Cheapest Paint Thickness Gauge??

[the_invisible]

So, I am toying with the idea of buying a paint thickness gauge to assess how much paint I have removed over the years and how much I have left to play with.

Absolute precision is not what I am after. I can live with some margin of error and a rough estimate will be good enough for me, as long as the meter is not so inaccurate that it is rendered useless.

Is there a really cheap one out there? If so, where can I get it?

Thanks!

[Nappers]

Re: Cheapest Paint Thickness Gauge??

I thought Harbor Freight sold one.....

You get what you pay for I guess. I saw someone have a thread some time ago wanting to buy one and test against a more prominant brand, but I haven't seen it surface.

I would like one and cruise eBay here and there for one.

I think Joe uses the PTG brand IIRC, shouldn't go too cheap to get good results on that piece of equipment.

[scott0999]

Re: Cheapest Paint Thickness Gauge??

So, I am toying with the idea of buying a paint thickness gauge to assess how much paint I have removed over the years and how much I have left to play with.

Absolute precision is not what I am after. I can live with some margin of error and a rough estimate will be good enough for me, as long as the meter is not so inaccurate that it is rendered useless.

Is there a really cheap one out there? If so, where can I get it?

Thanks!

you have a PM

[the_invisible]

Re: Cheapest Paint Thickness Gauge??

Hi Scott,

I recall you were looking to buy calibration foils for your Paint Thickness Gauge.

Are the calibration foils for calibrating the PTG? Or is it simply used by the PTG? Does your PTG come with the calibration foils?

How accurate, in your honest opinion, is your PTG?

Thanks!

[scott0999]

Re: Cheapest Paint Thickness Gauge??

Hi Scott,

I recall you were looking to buy calibration foils for your Paint Thickness Gauge. Has the PTG been calibrated since then? How accurate is it, and why are you selling it?

yes I just had it calibrated yesterday infact. selling because I just got the ETG-A.

I do powdercoating as well as detailing now so I wanted a good gauge for both

[the_invisible]

Re: Cheapest Paint Thickness Gauge??

How do you calibrate this tool?

[scott0999]

Re: Cheapest Paint Thickness Gauge??

I didnt want to pay $40 for some calibration foil so I ended up going to a body shop where they had one. you take a reading of the backing plate and set it to 0, then lay the foil down. measure the foil and if its off you can adjust it on the gauge.

I took that picture of it being calibrated while I was there. shows the 4.0 reading on the foil itself and the gauge now. it was at 3.8 before I calibrated it.

[Nappers]

Re: Cheapest Paint Thickness Gauge??

I misspoke on Joe's PTG, it's got ETG for Electronic Thickness Gauge not PTG.....

Taken from this article:

How much paint are you removing?

[jlb85]

Re: Cheapest Paint Thickness Gauge??

The Harbor Freight one is $75, and can only be ordered online IIRC, called coating thickness meter. It is a crappy device that does an acceptable job. It will only work on ferrous materials, so no M3 hoods or roofs, many Audi panels, Saturns, etc. But it is good information to have, and for $75 bucks you can't go wrong.

The next one up is the "PTG" which runs from $200-ish to $600, depending on who relabels the piece. It is the exact same device no matter who sells it. The original manufacturer is here in Michigan. My VP has more details on this gauge. We use this gauge currently.

Up from that are the "expensive" ones, ETG's, that are really what we as detailer's need. Again, my VP has done much more research than I have, so he might be better to give advice. But IIRC there are some that can specify thickness of each individual layer (primer, color, clear, etc.).

I'm selling one of my cars to buy a tool like this