AHHHHH !! Ridiculous Factory Paint Thicknesses

[Peter 1]

Hi there Fellas

I don't know if it's just me, but I have noticed paint thicknesses here in Australian production and even import Jap cars, have declined dramatically.

Every vehicle that I have checked from years of 1990-2000 appears on most vehicles to have been between 170-220 microns. From 2000-2005 again it appears to have dropped from on average from 180-140 microns. 2005-2011 it appears paint thicknesses have again reduced from 130 down to as low as 90 microns.

Has anyone else noticed this happening in their own home town ?
If wet sanding is required on some of these cars, has anyone got feedback on what events they have experienced with paints this thin.

I have personally tested paints this thin and have found some paints to lose their clear coat thickness after consistant cutting at about 50 microns from a thickness which was about 90-100 microns OEM to begin with.

Could some fellow detailers possibly elaborate on your own experiences on paints this thin, and whether or not you carried out any wet sanding on paint thicknesses this thin to begin with

Cheers To All http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/images/smilies/feedback%5B1%5D.gif http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/images/smilies/xyxthumbs.gif
Pete

[jdmser]

I don't have a thickness gauge but, I noticed paint isn't what it used to be. The amount of scratches that can't be corrected is greater on the newer cars I see. I've also noticed the quality of paint differs between models in some makes. There was a ZO6 that I did a while ago where the paint was very workable but, I had a Malibu come in that was a pain to work with. It all comes down to dollars, the manufacturers would rather skimp on quality and play pricing games then put out a quality product that cost more than the competitions.

[TGWAW]

i had a suburban come in the other day with paint so thin i was afraid to even try to cut it. it was an 08. i had a bmw 645CI also that i had to do with insanely thin paint it was swirled so bad when it came it looked like someone had tried to wet sand it but failed badly.

[Peter 1]

Yes it's becoming somewhat of a problem. I don't actually wetsand entire cars because its much harder work than what I care to do, but I do need to spot sand sometimes, and when paints are this bloody thin, it's a problem.

I've measured paint as low as 80 microns which is just crazy. Talk about cutting corners. I am yet to measure the new German ceramic paints in thickness checks. Has anyone done any of these yet ?

Pete

[cu2mike]

Yes it's becoming somewhat of a problem. I don't actually wetsand entire cars because its much harder work than what I care to do, but I do need to spot sand sometimes, and when paints are this bloody thin, it's a problem.

I've measured paint as low as 80 microns which is just crazy. Talk about cutting corners. I am yet to measure the new German ceramic paints in thickness checks. Has anyone done any of these yet ?

Pete

I've seen German ceramiclear being measured a few times, not Mercedes though.
On BMW and Audi = between 120-160 microns.