This mostly centers around single stage versus whatever is the opposite of that. I have a black s4 in need of a complete respray. My local paint guy recommends full sanding followed with a sealer, three coats of PPG black and 3 coats of clear. I believe our cars black is single stage, right?

Is he right or do I need to find a other painter?

Need some opinions

 

Hi Kevin PPG great stuff used it many times had a crash repair shop in UK.I would say that your painter is on the ball the only different thing I would do and have done it every time on full black repaints is to add the clear coat to the single black 2K after in 50/50 working down to 100% clear coat After the vehicle is based all black.

 

Hi Kevin PPG great product used it many times had a crash repair shop in U/k.Your painter is on the ball. The only difference I would do is to add the clear coat in stages to the black after the vehicle is in full black coat of paint 50/50 down to 100% clear that's the way I have done it on many full black repaints.

 

Kevin,

The solid blacks and reds (non-metallic) are single stage on the 928....but unless you want to keep it "as from the factory" the modern base/clear offers better protection. The clear protects the color from being disturbed and has better UV protection than a single stage paint. If you are going single stage, House of Kolor also recommends, like Potdog above mentioned, to add some clear in the final coats of the single stage black. The high end PPG products are good, the "collision special line" is junk. You get what you pay for. If you're going to do a complete respray then I would personally do the base/clear.

Your painter sounds like he knows what he is doing.

Cheers!
Carl

 

^^^^^^ Agreed !

 

Base and clear it is then! How do I know he is using the high end PPG products?

 

Ask him to show you the paint "lineup" and select from there. You can also call PPG directly and inquire which paint system they recommend. Most paint manufacturers have one economy line and one high-end system, at least.
Another option is to purchase the paint yourself to make sure you get what you request, but I would think if you tell him you want the high end he would get it for you.

Cheers!
Carl

 

Ask him.

There's a lot more 'forgiveness' in the base/clear options, especially if you ever need repairs. Getting a perfect color/gloss panel match on single-stage is a challenge, especially with dark colors where gloss is more important. Where originality is important and you are painting the whole car, find someone with extensive experience to apply single-stage. Know that it won't look a deep as base/clear.

These aren't collector cars yet, and most are actually driven, so a good base/clear is the answer.

 

Do the new base/clear coat paints have the problem older paints do of the clear coat getting white and pealing?

 

So, 3 coats black, 1 coat clear/black(50/50), 1 coat clear/black(75/25) 1 coat 100 clear - do I have that right?

 

Cheap ones do, especially 'resprays' without proper prep. You must get to a good undamage layer, use a sealer to isolate the old paint from the new. That keeps undercoat oxidation from damaging your new color coat.

Too many 'clear coat getting white and pealing' issues are the result of neglect and attempted recovery. Someone gets aggressive with a rubbing/polishing compount trying to make a weathered clear look like new. In the process the clear is breached. The underlying paint starts to oxidize, and from that point there's no recovery. It's much better and easier to continuously protect the paint with your favorite wax or paint sealant, rather than grinding down the surface in search of that new-paint shine. At that point you might be better using one of the miracle acrylic coating products like Nu-Finish. Or get the car wrapped, or sprayed with Plasti-Dip, etc.

The Best Defense is keeping the car garaged, cleaned, and covered when you aren't driving it. Parking outside exposes the finish to UV and environmental contaminants (bird crap...) as well as casual paint overspray, dirt, sprinkler water, rain, dust, etc. A cover helps a lot but can only be placed on a clean car. I love watching the TV ads for the miracle finish protectors that stand up to 50 car washes and still look great. Except for the missing info around a year sitting outside under the tree, with sunlight, bird crap, bugs, sap and dirt damaging the coating and the paint underneath.


At a recent SoCal meet-and-greet, several asked whether the car was 'just waxed'. It's pretty much always 'just waxed', it turns out.

 

Share what you learned here with your painter, and let him work with the products he likes. When dealing with craftsmen, I have better luck describing the results I expect than telling them how to do it. Let your painter show some examples of his work, so you know what to expect too.

 

Let him use whatever he's familiar with as making him use another system will probably increase the chances of problems.

 

Kevin, I have an awesome paint and body guy up here in Anderson, SC. He is the one that did the pink pearl respray on my wife's 911 (used to be black). He charged me less than half what the body shop in Atlanta that the Porsche dealers use quoted me and did a far better job too - removed roof trim channels, removed sunroof, disassembled the mirrors. I did some of the teardown for him to save myself some money (bumpers and lights off and out, door sills off, clear stone guards removed, inner door panels removed, mirrors off, etc) but he went even beyond that I had done to get the result he'd be happy with - he's a perfectionist.

He's the one I'm going to have paint the Aero mirrors for my 928 too. He also resprayed some 997 Aluminum Look Trim for me that had some scuffs which I sold in the Marketplace and exactly matched the other OEM pieces. The buyer knew and was very pleased with the match as well.

Here are a a couple plcs of my wife's 997 and a link to a Shutterfly album with some more.

https://pinkporschec2s.shutterfly.com/pictures/

Let me know if you want to come up one day with the car and I can set the two of you up.

 

Hi Kevin that's the way to do it after all the prep done sealer and primer I would use a good black primer so freeway/ motorway rash does not show on panels cheers.