Modern paints look better becouse;there is a clear coat......Acrilic
enamels last long,look great and if clear coated,then sanded and polished,they
look the same.Base-coat clear-coat paint all get sanded and buffed.No one sprays
like glass,25 years never have seen glass paint work with out
buffing.
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Sunday, February 15, 2004 11:36
PM
Subject: IML: Modern Paints
Hello All;
It's my understanding, from talking to
people in the auto body business,
that what drives the cost of automotive
paint is how high tech it is. Car
paint of the "Good old days" was cheaper,
sure, but it was no where near as
good, or predictable, as it is now. With
a lacquer paint job of the 1950s
you would be lucky if it lasted three
years before needing a respray. You
could get enamel paint, which would
last longer, but it would take forever
to dry unless it was baked on. The
paints also didn't look as smooth and
shiny as they do now and took a lot
more skill and effort to get results to
even come close. It was also rare,
up until the eighties, not to have a
factory paint job with runs and sags
in places like the door jambs.
Modern paint covers a lot more
smoothly and is a lot quicker to put on.
Many are designed to go over
existing paint work without a major reaction,
with the old paint you always
had to test it to make sure. A good modern
paint job will also last and
look good for 10 to 15 years without even
trying and can be made to look
decent even over a so-so (not lousy) prep
job, one of the reasons base coat
clear coat paint is so popular.
The HVLP spray guns of today also
produce less overspray and therefore
waste less paint, if you use one of
the more conventional kinds. Many of the
newest paints are applied
electrostatically, better application, less wasted
paint, fewer solvents.
Another thing to mention is that the choice of
colours and textures is
almost unlimited and colour matching is far more
precise then it
was.
You can still buy the old style paint but you have to look. I
have known
guys who have used industrial enamel (tractor paint) on cars but
it takes a
month to dry properly. I suppose that you could use bathtub
epoxy paint but
your choice of colours is very limited and it is a lot
harder to work with.
Lacquer is much quicker, but harder to find, and
doesn't hold up near as
well . Theoretically you could still paint a car
with a badger hair brush,
(a friend's ancestor used one of those when he
painted cars) but you would
spend days rubbing it out to get rid of the
brush strokes. (His ancestor
used a leather block and pumice)
Like
anything there is a trade off, more money for the paint, less money
for
labour or less money for paint, more effort; guess which is more
expensive
with the body shops. If you want to save money do as much as you
can
yourself and farm out what you can't handle, just make sure that you
buy,
and supply, all of the compatible materials for the type of paint you
plan
to use.
Let The Flames Begin
Best Regards
Arran Foster
1954
Imperial Newport
Needing A Left Side Tailight Bezel and oither trim
parts.
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