How many mils of paint?
 

I went by a recommended paint shop / collision center today and got a quote for repainting my car (if I decide to hang on to it). The owner there was very knowledgeable and has been painting high end cars for longer than I've been alive. One question I asked him was how many coats of paint he would use on the car and whether I should go to a two-stage setup or stick with the factory single-stage.

He said he would definitely recommend a two stage paint and he would look at the books for how thick the original paint was on the car and go accordingly, using the same paint code for the original color.

Is that like 3-4 coats of base color and 2-3 coats of clear or what?

Also, aside from collector cars that you want to keep everything original (of course you probably wouldn't be repainting one of those at all), is there any reason to not do two-stage paint?

how much was the estimate?

absolutely no reason not to go w/ clearcoat- i wont paint one of my cars w/o clearcoat. they make singlestage eurethane paints- but why use a paint w/ slightly less UV protection when you cant tell the difference in the finish? Some restoration guys will spray in single stage laquers to match exactly the original finish on antiques- which was not always the best finish lets face it- or single stage enamel which is terrible as far as protection against UV damage.

2 stage is great. The paint looks great, is durable, reparable.... no reason not to except originality.

Primer surfacer-2mils min over repair areas for proper holdout, sealer (if used) prolly 1-1.5 mil, basecoat
.5-.7 mil, clear should be minimum 2mils after buffing for proper uv protection. Coating thickness will vary depending on where you check it- obviously thicker on horizontal surfaces. Oem can be as thin as 4-5 mils total thickness, refinish products will be thicker due to a difference in the products themselves as well as application. Go with 2 stage and let the shop worry about how many coats--if they're any good and you pay what its worth they will offer a lifetime warranty.

Any ballpark idea's on cost?

I was always of trhe understanding that paint thickness was measured in microns not mm

Are you asking me? My base/clear jobs start at $2-2500 if the car is straight and the existing finish doesn't require stripping. That includes basic disassembly and cut&buff for small imperfections. If someone wants show quality or close to it, it goes up considerably from there. Stripping, blocksanding and cut & buff for zero texture are very time intensive and are priced accordingly.

Here in the U.S. the standard for measuring coating thickness is mils (not millimeters). Not sure how it converts to other measurements though. I have a shop truck that measured out to 30mils on the hood--definitely not mm :)

I had my car repainted, 2 stage, plus a ****load of body work on the rear quarter. The car had been in a minor accident. Cost me $3,000, and it'll be done in 2 days!

Its one of those funky results of Europeans drinking with Americans...

It comes from "milli-inch", or one-thousandth of an inch (0.001"). In the aerospace industry, paint thickness is critical...and typically the specs are given in "thousandths" but are always measured in "mils". Also, machinists throw the term around quite loosely!

A micron is one-millionth of a meter.