Hard or soft paint

abrcrombe

abrcrombe

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How do you know if your paint is considered hard or soft? This info is important when polishing right? Is there a chart somewhere?? Thanks in advance.
 
never seen a chart, it is a term coined by how easy or hard the clearcoat is to scratching and thus scratch removal. I have never truly found a finish all too soft.
 
My trucks clear is soft (or at least easy to correct). Then you have others, like Audi, whose clear is hard as a rock, good luck using a PC on an Audi you'll have lots of fun lol:D
 
So you can't determine it before you work? I see... Also, is it regarding the clear or the clear + paint?
 
In general japanese cars have a softer clearcoat. I know my old Maxima, a '95 was either very soft or not clearcoated. I've read some manufacturers don't CC black cars. Toyota was mentioned specifically. My car now ('04 BMW) is much more durable. It's Silver Grey Metallic. You could try having a talk with someone who paints a lot of cars for more info on this. The forums don't talk much about it, that i know of.
 
That is a nice car you have. 330 is a cool car. Well, I guess I will just be a little extra careful with asian cars in the beginning and see how they take my abusive methods. :p
 
toolfanatic said:
In general japanese cars have a softer clearcoat. I know my old Maxima, a '95 was either very soft or not clearcoated. I've read some manufacturers don't CC black cars. Toyota was mentioned specifically.
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Hmm. Wonder if that's true. I've got a black Toyota and I sure hope it's got a CC.
 
Thanks Abrcrombe, i found out the hard way with the Nissan. I screwed the paint up pretty bad. The worst was my Suzuki bike, gorgeous liquid looking red, just looking at it with the wrong attitude would scratch it though.
 
LOL, How can you tell if there is a clear coat? Geez, there is so much to learn in this hobby. My mom drives a black avalon, and I want to know for sure.
 
Ernie Ball said:
Hmm. Wonder if that's true. I've got a black Toyota and I sure hope it's got a CC.
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in almost every case, Toyota and Lexus use a single-stage black/red paint only. Remember clearcoat is simply unpigmented paint. Call their body-shop to find out specifics or polish the paint. If you see color transferred to the pad, then you likely have single-stage paint.
 
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killrwheels@autogeek said:
in almost every case, Toyota and Lexus use a single-stage black/red paint only. Remember clearcoat is simply unpigmented paint. Call their body-shop to find out specifics or polish the paint. If you see color transferred to the pad, then you likely have single-stage paint.
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I've done a little investigating and it confirmed what you say.

So, what are the implications of this fact for polishing and caring for my paint? Does it make a difference? For example: does it mean that scratches will be difficult (impossible?) to take out?
 
nope ... three coats of colored paint should equal the durability of two colored coats and one uncolored, clear, coating. You will see some paint transfer when polishing to your pads however.
 
after a while you'll just pick up what finishes are harder than others. honda is realtively soft for example, but don't even try to fix honda white without a rotary! most europeans are realatively hard, but some bimmers are on teh softer side.

it just comes down to experience with many different paints.
 
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