------------------PPG Deltron
$150/gal---------------------$270/gal

With primer, color, and clear the premium paint lines are $800-$1000, while the cheaper lines are $400-$600. The car will be a weekend cruiser/auto-x car. This is not a show car; I just want it took look how it came from the factory.

The PPG distributor said that the Omni will not hold up as long as the Deltron. He was saying the Omni will only last a few years. Is he telling me a line of BS to so that I shell out the big $$, or are the premium lines the way to go? I don't want to have to repaint it in a couple years, since the time + money for 2 cheap jobs would more than pay for the high end finishes. Would I get increased durability out of using an economy basecoat (ex. PPG Omni) with a premium clear (ex. PPG Deltron 4000) instead of the economy clear?

classicauto

iTrader: (3)

Don't mix and match. You can, but you're gambling - thats why they have the coating systems. They're designed to work with eachother.

Forget the names. As long as you're getting a polyester basecoat (or waterborne, I don't know about your states currrent VOC regs) and a urethane top coat, it will last a LONG time. Anything thats not straight urethane (acrylic urethane, acrylic enamel, etc) simply will not stand up to the elements over time.

In most cases, you don't need the absolute top of the line. All paint MFR's have middle row products which use the chemistry from the best they have to offer, but don't have as many colour options, or as many clear coat types for them. But the middle row items will be straight urethane and last a long - long time.

I use BASF here, and spray their RM product line. Glasurit is their "best of the best" but the RM products - like I said - use the same chemistry as the Glasurit with fewer bells and whistles. RM is what Chip Foose uses. (FWIW) Don't know what PPG and dupont call theirs though. At Sherwin, you'll be after the Ultra 7000 refinish line.

YaNi

iTrader: (2)

Thanks for the reply. I have read a couple books on bodywork and paint, but none of them said anything about what properties/qualities to look for when buying the paint. I am looking to use PPG since they have distributors close by.

The PPG Omni line only has acrylic clears. The Shop Line is the cheapest system that has polyurethane clears.

I haven't seen 'polyester' on any of the base coat tech sheets for any system. Is there anything to look for in a primer, besides it being 2k? I am looking sand down to the factory primer and then spray a urethane primer. Should I also use an epoxy primer-sealer under and over the urethane primer?

classicauto

iTrader: (3)

A 2K primer will be a good high build (to fill sanding scratches etc) just make sure you find out about how whatever you're using works with metal. Many primers today are DTM or direct to metal and have a little additive so they can be sprayed onto bare metal. Some however do not, and will require the etch primer (additive in the DTM) to be sprayed on the bare metal only before you apply the primer.

As far as a sealer, IMO it depends on alot of things. And there's alot of different mixes. I personally use a wet-on-wet sealer that is mixed from our regular primer and tinted with single stage urethane.

If the car looks like this: (alot of different applications of primer, different colours then desired etc)


I do a sealer. It does a number of things: 1) It allows you to put less paint on for coverage ($$$) and in a case where the primer isn't tinted (like above), this will help alot.
2)If you're doing a metallic colour, it will give a nice smooth base for the colour to lay on. Vs. spraying directly over the sand scratches (even though they're fine) The sealer will fill MUCH more then a basecoat ever will (in the neighbourhood of .8-.9 mils per coat vs. .2 mils) to allow that smoothing to happen.

As for the polyester basecoat. A pretty basic rule of thumb is if its a urethane clear, its likely polyester base. If its an acrylic clear, I'd stay away.