which manufacturer/model has hardest clearcoat/paint?

[spiralout462]

Be careful what you wish for. Harder paint will also be harder to correct.

 

[twobucket]

2010 was a hard year for MB and their PPG ceramiclear. New Audi's are pretty hard. To be honest I would be more concerned about CC quality over hardness.. My two cents.

what constitutes a good quality clearcoat?

 

[Andr3wilson]

Big aspect is orange peel. All paint has it. Just some have more. Orange peel in a manufacturer setting is all controlled down to how clear is mixed and what they are trying to achieve.

High peel paints (typically BMW, GM, Toyota is getting up there and certain fords) mean it's a cheaper mix and also factory orange peel is used to hide stuff like panel gaps, marring, minor dents (these are not done in the factory, they are there for the end user)

Low peel paints, typically higher end stuff (Lexus and mb are not bad- cla paint is crap though, Audi is not bad either, jag and range rover are nice, have to think more to give a list) just has a higher quality clear coat. IMO I would rather have a flat clear that's it soft than a hard as nails peeled one.

I would also like to point out, really you need to choose the colour and metallics to play to your advantage. If you don't have time for multitude of corrections, get something with high metallics (new black for Buicks has such a huge, flat flop metallic it looks silver in the sun! ) will hide so much more than a solid paint. If you are willing to take on a challenge. Solid black.

So when choosing paint, don't just use hardness as a yardstick.

 

[Mike@DedicatedPerfection]

Big aspect is orange peel. All paint has it. Just some have more. Orange peel in a manufacturer setting is all controlled down to how clear is mixed and what they are trying to achieve.

High peel paints (typically BMW, GM, Toyota is getting up there and certain fords) mean it's a cheaper mix and also factory orange peel is used to hide stuff like panel gaps, marring, minor dents (these are not done in the factory, they are there for the end user)

Low peel paints, typically higher end stuff (Lexus and mb are not bad- cla paint is crap though, Audi is not bad either, jag and range rover are nice, have to think more to give a list) just has a higher quality clear coat. IMO I would rather have a flat clear that's it soft than a hard as nails peeled one.

I would also like to point out, really you need to choose the colour and metallics to play to your advantage. If you don't have time for multitude of corrections, get something with high metallics (new black for Buicks has such a huge, flat flop metallic it looks silver in the sun! ) will hide so much more than a solid paint. If you are willing to take on a challenge. Solid black.

So when choosing paint, don't just use hardness as a yardstick.

Great advice Andrew!

 

[Desertnate]

I can say that a black VW Jetta Sportwagen I take care of has ultra soft paint.

Do you know what year it is? I just bought a '14 GTI in Deep Black Pearl a few months ago and I would agree with you from what I'm seeing as a daily driver that gets waterless washes. I'm very careful with anything that touches it, but it seems to mar and swirl very easily. I hope it will correct easily too this spring.

Of course this could all go back to previous comments about black being the perfect back drop to see flaws...

 

[Desertnate]

Big aspect is orange peel. All paint has it. Just some have more. Orange peel in a manufacturer setting is all controlled down to how clear is mixed and what they are trying to achieve.

High peel paints (typically BMW, GM, Toyota is getting up there and certain fords) mean it's a cheaper mix and also factory orange peel is used to hide stuff like panel gaps, marring, minor dents (these are not done in the factory, they are there for the end user)

Low peel paints, typically higher end stuff (Lexus and mb are not bad- cla paint is crap though, Audi is not bad either, jag and range rover are nice, have to think more to give a list) just has a higher quality clear coat. IMO I would rather have a flat clear that's it soft than a hard as nails peeled one.

I'd add Mazda to your high-peel list. My 2010 Mazda 3 is orange peel city on all vertical surfaces. The hood and roof look really smooth though. I'd also add VW to the low peel list. I have very little, if any, on my GTI.

 

[tuscarora dave]

I'm trying to understand this Jett Black soft paint anomaly. Since we are working on clear coat (not color coat), shouldn't the paint color underneath the clear coat be irrelevant to how "hard" the paint is?

Unless one was to speculate BMW uses some special soft clear coat for Jett Black that they don't use on other colors. I don't know for sure, but this I doubt.

My theory is the JB "paint" is as "hard" or as "soft" as all the other colored cars painted that day - that it is just is easier for the human eye to actually see the slightest defect on those colors.

Please chime in all. I'm curious to what you think. I don't know for sure, but that is my theory.

Mike?

That too is my theory on that particular color. I've said many times in the past that I thought JB had soft clear over it but after doing a bunch more of them, I believe what you've outlined above.