Mike lambert
New member
- Aug 16, 2011
- 1,128
- 0
GSKR, all I can say is you've been lucky!
Paint thickness questions
- Thread starter choijw2
- Start date
High Caliber
New member
- Jul 21, 2015
- 141
- 0
Why PTG is a great investment. Most car manufacturers will only allow roughly 25% of the total clear coat thickness removed without long term durability problems "Premature Clear coat Failure" being an issue. If you started off with 50 microns(2mils) of clear coat, you would only be able to remove 25% or 12.5 microns(.5mils) without voiding the paint warranty and possibly having problems in that repaired area down the road.
I am going to the extreme here with regard to sanding, compounding, and polishing but why not for the sake of this thread. The only way you can ensure or track that is if you have a PTG. First time you burn through a panel and it costs you big $$$ most likely, you'll have a pissed off customer, a hefty bill, plus lost money on that detail service. Even if you have insurance you still have a deductible.
There are gauges out there Deflesko for instance that can measure the different layers of paint, and will measure coating thickness over plastics, composites, ferrous and nonferrous metals. BUT they're in the $4000+ range.
I am going to the extreme here with regard to sanding, compounding, and polishing but why not for the sake of this thread. The only way you can ensure or track that is if you have a PTG. First time you burn through a panel and it costs you big $$$ most likely, you'll have a pissed off customer, a hefty bill, plus lost money on that detail service. Even if you have insurance you still have a deductible.
There are gauges out there Deflesko for instance that can measure the different layers of paint, and will measure coating thickness over plastics, composites, ferrous and nonferrous metals. BUT they're in the $4000+ range.
Moravcik25
New member
- Sep 17, 2016
- 14
- 0
Have you bought a decent guage?
Cheap guages are not reliable, I only use a Defelsko guage as after using quite a few, this one is reliable.
As for thickness, no two cars are the same, even when from the same manufacturer.
It takes experience, once you have measured a load of cars and in a load of places, you will start to learn what is safe and what is not.
Cheap guages are not reliable, I only use a Defelsko guage as after using quite a few, this one is reliable.
As for thickness, no two cars are the same, even when from the same manufacturer.
It takes experience, once you have measured a load of cars and in a load of places, you will start to learn what is safe and what is not.
Crispy
New member
- Jun 13, 2013
- 779
- 0
Just did a 2007 Yaris.
Paint was 3.5 to 4.5 mil average on all panels exept the driver rear door (9.0).
Because was thin (clear coat usually 30%) I went AIO.
Hood had nasty stone chip (badly repaired) so I figured could clean up no problem.
WRONG sanded with 1200 grit and burned through in less than a minute.
Fortunately repaint is small and I will do myself.
But lesson learned, 1 mill of clear coat is extremely thin.
Heck I went right through the base coat as well.
Would never have lesrned this without the PTG.
Paint was 3.5 to 4.5 mil average on all panels exept the driver rear door (9.0).
Because was thin (clear coat usually 30%) I went AIO.
Hood had nasty stone chip (badly repaired) so I figured could clean up no problem.
WRONG sanded with 1200 grit and burned through in less than a minute.
Fortunately repaint is small and I will do myself.
But lesson learned, 1 mill of clear coat is extremely thin.
Heck I went right through the base coat as well.
Would never have lesrned this without the PTG.