tips on clear coat hardness

StephenK

StephenK

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i was at a buddys house today while he was working on an Infiniti today(mechanical work) well the hood was open and i was standing on the driver side and just happen to notice a sticker by the front strut tower that read "medium clear coat" never seen this on other cars before. but then again i never even thought about looking for something like this. if i remember this was like a '98-'99ish car. i am just wondering if the answers to all of our question bout clear coat hardness has been right in front of us this whole time?
 
Wendell Jarvis said:
:iagree: There is our answer !!.....lol......
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I do agree that's not what the sticker represent but what does it. Possibly medium tint to the clear coat, if not then what? I only say that because that would really help in case of a respray.
 
i will have to try to get a picture of the sticker cause it said something under "medium clear"
 
detailgod said:
i will have to try to get a picture of the sticker cause it said something under "medium clear"
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What color was the car? Can't help but think it said something like "Medium Grey" or "Medium Beige" or something and just indicated that it was base/clear paint. A lot of the Asian brands were still using single stage at that point (and some still are now).
 
Shiny Lil Detlr said:
What color was the car? Can't help but think it said something like "Medium Grey" or "Medium Beige" or something and just indicated that it was base/clear paint. A lot of the Asian brands were still using single stage at that point (and some still are now).
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it was blue.
 
I had a 06 Infiniti M35. The sticker said Hard Clearcoat. No ambiguity there. ;)

Charlie
 
Just to chime in...

If there were some kind of ranking of the softness or hardness of clears, it would mean the ranking would be specific to one paint manufacture, for one paint line they make, or it would mean all the paint manufactures would have to get together and come up with some type of testing procedure with controls that could be duplicated at both the paint manufactures location and then again anywhere the paint was being sprayed just to have some type of control over all the variables. Sounds like a good idea if it could become a reality.


I also think it would be a great idea if paint manufactures would make paints that are more polishable by the average person and that car manufactures would spray more actual paint onto the car, as in the top coat or the clear layer so car owners and detailers would have more film build to work with over the service life of the car.

Probably asking for too much...

:)
 
Yeah, I think so Mike. Sounded like you were starting to write your Christmas list to the car manufacturers.lol Why don't all car manufacts just use harder clear? Why are most Asian clears soft? Mike has all the input and I have all the ?'s...:)
 
Mike.Phillips@Autogeek said:
Just to chime in...

If there were some kind of ranking of the softness or hardness of clears, it would mean the ranking would be specific to one paint manufacture, for one paint line they make, or it would mean all the paint manufactures would have to get together and come up with some type of testing procedure with controls that could be duplicated at both the paint manufactures location and then again anywhere the paint was being sprayed just to have some type of control over all the variables. Sounds like a good idea if it could become a reality.


I also think it would be a great idea if paint manufactures would make paints that are more polishable by the average person and that car manufactures would spray more actual paint onto the car, as in the top coat or the clear layer so car owners and detailers would have more film build to work with over the service life of the car.

Probably asking for too much...

:)
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Thank you for the welcome.

I'm sure the stickers on Infiniti's are based on some criteria that they have set, but it can be helpful to detailers that have had experience with their cars.

Paint and car manufacturers do what they do to ensure a profit. Most cars will rarely see a buffer touch their paint over their lifetime. Probably only when it's traded in and a dealer gets it ready to sit on the lot.

I'm not a detailer and all the cars I've owned have been daily drivers. Fillers are my friends. Knowing that the paint on a car is a finite resource, I probably leave more defects in the paint than most here would consider acceptable. Sometimes perfection is not in the best interest of the vehicles' owner.
 
CharlieU said:
Sometimes perfection is not in the best interest of the vehicles' owner.
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I would agree. The average car owner wants the paint to last just as long as the engine and every other part of the car for that matter, interior, brakes, suspension, glass, etc.

Paint is thin from the factory and from my limited dealings with representatives from car manufactures thin paint isn't going away. The average car owners just wants clear glass, clean interior, black tires and shiny paint, shiny paint doesn't mean defect free, it just means shiny and any quality cleaner/wax can accomplish this without compromising the integrity or longevity of the clear coat.

"Use the least aggressive product to get the job done"


:)
 
well this car has come back for an A/C repair and i managed to get a picture of the sticker i was talkng about. so has anyone else seen this? the sticker is under the hood located near the hood struts

clearcoatsticker.jpg
 
I think it's great that the manufacture,

A: Knows enough about the paint system to categorize it. (assuming they are correct in their assessment)

B: Cares enough for the people that will work on the paint down the road to include a sticker with some information. I'd like to see this trend increase.
​
Maybe an URL address with a list of approved refinish materials would be good too...


:)
 
Nice touch but when all said and done we dont take anyones word on how hard or soft a finish is we check ourselves i wont take there word and certainly not a sticker that could have been put on at anytime by anyone.

Never come across one myself...:xyxthumbs:
 
thats weird. i owned 2 infiniti's (00' Q45 and 05' G35) and detail many infiniti's as i am a detailing vendor on a local infiniti car club/forum. never seen anything like that. idk if i missed it or if its only on older models?. but their new type of paint aside, infiniti paint has been some of the softest paint i worked with.
 
Infiniti labels there cars like this (in most cases) there's usually a small sticker located on the bottom portion of the hood

Everyone that I have seen, states something like this > "this car is equipted with hard clear coat"

I remember the 1st time I saw this sticker. I was like, "thanks for the reminder"
 
detailgod said:
well this car has come back for an A/C repair and i managed to get a picture of the sticker i was talkng about. so has anyone else seen this? the sticker is under the hood located near the hood struts

clearcoatsticker.jpg
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And there it is ^

I should read past the first page before responding :o

That would make an awesome avitar IMO
 
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