The clear coat IS the paint.
Not sure why people think clear coat = some type of miracle coating. It's just paint without color.
ah ha!!!! I was definetly one of those that thought "clear coat" was like a protective coating.. Nice to learn something new and of value..
Thank you
Now that it's 'clear' to you that almost all vehicles nowadays are painted with a base-coat/clear-coat paint systems, with the CC top-coat paint film being what is "worked-on" (that is: needs to be taken care of to keep it looking and performing at its absolute best...(gloss, clarity, and UV protection, for example)...
Then, perhaps the following may be of interest.
-Ever since the advent of CC paint, the automotive industry has been searching for the: Just-right CC paint formulations---ones that will be "most-pleasing" to their customers, and reduce the costs for the reconditioning of vehicle-turnovers.
-That, to me, means: CC paints that will provide the most-profitable scenarios for the vehicle manufacturers' Board of Directors, their shareholders, assembly plant workers, and the communities surrounding these assembly plants.
That being said...
-Vehicle manufactures employ paint engineers that work closely with at least three paint manufacturer vendors in order to have the latest technologically advanced paint applications that will meet the allowable tolerances, set forth, for their assembly plants' paint-kitchens.
-However, being that these paint manufactures also are profit-driven, they, most assuredly, will have variations within their CC paint offerings, still meeting the vehicle manufacturers' tolerances, yet meaning they won't all be the same...exhibit different characteristics (such as: "hard vs. soft"; scratches easily/doesn’t scratch easily; easy to correct/not so easy to correct).
-This will cause a vast number of CC paint options available for the vehicle assembly plants to select from on: A day-to-day, "just-in-time", brand-to-brand, model-to-model, and plants' locations, (among other factors)...basis.
-Once the paints have been applied to vehicles, they are sent into the drying ovens…where the paints need to be dried and cured…Quickly…for chemical reasons, as well as to keep the appointed, assembly line-speed.
-The combination of CC's chemistry, oven temperature, and duration-of-drying-time the paints are baked at, will also be determinates in the “hardness/softness” of CC, and its ‘correction-ability’.
But, I might have got ahead of myself a little bit here.
-The first CC’s were melamine clears…’very, very hard’…even to the point of shattering/cracking/crazing. The vehicle manufacturers profitability, and customer satisfaction were not being met…So these melamine clears were abandoned.
(But, irregardless of these CC’s flaws, and when needed, the “old-school”, SS-paint systems’ tools, products, and processes were usually able to correct/maintain them.)
-Then came the transition to urethane, and then the powdered clears…Chemistry-wise they were: ’Softer' than melamine clears, but still considered ‘hard’.
However, new/different tools, products, processes evolved to maintain their “finishes”.
-Next came clears that were much ‘harder’ than the urethanes/powdered clears…The scratch-resistant, and nanotech-ceramic-particles clears… that, again, beget new “detailing-items”/processes…especially products/abrasives, it seems.
-Nowadays, in another cost-saving effort, some vehicle manufactures are once again using melamine clears on their low-end/low quality vehicles!
-So...With each new generation of technologically advanced CC paint development, there will be the need to adapt to somewhat different ways to detail them.
-It’s enough to drive a person to the brink of insanity…Trying to keep up with the CC's that each and every vehicle make/model-year/plant location/CC vendor, etc., etc.
-A particular detailer, that has enough vehicles under his belt, will be better able to determine what tools/products/processes to
begin the:
Test Spot, than, say, other: “exposed to-less than numerous-vehicles impaired” detailers.
-That’s why the
Test Spot, and detailing forums such as AGO’s are ways to keep-up with the everchanging detailing landscape.
-And just think of the additional fun that will come about when VOC compliant water-born/based CC paints are in vogue!!!
Bob
