I haven't had the chance to use my Highline PTG and was wondering if there is some sort of guideline or thickness range of the clear coat we should be on the lookout for. I think my biggest concern is knowing what the minimum amount of required clear coat is on any vehicle? Does it vary from vehicle to vehicle? Is there some sort of chart? Any insight on this issue would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Unfortunately, it varies from car to car. I've seen cars come from the factory with thin paint. The other problem is the fact that your meter won't differentiate the clear from the color or primer coat, so the clear may already be thinned and you don't know it because you have a "thick" reading from the other layers.
Well there is no chart or anything like that...it various so much it's incredible. Well what I've noticed is that the range for factory cleared vehicles (from my experience) seems to be 60 to 130 microns. If you get readings of 200 microns and up, that would indicate body work on the vehicle. I have seen even higher numbers though, some even in the 1000 micron range. Hope this helps, again this is just my experience :shrug:
A typical paint job will have 110-130 microns of paint, approximately one third being clear coat. Any lower than 100 and I would stay away from compounds and cutting pads of any type, wool or foam. Between 70 and 100 I wouldn't use anything more abrasive than 106FA on a green or white pad and under 70, nothing but a glaze on a finishing pad. I recently did a brand new Infiniti with readings as low as 64. FYI, single stage paints are typically 50% primer and finish coat.
You can measure the paint depth in door and trunk jambs to determine the combined density of primer and color coat (the insides of door and deck lids are not usually finished with a clear coat). You could use this measurement as a base of reference to estimate clear coat depth. Simply subtract this figure from measurements taken on clear coated surfaces. This process should be repeated for each individual vehicle.
Most factory paint jobs range from 3.5 to 5.5 mils (87 to 137 microns) (this will vary between manufacturers) for this reason, it’s also recommended that paint be measured when buffing since you can’t see how much paint is being removed during the buffing process. If an insufficient thickness of clear remains after polishing premature failures such as fading or delamination may occur as the colour coat won't be protected from ultra violet (UV) radiation and a warranty issue may develop in the future. Such risks can be alleviated by monitoring and minimizing the amount of top coat removed, which is best done through quick and easy measurements with an electronic paint gauge, and maintaining a record on a paint thickness template. German and Japanese cars: 4-5 Mils (1 Mil=1000th of an inch) With the exception of: Lexus-White and Tan: 5-7 Mils, Lexus- Black and Silver: 4.5-6 Mils BMW: Silver: 6-7 Mils FORD: Approx. 5.5-7 Mils GM Cars and Trucks: Approx. 4.5-6.0 Mils, Jimmy’s and Blazers: approx 7 Mils Chrysler: Approx. 5.5-7 Mils (Note Sebring hoods are fibreglass) Dodge Cars: Similar to Chrysler Dodge Trucks and newer Ram Pick-ups: Cab approx. Mils and the boxes approx 9 Mils Jaguar: approx. 6-7.5 Mils (but they tend to vary) Jeep Grand Cherokee: These read approx. 6-8 Mils, Wranglers: approx. 4.5-5.5 Mils Note- the above are provided for guidance / information only
Bumping this back up.. thanks for the link Denzil! (talking to him on AIM ). So I'm working on an '08 IS250 Obsidian Black with readings ranging from 75 (on the roof) to 160+ (on the edges of the hood... yes the EDGES!!). Now, the catch is that the door readings are at 31 to a high of 44 microns. So is it still safe to foam compound the roof? Aaron
