Types of paint: Single Stage Paint - Tinted Clears - Basecoat/Clearcoat - Embedded Dirt

Single Stage Paint - Tinted Clears - Basecoat/Clearcoat - Embedded Dirt


Single Stage Paint

If you're pulling a LOT of color or pigment then the car is a single stage paint like this 1957 Chevy we buffed out just a few weeks ago...

1957 Chevrolet Bel Air - Remove Swirls - Modeled by Kristin

http://www.autogeekonline.net/galler...akeover030.jpg



Yep... we're working on red single stage paint as you can see by the red pigment transferring to the face of the buffing pad.

http://www.autogeekonline.net/galler...akeover031.jpg


You can see the red pigment building up on the pad as PJ buffs a vertical panel.
http://www.autogeekonline.net/galler...akeover042.jpg


Here you can see red pigment on the face of some of the buffing pads we used on the 1957 Chevy...
http://www.autogeekonline.net/galler...akeover043.jpg


And you can really see the red pigment on this white terry cloth towel after doing some pad cleaning...
http://www.autogeekonline.net/galler...akeover051.jpg

Finished...
One thing about single stage paints, correctly polished you get amazing richness of color, gloss and depth...
http://www.autogeekonline.net/galler...akeover096.jpg





Tinted Clear Coats
If you're working on a TINTED clear you'll pull a LITTLE color or pigment and see this on your buffing pad. For example, here's some pictures from the Red Jewel Tint 2011 Camaro we buffed out a few weeks ago that belongs to Rene.


2011 Camaro - Modeled by Amy


Robert does a Test Spot on the hood to dial-in the process the rest of us will duplicate over the rest of the car. For this he's using the Flex 3401 with a Cyan Hydro-Tech Cutting Pad and the Blackfire Scratch Resistant Compound. This combination of products on the 5.0 Speed Setting removed all but the deepest RIDS
http://www.autogeekonline.net/galler...TCamaro008.jpg


Here you can see the tint in the tinted clear coming off the car as we compound it and onto the face of the pad. This is nothing to worry about, keep in mind when you're doing any correction work on a clearcoat paint system you too are removing paint that is building up on the face of your buffing pad but because the paint is clear you won't see it build-up on the face of your pad.



http://www.autogeekonline.net/galler...TCamaro010.jpg

See this article,
Why it's important to clean your pads often...


Finished...
Polished correctly, tinted clears offer a candied look...
http://www.showcargarage.com/gallery...TCamaro023.jpg




Clear Coat Paint
If you're working on a clear coat paint the only color you should see on the pad is the color of the compound, polish or wax you're using.

When we buffed out the 1977 Can Am Corvette we used Optimum Hyper-Compound which is blue on a blue pad on a clear coated black car and never pulled any color during our buffing process.

http://www.autogeekonline.net/galler...orvette116.jpg

http://www.autogeekonline.net/galler...orvette117.jpg



http://www.autogeekonline.net/galler...orvette029.jpg


No color coming off the car and onto the pad...
Anytime you're working on a clear coat the only color you want to see on your buffing pad is the color of the pad and the color of the compound, polish or wax. If you see the color of the paint... that's a bad thing... a real bad thing...

http://www.autogeekonline.net/galler...orvette118.jpg



Finished...
Polished correctly a clear coat will be perfectly clear and showcase the color of the basecoat...
http://www.autogeekonline.net/galler...orvette073.jpg




Embedded Dirt In Paint...
It's possible to be working on a clear coated car and see a brownish, grayish, blackish tinge or tint on your buffing pad even after washing and claying the paint. If you see this it's a sign of staining of the paint which is dirt in the air or some type of contaminant embedded on the paint and in the paint from the environment in where the car is stored, driven or parked.

1954 Ford F-100 - Extreme Makeover - Process and products used


We wiped this "Show Truck" down with DP Waterless Wash and then clayed each panel, this effectively would have removed any loose dirt or dust and bonded contaminants.

Restoring smoothness by claying the paint
Here's Glen the owner of the truck claying just in front of the windshield for the very first time..
http://www.autogeekonline.net/galler.../54Ford621.jpg


Here's Jeff claying the back of the truck...
http://www.autogeekonline.net/galler...0/54Ford64.jpg


Rene claying the bed rails...
http://www.autogeekonline.net/galler...0/54Ford65.jpg


Glen, Adam and Rene claying the paint... you can already see the gloss becoming amped up just from claying...
http://www.autogeekonline.net/galler...0/54Ford66.jpg


Here's Robert and Glen tackling the roof, not they are standing on stable work platforms to protect both themselves and the truck.
http://www.autogeekonline.net/galler...0/54Ford82.jpg


Robert using the PC and Glenn using the Meguiar's G110v2
http://www.autogeekonline.net/galler...0/54Ford83.jpg


Remember how dirty the clay was after claying just one half of the roof? Clay remove ABOVE surface bonded contaminants but it doesn't remove embedded staining of the paint. You can see abrading the paint with a light polish and a microfiber pad has removed the staining effect and restored a very bright and shiny finish.
http://www.autogeekonline.net/galler...0/54Ford84.jpg


The pad on the left is new and bright white, the pad on the left is a grayish tinge to it from embedded dirt that was removed during the polishing process.
http://www.autogeekonline.net/galler...0/54Ford85.jpg



Finished...
Polished correctly, any swirls, scratches and embedded dirt will be removed and a totally clear and smooth finish produced...
http://www.autogeekonline.net/galler.../54Ford113.jpg



How to test for single stage paint, tinted clears and basecoat/clearcoat paint systems
I also cover how to test for single stage, tinted clears or basecoat/clear paints on page 10 and 11 in my how to book.

http://www.autogeekonline.net/galler...ookpage10a.jpg

http://www.autogeekonline.net/galler...ookpage10a.jpg


:)

Wow thanks for the awesome write up!! :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by lokichaos

Wow thanks for the awesome write up!! :)

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It was kind of interesting to me that last week when the topic of single stage paint came up in another thread on the forum that as I looked through all the cars we've been working on for our "Autogeek's Car of the Week" projects that in a short amount of time we've had pretty much the entire spectrum of paint types featured in the various write-ups from these projects.

It was natural to create an article on the topic...


I also just had a guy e-mail me asking me about tinted clears so I was able to send him the link to this thread to clarify some point.


:)

Thanks again Mike regarding my tinted clear question. One more point of clarification if you would...on page 11 of your book (great book)...you said "some car manufacturers use a tinted clear for the top coat of paint over the clearcoat finish"

Are you saying there are actually 2 clearcoat layers...1 layer is a conventional clear layer...and that layer is topped with yet another clearcoat layer...a tinted clear layer?

I was assuming the tinted clear coat was the only clearcoat layer.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by silverfox

Thanks again Mike regarding my tinted clear question. One more point of clarification if you would...on page 11 of your book (great book)...you said "some car manufacturers use a tinted clear for the top coat of paint over the clearcoat finish"

Are you saying there are actually 2 clearcoat layers...1 layer is a conventional clear layer...and that layer is topped with yet another clearcoat layer...a tinted clear layer?

I was assuming the tinted clear coat was the only clearcoat layer.

---

I don't know for sure as I have not researched the application practices for all manufactures...

From what I understand, the tint is added either all of the clear coat layer or the last application of clear thus you would have

basecoat
clearcoat
tinted clearcoat


The idea is to give the paint a special effect.


I read somewhere that in the case of the Red Jewel Tint used on the 2011 Camaro that the tinted portion of clear is sprayed over the basecoat and then straight clear is sprayed over this layer of tinted clear.

Don't remember where I read it maybe someone else that knows will chime in...

Regardless, here's what I know... when we buffed out Rene's Camaro we pulled tinting on our pad. That means the top layer is tinted or the straight clear is very thin and we or someone else buffed it all off exposing the tinted layer as you can see in this picture...

Quote:

---

Here you can see the tint in the tinted clear coming off the car as we compound it and onto the face of the pad. This is nothing to worry about, keep in mind when you're doing any correction work on a clearcoat paint system you too are removing paint that is building up on the face of your buffing pad but because the paint is clear you won't see it build-up on the face of your pad.

http://www.autogeekonline.net/galler...TCamaro010.jpg

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I can already tell this is going to cause some apprehension among owners of cars with tinted clears but here's the big picture...

Regardless of what's on the car... if you want to remove swirls you have to remove a little paint and this is going to be whatever is on the very surface of the finish. There's no way around it except to not buff the car.

This circles back to one of my very few rants on a public discussion forum and that's the fact that car manufactures don't put enough top coat on their cars whatever the top coat is.

This means car owners and detailers don't have much to work with over the service live of the car and this is why it's a bad idea to wetsand factory paint.

Nothing will change unless mass consumers of new cars complain enough that at least one car manufacture listens and changes their miserly ways...


:D

***bump***


No such thing as an old thread if the information and pictures are relevant, accurate and topical.



:)

Thank you, Mike for this invaluable article. It was linked to me by Paul from LSNDetailing here in Chandler, AZ, when I reached out to him about why I was seeing black color transfer on my pad while correcting the hood of a black 2015 Lexus sedan. I was not aware of tinted clear coat and I knew it wasn't single stage so until reading this article, I was experiencing the early pre-stages of a panic attack... light heart palpitations, left arm beginning to go numb, hyper ventilating, etc. :laughing:

As always, you da man, sir!

Thanks again,
Steve