Do any of you guys who do detailing for work use a clear coat meter / gauge?

Rsurfer said:
It doesn't, but let me give you an example: Car is a black Lexus, and most of the body reads 100-120 microns while the hood reads 70 and swirled to hell. Well the detailer went after the hood and struck through the clear. Only after the damage did he borrow my gauge and got these readings. Cost him $1,500 to get the hood re-painted. A $150 gauge would have stopped him from compounding the hood.
Click to expand...

Finally a good example.

Also do you generally know how much clearcoat your compounding and polish steps remove???

At what point do you know when not to compound/polish??

What if the vehicle wasn't swirled and read 75, 80, 85, 90, 95... What is your cut offs.

It sounds like it MAY help in certain situations but you need to know a lot before it can help unless something is just way off.

How consistent are modern primer, paint and clear???

Everyone who advocates the use of one really doesn't give real world examples that are good so that is why i just don't see the use of one.

Educate me.
 
FUNX725 said:
Sooner or later:
The paint will do the educating.

"Depend on the rabbit's foot if you will,
but remember: it didn't work for the rabbit". ~R. E. Shay

Bob
Click to expand...

I tried to get my paint to give me more information about paint thickness gauge but it is not working? ???
 
I'm jumping in late to the convo.. so idk what anyone talked about :props:


there are such cheap PTGs out there that there's no reason why you shouldn't buy one

If funds are really tight, ask the customer if it's original paint or has it ever been repainted.

If you're not doing a serious paint restoration, you'll be fine
 
PTG's are one of your best marketing tools when you interview a client. You take an average for a vehicle, as well as use your eyes and common sense. When you have a super high end vehicle, why not use a cheap tool to give you an idea of what's occurring?

The meter introduces a conversation about responsible buffing. Think .3 - .5 mils is the maximum on any OEM finish you should remove safely, having a baseline before you start really helps. Yes, you can remove more but that's an entirely different approach and objective (think wetsand fun).
 
:xyxthumbs:
toycar18 said:
Finally a good example.

Also do you generally know how much clearcoat your compounding and polish steps remove???Yes, a before and after measurement will show how much clear was removed.

At what point do you know when not to compound/polish??

What if the vehicle wasn't swirled and read 75, 80, 85, 90, 95... What is your cut offs. If it wasn't swirled, I wouldn't have to polish, thereby no removal of clear coat.

It sounds like it MAY help in certain situations but you need to know a lot before it can help unless something is just way off. You are correct.

How consistent are modern primer, paint and clear??? It's pretty consistent in creating orange peel.

Everyone who advocates the use of one really doesn't give real world examples that are good so that is why i just don't see the use of one. Just gave you one.

Educate me.
Click to expand...
 
toycar18 said:
Omg really?
Click to expand...

You stated that you didn't see the point and gave many examples of primer-color-clear. You never touched on traditional single stage paints. So I'm making the point on single stage paints, not just for you but for others reading this now and in the future that may not make the connection. Your comment above just makes us both look bad.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top