Can sombody explain paint meters...

[THE BIG BUFFER]

I've been detailing off and on for about 10 years( I now have my own shop) and have never used a paint thickness meter. I'm now doing some fairly exspensive cars and think it's time to go to the next level in my work..which would include buying some new tools.
I know the meter reads the thickness of the paint (I assume clear coat if it's B/C paint) but have no idea how to use it or what the readings mean. Can someone please explain? And give me an idea of the type I should be looking for and where to buy when I make my purchase. I'm in Canada eh.

Thanks

[Mless5]

Re: Can sombody explain paint meters...

I use the meter to check for repaints on vehicles that I buy. In poor light, it isn't always obvious. Sometimes, you can also differentiate dealer repaint vs body shop repaint. It doesn't hurt to know that a panel is different from the rest during detailing. I don't have mine with me and the name is escaping me right now.

[AjNavo61490]

Re: Can sombody explain paint meters...

i think i read that you take your reading... and whatever it is subtract 9 mils and that number is how much clear you have... 9 mils = bc

im prolly wrong with the #'s but thats pretty much how you do it

[the other pc]

Re: Can sombody explain paint meters...

Common coating thickness gauges measure the distance from the tip of the probe the metal surface in front of it.

So if the probe is sitting on a coated surface you’re measuring the total thickness of all layers on the surface, clear, color, primer, etc. They will not tell you how thick any given layer is.

Some gauges work only on ferrous metals (like steel), some on non-ferrous metals (aluminum, brass, etc) and some work on both. They don’t work on plastic bumpers, fiberglass panels or carbon fiber.

There are some specialized gauges that work on non-metals but it’s extremely rare to see a detailer using them because they are very expensive.

Since they don’t tell you the whole story on the various paint layers you need to combine the readings with some knowledge of how cars are painted (and re-painted) to come up with an estimate (well, guesstimate really) of what’s going on. It’s a game of paint detective.


PC.