Hi :
What color primer should I use under 2003 Honda Accord Nobel Green Pearle (paint code G508P) ?
I am repainting the whole car and it has been sanded to remove the flaking clear coat. I will go over the whole thing with 320 grit before shooting a Nason 2 K urethane primer.

Your opinions please.

Thanks
Jake

I would go with a grey primer. Make sure you have great lighting or a "sun light" to check for coverage. Nothing worse than clearing a car then pulling it out into the sun to find out that you had poor coverage in some spots.

The correct primer Value Shade for this colour is 7. That's a very dark grey, almost black.

The only way to get a very dark gray/almost black primer is to mix the gray with the black. Why buy 2 cans of primer? Regular gray 2k primer is fine. I think someones trying to get a little too technical.

I have a tin of VS1 and another of VS7 sitting in my rack.



Nothing technical about mixing them to get whatever shade is required. Using the right shade primer means you use less base coat to get coverage and that means saving money. A premium base coat like Cromax (Dupont) 6000, costs $124/litre. So, if I can do a typical job with 200ml instead of 300ml I'm saving $12.40/job. 3 jobs/day, 260 work days/year and that's $9672/year that I'm saving by using the right shade primer.

Not too technical yet?

Add to that that my paint thickness is close to recommended in 1.5-2 coats so I'm reducing risk of failures from excessive paint build or from issues like solvent pop, and saving another 15 minutes/ job in time to apply and flash off another coat. My labour rate is $94/hour, plus 10% GST so that means I have another 45 minutes a day that I can turn to paid labour tasks. $94 x 1.1 = $103.40 x 0.75 = $77.55/day more revenue. $77.55 x 260 = $20163 per year.

Still with me? Not getting too technical?

$20163 plus $9672 = $29835 a year that I'm better off. All from using the correct Value Shade primer.

Starting to get really technical now.

Because I use the correct Value Shade I may not need to use the premium 6000 base coat, I can use 610 instead and still get correct coverage and colour. This is much cheaper. In fact, for the colour given above, Honda Noble Green, $62.54/litre vs $123.98/litre. So, for our typical job requiring 200ml there is a further saving of $61.44/litre or $12.29/job. Annualising this gives a further saving of $9585.

$9585 plus $29835 equals $39420 total savings per year accruing from just using the correct shade of primer.

Surely that's not too technical?

For a hobbyist, the difference, of course, is scale but don't lose sight of the film build issue. Even hobbyists need to keep this under control to maintain the quality and longevity of their job.

This business has become technical and anyone who even wants to call themselves a professional will need to factor in issues like this.

OP asked a simple question:

Tampa_Jake wrote:What color primer should I use under 2003 Honda Accord Nobel Green Pearle (paint code G508P) ?

I gave him a simple answer:

NFT5 wrote:The correct primer Value Shade for this colour is 7. That's a very dark grey, almost black.

That's hardly "too technical".

Great post niftyfive,sometimes stating the obvious is the best answer.It is always best to use the correct shade sealer vs an extra coat or 2 of paint for many reasons besides helping with coverage.Sealer will always be cheaper than paint,period.It seems so many are hung up on not using it due to so many wives tales about added texture ,etc.If you choose the right shade of primer for the job at hand and have the patience to sand perfectly with 600 with no burn thrus all the power to ya.At the end of the day when you look at 2 completed paint jobs(one finished in 400and sealed vs sanded with 600 and not sealed) with and without sealer there will be no difference in the final product as long as the guy behind the gun knows what he is doing.I have never understood why someone would rather use 4-6 coats of base to get coverage vs using a ground coat(left over base from other jobs used to get faster coverage) or right shade of sealer.Dont get me started on unnecessary film build or easier stone chipping etc......

If you say so

Wow, nice analysis Chris - thanks!

Very nice work on the cost breakdown Chris! Even at 3 jobs a day, that is a huge savings/net gain. Some of the ultra high volume shops would notice even more net income/material savings.

90% of high volume shops are not concerned with the price of materials for a couple of reasons.A high volume shop prefers to use the best materials possible so they can offer a warranty to the customer and to eliminate anything coming back for a redo.High volume shops also use job costing on every job that is estimated to go through the doors and in turn that cost is passed onto the customer.