robingb

i have been looking for a 964 with ALL original paint. i found a white 1993 car with paint meter readings within factory specs of 3.5 to 6 all over except the top of one front fender where i got a coupe of readings of 9. the rest of the fender has 4.5 readings. i don't understand this. if fender was repainted i would have thought all readings would have exceeded factory specs. there is nothing unusual with the color of the area with the 9 readings. can anyone explain?

thanks, robin

ps--i think i read that 964's were painted by hand. if so, i wonder if deviation in readings can be attributable to this?

Rocket Rob

You may want to ask the RL concours forum. They many know.

Frank 993 C4S

As a datapoint for you: The paint thickness readings on each of my 964 are around 3.5 - 5.0 all over the car. I don't have any 9s anywhere so this sounds indeed strange. I'd suggest you check the fenders from side to side and compare the paint thickness measurements from side to side. See whether you can identify the size of the area that seems to have a higher thickness. If you suspect a repaint on the one fender, I'd suggest you take the wheels off and look from the inside well.

Bearclaw

A white car would be single-stage, same as my GR. Mine checks from 4.0 to about 5.6 on my meter; front fenders and vertical surfaces are lighter, rear fenders/ horizontal flanks are the heaviest (as you would expect). Yes, these cars were painted by humans, but it's amazing how centerline-symmetrical the thicknesses are. Really shows the skill of the guy who was doing the painting. I showed mine to the the local Porsche body-shop specialist, who verified that it was the original finish, and pointed out some ways to tell. He said he always figured he could tell how many beers the painter had the night before by how much paint he put in the trunk and in the taillight buckets.

As to the thick fender area: that sounds like a second coat on a single-stage color, but can you find any tape lines? It is possible that it had a bad spot that was touched up at the factory. It happens more than people realize.

cobalt

I would agree the 9 sounds thick but these cars went through a 26 stage paint process and they were continually reviewed and marked for imperfections and sent back for rework until considered acceptable. I have a rear fender on my turbo that measures thicker than the rest. I went over the car with 2 paint experts and they could not find any evidence of any paintwork. Did you try using a black light to see if there is any variation in how the light reflects? this should tell you if or were paintwork was done.