Thickness Gauge

TMQ

TMQ

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As more cars coming in for me to do, I need to start thinking of getting a thickness gauge for peace of mind.

There are 4 different Defelsko gauges at the store. From 695 onward up to 2 grand. Which one should I get?

I do write detailed reports on each car and having accurate
paint thickness documented in the report would be great thing to add.

Any favs or recommendations...?

Tom
 
Get one that will read aluminum, as a lot of newer cars come with aluminum hoods.
 
TMQ said:
As more cars coming in for me to do, I need to start thinking of getting a thickness gauge for peace of mind.

There are 4 different Defelsko gauges at the store. From 695 onward up to 2 grand. Which one should I get?

I do write detailed reports on each car and having accurate
paint thickness documented in the report would be great thing to add.

Any favs or recommendations...?

Tom
Click to expand...

I'm not a professional detailer although I own a PTG - highline meter. It does measure both Fe and non-Fe panels. I think it works really well for the price (I paid 150$ plus shipping). I personally don't think that more expensive gauge will do any better job in measuring overall thickness. There always will be the guess game about how much clear coats itself is there. Again, Highline readings are pretty consistent as long as you keep it calibrated and do measurements at similar ambient/panel temperatures. Hope this helps
 
parshisa said:
I'm not a professional detailer although I own a PTG - highline meter. It does measure both Fe and non-Fe panels. I think it works really well for the price (I paid 150$ plus shipping). I personally don't think that more expensive gauge will do any better job in measuring overall thickness. There always will be the guess game about how much clear coats itself is there. Again, Highline readings are pretty consistent as long as you keep it calibrated and do measurements at similar ambient/panel temperatures. Hope this helps
Click to expand...

AG won't like your post.
 
Thanks for the heads up. Although I don't think that I have violated any of them. Regardless, the point of my post was to share my experience with given product readily available at AGO. Not arguing, just saying. Cheers
 
TMQ said:
Checked the store---yes they have it.

HighLine Meter Paint Thickness Gauge 2nd Generation

Thanks Parshisa.

Tom
Click to expand...

You’re welcome Sir. I’ve recently did compound/polish/coating and had the paint measured before and after. I hardly see any difference in numbers. Gauge is rated for 3% accuracy which is within the tolerance you’d expect to be removed during correcting stage.

Another note on this gauge - it needs to be calibrated with an appropriate shim prior to measuring paint. There’s 98microns one, i’d normally calibrate the gauge with it for both ferrous and non-ferrous surfaces and then go ahead and use it. But again, it’s just my experience with it, perhaps you’ll get a better feel of it since you’ll likely be using it on daily basis. Cheers


Sent from my iPhone using Autogeekonline mobile app
 
That's the one that have been using for years also. I even hated spending the coin on that one at that price. I could not stomach spending > $700 on a ptg.
 
parshisa said:
I personally don't think that more expensive gauge will do any better job in measuring overall thickness. There always will be the guess game about how much clear coats itself is there.
Click to expand...
They do. Especially the $2000+ ones, that can also measure paint thickness over plastic, fiberglass and carbon surfaces - which the cheaper gauges can't. Even though the latter two materials are only used on high-end vehicles, painted plastic elements (like bumpers) are very common nowadays even on mid-range and low-end vehicles.

Also, some of these high-end gauges can also differentiate between clear coat and paint coats, and therefore can yield an actual measurement of the clear coat, and do not leave the task of guessing how much the of the overall paint thickness the clear is, up to you. Which, again, is a great advantage over the cheaper paint gauges.
 
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