993 Paint Meter
RL Community Team
Rennlist Member
Rennlist Member
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 10,624
Likes: 2,053
From: Dallas, TX
Hi John,
Some folks think of a paint meter as a tool that provides a definitive diagnosis of a car that has been repainted.
It seems to me, a professional body man can easily tell if a car has had a repaint and where from direct observation, no paint meter required. The edges of the painted areas and other physical differences from the original paint are easily identified.
Then again if a professional body shop can't ID a repaint either because it was never repainted or because it is so good they can't tell isn't it sort of a non-issue either way?
For these reasons I think a report from a reputable body shop is a lot more valuable as an authentication on a low mile high-end collector class car. If the car has more than 40 or 50K miles on it, is being resprayed really an issue at all as the car starts entering the middle-of-the-pack in paint condition for other reasons?
It seems to me if one is trying to verify that the car has not had major bodywork or has been wrecked on a middle-of-the-pack example, such evidence is easily identified by a body shop and other factors as in a badly wrecked example will feel and sound differently when driven and may not even take an alignment to factory specification.
Andy
Some folks think of a paint meter as a tool that provides a definitive diagnosis of a car that has been repainted.
It seems to me, a professional body man can easily tell if a car has had a repaint and where from direct observation, no paint meter required. The edges of the painted areas and other physical differences from the original paint are easily identified.
Then again if a professional body shop can't ID a repaint either because it was never repainted or because it is so good they can't tell isn't it sort of a non-issue either way?
For these reasons I think a report from a reputable body shop is a lot more valuable as an authentication on a low mile high-end collector class car. If the car has more than 40 or 50K miles on it, is being resprayed really an issue at all as the car starts entering the middle-of-the-pack in paint condition for other reasons?
It seems to me if one is trying to verify that the car has not had major bodywork or has been wrecked on a middle-of-the-pack example, such evidence is easily identified by a body shop and other factors as in a badly wrecked example will feel and sound differently when driven and may not even take an alignment to factory specification.
Andy
Last edited by pp000830; Dec 15, 2020 at 06:06 PM.
Three Wheelin'
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 1,310
Likes: 143
Hi Andy,
Excellent points. However perhaps it's tempting to look for an absolute quantitative measure when the qualitative reports of various body shops and techs can be highly variable in quality and actual effort spent.
Excellent points. However perhaps it's tempting to look for an absolute quantitative measure when the qualitative reports of various body shops and techs can be highly variable in quality and actual effort spent.
Pro
Joined: Feb 2012
Posts: 697
Likes: 222
I'm driving it. Almost 4000 miles this summer. If someone thinks less of my car because it doesn't have a scratched rear bumper any more, I'm certainly not going to lose any sleep over it. I did take really good pics of the minor flaws before I fixed them and the body shop did the same and notated it on the paperwork.
Rennlist Member
Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 458
Likes: 130
From: SF Bay Area
While I don't disagree with Andy regarding a good paint and body person can see if a car has been repainted. The tool can help to confirm such and provide additional information on the level of repair behind the paint.
Rennlist Member
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 6,117
Likes: 1,467
Paint meter readings on 993 cars are a lot different than 997.x. I have an all original 14k mi car 993 4s. Readings of 6.5-8.5 on average. Paint processes were not as consistent back then. Rarely will you see meter readings of 3-5 or even 5 or 6 on these cars. Where as my 997 cars 3.5-5.5 or 6 is about right/average. less paint and smaller range the newer the car Is generally speaking
