what paint brand do you use

I have been painting cars for a while,
I took a break due to a sour deal,
so now have picked it back up after 2 years,
i am just curious what you guys are useing for paint,
i have always used PPG by choice
but were i work sells martin senyour,
i paint alot of tractor and implement stuff, weird antique things i guess.
I just painted a 50's bale loader for a guy with martin, base clear and it wasnt too bad
i just have a hard time giving up what i am use to
I need a company with a good surfacer that sands well
and i dont want to have to mist coat something( i havent had to with ppg but i did with shirwin williams,
just trying to get some input
thanks

 

i always liked using the DuPont chromabase line. Im not rpofessional painter by any means, but I built a ton of fibergl*** stuff for off topic cars and always liked how that stuff worked.

 

5 star primer/sealer
auto air colors base & effects
ppg clear

 

PPG or Evercoat primers.
AutoAir for airbrush and smaller graphics.
HOK bases and clears.
Sometimes DynaTone (Alsa) clears...

 

thanks for the input i was just testin waters to see what people are useing
i have messes with alsa corp and some of there base but for some jobs i need paint codes
thanks for the input

 

For flat black, I use Walmart's best, ...99 cent a rattle can.



Come to think of it, why the heck did I even post this?

 

HOK Primers/Basecoats/Effects/Clears

PPG Bases/Clears

 

I've always used PPGs stuff too, I love that we can get their DPS primers in white, grey, and dark grey. I use the white under almost everything, other than black or silver.

Can't stand Alsa, generally as a company, all there stuff always shows up leaking, or broken in some way, it's messy, and usually doesn't work like I expect it to. But I can't get their soft touch anywhere else and our designers love that stuff.

What do you mean by mist coating? For adhesion?

my truck sports Behr Premium... but I got it like that.

 

Kirker primers and Sherwin Williams paints. I'm very happy with the results from both. Todd

 

the mist coat is to even out the metallics in the base coat
it is recomended by martin sen. and shirwin williams , at least shirwin williams said to do it on the 3 shirwin williams schools ive been too
thanks
so you guys have had good luck with hok
i have contemplated useing there product for my nova complete paint
thanks
ben

 

I use Sikkens Paint (Akzo Noble). The reps are always asking questions and if you have any trouble they will come out to help. But the one thing I have switched are spray guns, went from SATA to IWATA since we have to use water bourne paint here in California. Alsa has some good stuff.

 

Sikkens, accept no subs***ues...

 

Hok/base/clears/airbrush

 

Even though the tech sheets might not say it, I always do a mist coat and cross coat all my metallics. Its evens them out and gets the metallic to stand up and be more "metallicy."

 

I'll agree that is good stuff!

Now after 35+ years of automotive refinish experience, the main thing I learned is to educate yourself on what you use but try not to become "addicted" to a certain brand. When I was selling and demonstrating paint I handled up to 5 lines of different products at one time. It was tough trying to remember all the different clears, reducers, hardners, primers, etc. and keep them straight when answering questions from other painters and demonstrating the product. I found out that over 90% of painters are addicted to one brand mainly because it's too much work to learn new things or products. The only time they switch is when something goes to ****! Then it's a scramble to learn a new system and get it "dialed in" and performing. I found that a good painter is a good painter no matter what he is spraying. My favorite way to deal with brand addiction, was to cover the labels on all the cans with paper and then write --PAINT--REDUCER--HARDNER--CLEAR on the cans and start the demonstration. Removing the brand and different numbers on the product eliminated a major distraction (the addiction to brand) and a good painter was able to produce a fine job with just about any brand product by relying on his expertise, technique and experience.

I like the European based "brands" and most American companies have aligned or merged with at least one of those Euro types. The Europeans were ahead of us in a lot of auto refinish technology from the 1970's on. There has been a lot of "dialing in" on the technology since base/clear appeared here and it seems to have stabilized somewhat. And now we're doing water based and enviromentally friendly materials (here we go again?).

The major companies still cater to the collision repair industry, so a lot of the products are not as "do it yourself" friendly as they have been. Most of the clearcoats are made to be "baked" in a spray/bake booth so they don't always perform exactly the same when air dried.

Learn the stuff you like to work with, but try learn about other products and systems. The good painter will keep an open mind--to learning--constantly.

overspray

 

well since no one has mentioned it.....i use imron elite. it's very tough paint!

 

For what you are painting I would look into Imron (Dupont) It is very durable paint. I think most Planes are still sprayed with it and When I did some work with Peterbilt in Denton,TX all their Trucks are painted in Imron.

 

ha ha, i beat you to it.

and you can make it look good too, this is my mustang i painted with imron straight out of the gun, no buffing. but if you really want one to look good and dont mind alot of work wet sanding a hard paint imron will shine like nobodys business if buffed.

 

PPG all the way.

 

I thought Imron was illegal now.


I like PPG for my own projects, but have used lots of other budget and mid-line brands on stuff I do for friends.

Do me a favor and suggest a cheap / entry-level candy or metalflake brand for me to practice with. A friend says Kirker is good for that, but man their website is hard to figure out. HOK is way too expensive to be playing around with.

 

I'm using the Limco line from BASF. May not be your choice if your a pro painter, but it's a good value for us backyard painters.

Bob

 

i use and make it every day

 

Seems I used these guys stuff years ago. Can't vouch for the quality, but maybe someone else here can.
http://www.metalflakecorp.com/

 

i have to agree with overspray...i paint alot and have since i got hooked in high school..that was a long time ago. i worked at a chevrolet dealership and all the shot was sikkens...good stuff but price wise not good..ppg ..all around easy to use and shoot..m/s..local napa paint..good stuff too..easy to spray and not to difficult. i shot a 38 sedan with dark m/s primer and added mica to it..looked kinda wild but it turned out and everyone was happy. learn it all

 

For the Interior parts I do, I like SPI paints.
They don't have a lot of base colors though.
but The primer is nice and the Universal Clear is great
for custom stuff.. I paint over dirty base coat everyday
with the woodgraining stuff and it works great!
The best part for me is its so easy to wet sand and buff up,
since I get so many nibs from the Inks we use.
I use Dupont Chromabase for my base coats....

Jdee

 

i shoot most brands, ppg, dupont , basf, rm, spies hecker....hok for custom colors, some alsa.
used to use sherwin williams, but we have ****py support from themn in this area, they'd always be out of toners and such

for everyday use, i use ppg envirobase (water), and also have a "hidden" dbc system as well(not supposed to have them here anymore)

i try to stay away from the bargain brands, especially the clears as they tend to bite your **** time to time


skull

 

Dupont chroma Premier is really good stuff

 

I use Kirker from smartshoppersinc or omni from the local jobber. If I was going to do a high dollar car, it would be ppg dbc and clear or HOK.

 

Western Paint,their urathane is the stuff! Spray it and your done.I have never needed to color sand a urathane job...they come out like gl***,if you know what your doing!

 

matrix /ppg and omni all work well