Looking for a place to paint my car and wanted to know how many layers of paint is a okay, good, and excellent paint job. A place by my house says they'll use 3 1/2 quarts. They dont know how many layers, they just keep going til 3 1/2 quarts runs out.

Also, is there any other questions I should ask the paint shop? What's the difference bettween a 1 stage and 2 stage paint job? Is it really worth it? Is there a 3+ stage paint job? Is it really better to get a base then clear coat on top? Or just have the clear coat mixed in?

TIA!!


Modified by ophdeheezy at 4:14 AM 6/25/2003

 

 

first of all you don't mix the clear coat in with the base. If you want a single stage paint (acrylic enamel) you will not need to clear coat it. It requires a lot more maintenance to keep it shinny but it is cheaper. A good base-clear will cost more, be simple to take care of, and last longer between waxing. It depends on the painter and if it's a metallic paint or not but usually with base/clear you get 2-3 coats of base and 2 coats of clear. It really depends how the paint lays down. Some colors cover better than others and you will get 2 coats while I have seen some light metallic colors than need 4 coats. With a metallic paint usually the last coat is a dusting coat to get the metallic to really stand out. Then usually you will get 2 coats of clear. If there is going to be a lot of wet-sanding and buffing sometimes 3 coats is used. As far as how much paint is needed it depends on the equipment. If they use a conventional gun that HVLP 3-3.5 quarts is about right for a smaller car. A gravity feed gun uses less. I used 2 quarts to spray the crx. It mixed into 2 quarts but I only ordered 1 quart of base and the mix ratio was 1 to 1. I still had some left over.

 

Thanks!! So with single stage paint, how hard would it be to maintain? What is involved with maintaining it? Any other advice?

 

I work at a automotive paint supply store that serves about 70 body shops and I know my stuff pretty good. There are so many different variables in how much paint you will need. It depends on the painter to be honest. some can do a crx in about 2 quarts of single stage(which by the way isn't always acrylic enamel) and another painter will take a gallon. two stage paint requires more material and therefore more money. Depending on the color (ie. white and red) some wont cover as well as others simply because of their nature. Just ask the painter any questions you might have to see if he know what he's talking about, if it's a reputable shop then you will most likely be in good hands but don't always trust some guy who has a small shop that does it all.

 

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Hahahaha thats hilarious, to answer your question theres a paint shop right by my work and I'll ask them tomorow. They have a really good facility with good paint jobs

 

Whats the difference between acrylic enamel and any other type of paint?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ophdeheezy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Whats the difference between acrylic enamel and any other type of paint?</TD></TR></TABLE>
acrylic enamel is about the cheapest paint you can go with. There are a lot of different types of paint that can be used. It's alot to go into, I suggest going to ppg or dupont's website. They will have all the info you would want to know.
http://www.ppg.com/car_autocoat/default.htm
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