A question for our Pros about paint quality.

[3Fitty]

I had a very interesting conversation with a close friend who owns three high end vehicles and he insists one company's paint is superior to the other two.

So, my question to the pros here (I'm using pros because I assume they see more paint than the rest of us) is do you find a particular company has better paint than others?

When I say "high end", I don't mean "super high end' like Ferrari's or Rolls Royce, but your run of the mill luxury cars.

In particular, how would the pros rate the following car companies:

1. Mercedes

2. BMW

3. Lexus

4. Infiniti

5. Audi

6. Jaguar

7. Cadillac

8. Lincoln

I'm not exactly sure how to define "better" but I suppose it is a combination of look, durability, resistance to damage etc...

I KNOW there is no right or wrong answer here, but I'm just curious to see if the pros agree with what my friend told me.

[RaskyR1]

Re: A question for our Pros about paint quality.

Well I notice a BIG difference in the resistance to rock chips from cars like Mercedes and BMW vs. my Acura.

[Holden_Caulfield04]

Re: A question for our Pros about paint quality.

It's really hard to say, but in my personal opinion Audi and Mercedes would rank pretty highly.

[RaskyR1]

Re: A question for our Pros about paint quality.

It's really hard to say, but in my personal opinion Audi and Mercedes would rank pretty highly.

I'd have to agree with that. They seem very durable...

[new2detailing]

Re: A question for our Pros about paint quality.

There was an article several years back on the difference between factory paints in C&D. Basically, Mercedes, and BMW use a black with little or very finite metal flake whereas the domestics use more metal flake. Which one is better is dependent of the prospective buyer's tastes. (personally, I like little metal flake in black because when polished correctly it looks like a deep black puddle, however, other prefer the metal flake due to its ability to capture and reflect light in different conditions. I also see a difference in paint quality within one company (Take GM's Corvette painting process for instance...much for entailed than other models). For me personally, I like GM's bright red ( by far the brighest red ), Mercedes Black, Porsche Silver, Ferrari Yellow, Aston Martin BR green (stunning) and the list goes on. GM typically uses a very hard clear that make paint correction difficult (but that also depends on the model). Most modern paint are very durable and most car companies have have decent factory paint.

[3Fitty]

Re: A question for our Pros about paint quality.

Interesting...

Rasky & Tyler both supported one of the primary contentions my friend made.

Right now, he owns an E-Class Benz a BMW 535xi and Lexus RX35. He insists that the Benz's paint is the most resistant to etching from bird bombs and most resistant against chipping.

On the other hand, he says he thinks his RX has the glossiest finish.

I'm actually quite surprised by this.

[TH0001]

Re: A question for our Pros about paint quality.

Quality can be defined many different ways. There is the asthetic view of the paint, how well it looks as opposed to how easy is it for us (detailers) to perfect...

1. Mercedes- Harder paint with great gloss. IMO, MB (which uses PPG Cermaclear paint) tends to be VERY hard but responds well to specific polishes (such as the Menzerna polished used on the factory line). Given the right products it is easy to correct them to high gloss.

2. BMW- BMW uses several different clear coats in my experience. On one had you have the metal flake colors such as Saphire Black that are meduim hard but easy to correct. On the other hand *most* of the solid colors like Jet Black are VERY soft and generally very hard to finish on a rotary with out polishing trails and hard to finish on a DA with out micro marring. The reason I highlight most is because I have worked on two Jet Black Bimmer's that where beyond rock hard and almost impossible to polish. I think Mercedes paint looks better (though Bimmers come in better colors, IMO)

3. Lexus- I have only worked on black Lexus, but they (IME) tend to be softer. They are an okay looking paint, but not MB quality. It can be hard to remove deep defects from them.

4. Infiniti- Infiniti uses a wide range of paints but in general, black G35 paint is a night mare. Usually it is so soft that it marrs when you look at it, gets micromarring from DA's and trails from rotaries. One of my least favorite paints to buff.

5. Audi- Every Audi I have polished is pretty hard. I prefer harder paint because you can always go more aggresive and remove the defects and finish out as well. I woud rate the gloss or appearance on par with Bimmer's.

6. Jaguar- I have worked on a couple orginal paint E-Types and they present their own challenges. On modern Jags (this and the previous XK's) I think they truely have easy paint to polish and finish. Very meduim. Good gloss.

7. Cadillac-Don't know.

8. Lincoln- The only Lincoln I have polished is a Navigator and it seems to use the same paint sytem that Ford trucks have used for a while. Easy to correct and finish, it is really tops as far as detailing simplicity. It looks okay (but no where near as good as MB).

A couple other notable paint systems.

Bentely- Best looking paint by a factory IMO. Little to no orange peel and great depth and color range. The stanard Bentleys are a little soft (it can be difficult to finish) but the hand built Aranages I have worked on are a nightmare. Very very very soft.

Ferrari- Previous Ferrari's (360 and previous) where meduim soft and very easy to correct and finish. The newer (F430/599) models use a version of the same paint as the Benz (PPG) but they don't spray it as well as it have a lot of peel in sections and generally is just "okay" in terms of performance. The older single stage paint on the 328s and Boxers is a joy and looks AMAZING. Enzos use a very hard (not sure of the brand) paint that is overly hard to correct.

[Holden_Caulfield04]

Re: A question for our Pros about paint quality.

One that should be mentioned is Porsche. In my opinion, it's the most glossy and extremely easy to correct, but not soft either. It's perfect. No orange peel, either.

[DrDetail.co.uk]

Re: A question for our Pros about paint quality.

Like said above I find Porsche paint to be very even and no orange peel and a nice paint to work with. I have found nearly every fairly new BMW I do is insanely orange peeled, some of the worst I have seen.

[Larry A]

Re: A question for our Pros about paint quality.

Hyundai is supposed to have the best paint process on there Sonotas and Santa Fes.