Has anyone had experience with KIRKER Black Diamond basecoat? I'm about ready to paint my car and I am considering using it. The price is very reasonable, I am also looking at Eastwood and Summit. Your thoughts woud be appricated.
I have never shot it but I have been told by others in the auto refinish industry that for the money it is pretty good stuff. I talked to a Kirker rep once and it seemed to be of good quality based on the information I had on paper I got from him and the answers to the questions I had. I love PPG & Glasurit but cost is king some times. I also know of off brand primers that are just as good if not slightly better than some of the name brands at twice the price, same can sometimes be said for basecoats. a major majority of clear coats do not do well after a few years of exposure to the sun that's the only place I feel you have to step up to the plate and spend money on a paint materials You might also consider Omni plus from PPG it is in that same price point
I did this one with kirker base clear. I'm not in a huge hurry to use it again. I guess I'd do it again but I would opt for the slow activator, slow reducer, and I really never want to shoot EC350 again, That was freaking horrible stuff (clear) I worked it out in the end, made a really nice looking car out of it but it was some G'damn work to make it look that nice, shouldn't be that damn hard. My take on it is the stuff is hard to tie together as a wet coat on an over all spray. It all wants to dust before it hits the target, really dry stuff to spray. I put it on with a compliant, (RP type) gun, If I had to do it again I would try the base with something like an LPH400 with a 1.4 fluid tip, probably LVX cap. But that G'damn EC350 clear, I don't know how you use that stuff. It was like spraying super glue, it wanted to dust and frost all over. You had to deliberately flood everything to try to get it to flow... junk, pure junk. I worked my *** off blocking that clear out and buffing it. The base I would try again, like I said with an LPH400 1.4 and slow activator, slow reducer because it wanted to flash so damn fast with medium. but I'd probably use SPI universal over it. Or on a budget I would even use a nason clear before using a kirker clear again. Nason 465-00 is a high solids that isn't too bad to work with. (cheap too)
I've used the SG black several times and my pal Dave is using it on his confused pickup. it's the gold color.HRP
i do agree on the clear, im not a professional so i thought it was just me. i would recommend a different clear.
I understand there is a demand for " low cost " alternatives.....but every Major paint manufacturer has a " value line" that you can buy at your local paint jobber, ask questions while you are there, won't pay shipping, pick up other needed supply's while you are there, etc. before you go the mail order route check into your local guy. You will be using 1 system from start to finish, using products that were designed to work together as a system.
We have painted two club cars with it. X2 on the paint curing somewhere between the gun and landing on the car. Flooded the car and it flowed out pretty good.
I agree with loveoftiki, buy local if possible. And like I always tell people, here is a good test for buying from someone. Call a summit or eastwood etc and tell them you have paint peeling off everywhere using their stuff, if you are happy with their answer then stick with them. When you buy paint, never buy the brand, buy the man that stands behind the product. You have to put value for running into a quick problem and being able to talk to someone technical to help you through it. How much is the kirker?
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