I was curious how necessary a paint meter is for personal detail, most of the people i talk to dont use one on their personal vehicle, but i can imagine, for the professional detailer is would probably be a must since you work on many kinds of cars w/ different paints. I do a little detailing on the side and i have a few close friends who want paint correction, none of their cars have been corrected before, so in theory their should be plenty of clearcoat to play with, im just curious how necessary you all think a paint meter is. Give me your thoughts Thanks.
The safe answer of course, is that you should have one. If you can afford it, you should. Why? There have been several cases (including on one Mercedes S class which I did not expect!) that I have been shocked at how thin the paint was. You don't want to be going through on anyone's car, including your own. Otherwise, be very easy on what correction steps you take and do no wetsanding whatsoever.
Thanks for the tip, at the current moment i dont have a spare 700 laying around for that, ive spent about 1k in detailing stuff in the last 3 months, lol, so im tryin to slow it down. Im not and dont plan on doing any wetsanding anytime soon, im doing clearcoat correction only, no orange peel or deep scratch removal. For now the most aggressive correction step i have is M105 coupled with an orange pad, i only do between 4-6 section passes with it as my swirls arent that bad, then i follow with 205/green uber 6-8 passes, then 85RD with a blue pad making...alot of passes lol jewelin it up!
No need for a $700 unit if you don't do this for a living ... a lot of members here (including myself) have a highline paint meter. www.highlinemeter.com
Did a review of the Highline a while ago. http://www.detailingbliss.com/forum/car-detailing-product-discussion/10414-highline-ii-review.htm
Find a used one. That's what I did. I got the Defelsko that can read ferrous and nonferrous for like $400 shipped from a guy on here. The warranty transferred any everything.
/\/\ the Highline II can read those as well, and I know that Defelsko is a better brand. I would rather buy the Defelsko PosiTector but that is out of my budget.
Yea im really considering buyin a Highline soon, thats better than nothing, i have a couple cars to do and ill buy one, i have a guy with a 1974 Jaguar E-type V12 convertible that wants full paint correction.....i would really rather have a meter for that one, im under how thick the paint on a 1974 british car is lol.
