How to determine paint "hardness"?

[Sonic Pilot]

Car manufacturers sometimes have a reputation for "hard" or "soft" paint finishes and that is fine for those who memorize which is which.
That aside, what is the current detail industry practice for determining paint "hardness"? I'm not talking about weather or not the paint is fully cured. Lets assume the paint is fully cured. As a detailer assessing a cars finish, how do you determine "hard" paint from "soft" paint? Also, what is the unit of measure used when determining paint hardness? For example, a common unit of measure for determining weight is pounds.

[Calendyr]

The typical way of finding if paint is hard or soft is trying to remove defects from it. Soft paints are easy to remove damage from. Some paints are so hard it's almost impossible to remove scratches and swirls unless you go with a super agressive combo of machine, pad and compound.

Also, soft paint damages very easilly, so you are much more likelly to put swirls in it during the wash. Hard paints on the other hand are harder to damage, and are more resistant to day to day things that might damage softer paints. This is why ceramic coatings boasts being able to protect from scratching, the harder finish of the coating is more resistant than most paints.

[Rsurfer]

European cars are known for hard paint and most Asian cars are known for soft paint,
but not always. Never start polishing without doing a test spot to see what polish and pad combo will work best.

[FUNX650]

Car manufacturers sometimes have a
reputation for "hard" or "soft" paint
finishes and that is fine for those who
memorize which is which.

That aside, what is the current detail industry
practice for determining paint "hardness"?
I'm not talking about weather or not the paint
is fully cured. Lets assume the paint is fully cured.

As a detailer assessing a cars finish, how do you
determine "hard" paint from "soft" paint?

Below, IMHO, is the definitive
information regarding paint “hardness”.

Bob


**********************************************

Re: Paint Hardness

“You don't know how hard or soft the paint is
on any car until you go out into your garage
and actualy start to work on it.


In a nutshell, no one should be making broad
statements about hard and/or soft paint,
because, no one knows how hard or soft the
paint is on each car until they go out into the
garage and work on it.


It is at the point that you bring your hand down
on the paint,or a machine and do a little cleaning
that you're going to find out if the paint you're
working on is hard or soft.


***Pretty simple really,
if you with your 4 fingers pushing down on an
applicator pad with a paint cleaner like ScratchX
can remove swirls and scratches with 2-3
applications using perfect technique, then
the paint is workable, or polish-able.
If you can't then the paint is hard.***

Same goes for machine applied paint cleaners
or cleaner/polishes.


You really don't know whether the paint on
your car is hard or soft until you go out into
your garage and test it to see what can be done.


Don't follow the advice of anyone on a forum
making broad statements about different models
of cars having hard or soft paint, they really
shouldn't be doing this disservice to people.”


~ Mike Phillips

***********************************************

[Sonic Pilot]

Below, IMHO, is the definitive
information regarding paint “hardness”.

Bob


**********************************************

Re: Paint Hardness

“You don't know how hard or soft the paint is
on any car until you go out into your garage
and actualy start to work on it.


In a nutshell, no one should be making broad
statements about hard and/or soft paint,
because, no one knows how hard or soft the
paint is on each car until they go out into the
garage and work on it.


It is at the point that you bring your hand down
on the paint,or a machine and do a little cleaning
that you're going to find out if the paint you're
working on is hard or soft.


***Pretty simple really,
if you with your 4 fingers pushing down on an
applicator pad with a paint cleaner like ScratchX
can remove swirls and scratches with 2-3
applications using perfect technique, then
the paint is workable, or polish-able.
If you can't then the paint is hard.***

Same goes for machine applied paint cleaners
or cleaner/polishes.


You really don't know whether the paint on
your car is hard or soft until you go out into
your garage and test it to see what can be done.


Don't follow the advice of anyone on a forum
making broad statements about different models
of cars having hard or soft paint, they really
shouldn't be doing this disservice to people.”


~ Mike Phillips

***********************************************

Bob that is awesome, and straight from "the Man" himself.

Thanks guys for all the replies.... You ROCK!!

[Paul A.]

I totally agree with Mike however will also emphasize careful inspection both before and after. I always take a good look at the paint and defects with adequate light before I attempt my test spot(s). After I do a test spot, I take another very careful look at the after condition and with the exact same light that hasn't moved. The results or lack of jump right out at you.

Now that goes without saying but my point is to study the paint closely. I'm also able to see the workability with some products while I'm working the section.

[Mike Phillips]

I also answer this question in my how-to book,

The Complete Guide to a Show Car Shine


I'll send a prize to the first person that shares the page and the what I wrote.

[Mantilgh]

You can also have repainted areas that can differ in hardness from the OEM paint.

[custmsprty]

Section 4 Page 19 Paint Hardness or Softness

Polishable: Capable of being polished.

Polishability: To the degree a surface or coating can be polished.

Too hard, extremely difficult to level paint in an effort to reomove below-surface defects.

Too soft, so soft that just the act of wiping the paint with a clean soft microfiber polishing towel can instill swirls and scratches.

The best paint sysems are some where between these two extremes. This would be a paint system the average person can work on. By this I mean a paint sytem soft enough that defects can be removed but hard enough to resist scratching through normal maintenance procedures while still providing long service life.

[custmsprty]

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