Paint question...

[toddslater]

Mattlock,
No I haven't ever actually had them work on my car...I do all my own...thankfully on both counts. As others have stated most of the quality comes out in the prep. The quality of the prep is as good as the quality of the person doing the prep....for the most part those at Maaco and Earl are the body/painting equivalent of hammer mechanics. You may be one of the lucky few that has some decent people working at yours. From what I've seen that would be the exception rather than the rule.

Prep work aside , onto the paint quality. Since it has been a long time since I have had any aquaintences that have had the pleasure of their services, I went onto Maaco web site to see whats what. Good god, they are still shooting straight enamel....thats what your getting as "their high quality Dupont paint" on the bottom end of their painting scale. This is maybe only marginally better than brushed on latex and/or kmart rattle can. I didn't think anyone was still shooting this crap. It'll dull out faster than you can say brush it on. Next up in their quality line was a catalyzed enamel...well some people shoot this but it is marginally better than straight...it'll hold the gloss longer....but it's still enamel. Moving on up in the price and quality scale are the single stage urethane and at the top is the base coat clear coat urethane. Also, most notable at this level is their first mention of the use of a "sealer". Go figure. These last two catagories is all I would consider putting on anything that I value. That being said...I can run anything

 

[beaufort-fj60]

anyone know if the 84' toyota dookie brown/metalic brown is single stage or two stage

 

[beaufort-fj60]

bump for 1984 brown, is it single stage or two stage paint?

 

[srplus]

paint brands

do a google search for: "nason acrylic enamel" paint

this is a DuPont product that is single stage that can be mixed to any car color. i have used this paint extensively for signs, boats, cars, trucks and have been very pleased with the results and 'lastability' of the product. it is a single stage with hardener and will give an excellent result if proper prep work and application is done... do not forget to use a tack rag after prep and before application of primer or finish coat.

the formulation of this paint gives a result that is very similar to DuPont imron when properly applied. locally this paint is available from carquest with all the thinners and hardeners needed for the job. it is quite competitive with some of the cheaper paints that are no where near as good.

on our kind of vehicle (unless you want to keep it in the garage) clear coats are nothing but problems. if you get a small scratch with clear coat you can not just buff it out or spot it with a quick coat and wet sand and buff. a tip i can offer after doing lots of spray painting... if you think you are going to need almost a gallon to do the job... go ahead and have two mixed up. the paint is not that expensive. then in a CLEAN!!! 5 gallon pail mix the two gallons together and pour back into their individual cans. best to do this right before doing the first application so you can use the left over - you can never get two gallons back into 2 one gallon pails - to thin in the big bucket to eliminate waste... ALWAYS - no matter if using paint from an unopened can - strain the paint and then add the thinner through the strainer, that way you can use the same strainer for the whole first application process. if you mix the 2 gallons together this way you can paint a fender or door at a time (if you have to) and as long as you don't wait more than a year between applications; your paint will all be the same color. when you get done painting what you intended to paint to start out with - you will see something else that needs to be done... like the door jambs or something, and you will have enough paint to do it.

take my word for it. this is the kind of paint and system you want to use. and if you don't want to go back to the stock toyota colors, their line of 'fleet colors' is superb.

 

[beaufort-fj60]

thanks

the front passenger quarter panel had been repaired and repainted at some time in the 60's life. whoever did the repair used 2 stage, the color matches, kind of, but it obviously has old clear coat. that panel has spider web cracks, the rest of the cruiser looks like single stage.