Paint Thickness Gauges ?

Gary Sword

Gary Sword

New member
Joined
Nov 26, 2006
Messages
4,168
Reaction score
0
Does anybody know much about paint thickness gauge 's as far as the best brands and best pricing?

Also does anyone know if different auto manufacturers publish the thickness of their paint? Also the thinkness of the paint vs. the thickness of the clearcoat would be nice to know.
 
Oooh good topic, I'm interested on this so I'm just posting to keep up with it.
 
That is a months rent for me. Uncle Gary, can I borrow $400 dollars? LOL, J/K. Why so expensive?
 
Lone_Star said:
That is a months rent for me. Uncle Gary, can I borrow $400 dollars? LOL, J/K. Why so expensive?
Click to expand...

Who knows why they are so expensive. Also a lot of them are only good on steel, others work on steel and aluminum and still others work on non metal surfaces. I know they make them for both steel and aluminum but I'm not sure they even make one that will for on any suface. To cover all the bases on my cars I would need one to work on steel, aluminum, fiberglass and plastic.
 
Yea, it would be real nice to know what kind of hardness and depth your dealing with when it comes to your clearcoat.
Anyone know what kind of clearcoat is on an 01' Trans Am WS6?
Figure it doesn't hurt to ask.

Wondering if I have a ceramicoat, I doubt it, but it's harder than I thought it would be. I doubt they would use ceramicoat then leave all the orange peel they did on it, but then it is good ol' GM

They just can't seem to NOT have a problem with the paint when it comes to the Camaros and Firebirds, I believe it was from 84' to 94' that they decided to do away with the coat of primer before painting the base coat on and only used an electrolytic coat. Usually, it's an electrolytic coat, then primer, then basecoat, then clear. The result of leaving out the primer? Before you finished paying it off, the paint would start to peel in different spots all over the car. Looked great, your three yr. old car peeling all over.

So, you think your immune if you own a Camaro or Firebird that was born after 94' ? Oh think again my friend.
Now, you have an isolated problem, along the top of the sail panel you will start to see bubbles form in the paint, it's very strange to see.

Why does this happen?

There is a certain kind of glue underneath the sail panel that as it warms, it releases gasses, these gasses react badly with the paint causing the bubbles, right behind your T-tops, all along the whole top of the sail panel. The darker the car, the faster these bubbles will appear due to the increased heat.

They will fix it if your car doesn't have a million miles on it and it's like less than six years old. I'm getting mine fixed, the dealer just ordered the new sail panel. They have to take off the old sail panel, remove the glue that's there, then put new glue down that doesn't react with the paint, then put on the new sail panel. they promise me it will look like a million bucks. I'm just worried about them scratching the rest of my car...I HATE leaving my car with a dealer, a mechanic...anybody. Even if I'm right there while the mechanic's working on it, I'm thinkin, this guy could give a crap about my paint. He's gonna lean all over it in his overalls, without putting any pads on the fender. Makes me want to have my own shop.
 
supercharged said:
Yep. A good one will probably cost around $2000.
Click to expand...

$2000 is on the very high end. I think you can get a decent one that work on both steel and aluminum for $700 - $1000.
 
Would this one be worth getting as a preventative measure?

Pro Gauge II Paint Thickness Measuring Device

sorry to link a competitors page, but I don't think AG sells one, right? (Mods, feel free to remove link if you see fit...)

I'm getting my rotary next week and want to have some type of gauge, so I'm open to any and all ideas (but my wallet would sure appreciate a less expensive one) :)

Pete
 
I was hoping Toto would join in and tell us what he uses. Toto if you're out there come on in buddy, I think you could shed some light in this topic.
 
$400 - 600 is quite typical for ones that do multi surface measuring. I'd grab one from one of the Professional sites. Kleen Car perhaps or the other full blown sites.
 
first what is your budget? what are you will to spend the most?

the lowest price i seen was $200 option 1
the meduim are $400-$800 option 2
the highs ends 900-3000(combination of machine)

if i were doing detail full time then i would choose high end but since im not i would go for the middle option 2....

Han- the measure pen you link i heard it no good dont get it(dont waste your money imo)....i highly recommend option 2 but if your on a budget or cant ever justify the $$, then i can give you a link to option 1.....pm if serious
 
As I am getting ready to use the rotary full time, I've been looking at a these. To me, it's an essential tool when truly correcting paint. Some of my bros on the UK forum have suggested a few models to me. They all use them over there. I'll find some links and post them.

You have to have the right tools for the job. These are expensive but then again, a lot less than a paint job!
 
justin30513 said:
As I am getting ready to use the rotary full time, I've been looking at a these. To me, it's an essential tool when truly correcting paint. Some of my bros on the UK forum have suggested a few models to me. They all use them over there. I'll find some links and post them.

You have to have the right tools for the job. These are expensive but then again, a lot less than a paint job!
Click to expand...

I would think you would want to be able to measure the clear coat, as well as the overall thickness--have you found any that distinguish between the clear and the base?
 
$400 for rent? Damn, I need to move....

Yea, a decent one of these goes for $1700, as I recall.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top