Hi Guys,

Quick question about which one is better--Matrix or Omni. I have not heard a lot of good things about Omni--bargain paint at best. Having said that, my local Carquest sells only that line and for my first 15 or so jobs, I have always used that and to be honest, they have come out great. Maybe I didn't knw any better (??). Now keep in mind, I am just doing bike jobs and far from the level that all you guys are at. Recently, needling to match some Harley and Suzuki colors, I have needed to go to another supplier to get those codes and they use Matrix. These jobs look good also. Pricing is similar and am wondering if I should "jump ship" and use Matrix for most of my work. I'm getting wholesale pricing at both shops and have a good relationship at both stores so I would not be burning bridges either way. Thoughts??

Automotive Art Motobase LV
The other two are junk in my opinion.

Rebel Racing wrote:Hi Guys,

Quick question about which one is better--Matrix or Omni. I have not heard a lot of good things about Omni--bargain paint at best. Having said that, my local Carquest sells only that line and for my first 15 or so jobs, I have always used that and to be honest, they have come out great. Maybe I didn't knw any better (??). Now keep in mind, I am just doing bike jobs and far from the level that all you guys are at. Recently, needling to match some Harley and Suzuki colors, I have needed to go to another supplier to get those codes and they use Matrix. These jobs look good also. Pricing is similar and am wondering if I should "jump ship" and use Matrix for most of my work. I'm getting wholesale pricing at both shops and have a good relationship at both stores so I would not be burning bridges either way. Thoughts??

Either one is fine as long as the color matches are working for you.

their clears however are not really up to par. use good clear. something like DCU2021 over them. also add your 5% hardener to any basecoat. I usually just use whatever hardener I'm going to use in my clear to keep it simple.

PainterDave wrote:

Rebel Racing wrote:Hi Guys,

Quick question about which one is better--Matrix or Omni. I have not heard a lot of good things about Omni--bargain paint at best. Having said that, my local Carquest sells only that line and for my first 15 or so jobs, I have always used that and to be honest, they have come out great. Maybe I didn't knw any better (??). Now keep in mind, I am just doing bike jobs and far from the level that all you guys are at. Recently, needling to match some Harley and Suzuki colors, I have needed to go to another supplier to get those codes and they use Matrix. These jobs look good also. Pricing is similar and am wondering if I should "jump ship" and use Matrix for most of my work. I'm getting wholesale pricing at both shops and have a good relationship at both stores so I would not be burning bridges either way. Thoughts??

Either one is fine as long as the color matches are working for you.

their clears however are not really up to par. use good clear. something like DCU2021 over them. also add your 5% hardener to any basecoat. I usually just use whatever hardener I'm going to use in my clear to keep it simple.

So far I have been able to match most of the requests either with Omni or Matrix. I'm curious about the hardener in the base--I have never done that. Is it for durability only?

Rebel Racing wrote:

PainterDave wrote:

Rebel Racing wrote:Hi Guys,

Quick question about which one is better--Matrix or Omni. I have not heard a lot of good things about Omni--bargain paint at best. Having said that, my local Carquest sells only that line and for my first 15 or so jobs, I have always used that and to be honest, they have come out great. Maybe I didn't knw any better (??). Now keep in mind, I am just doing bike jobs and far from the level that all you guys are at. Recently, needling to match some Harley and Suzuki colors, I have needed to go to another supplier to get those codes and they use Matrix. These jobs look good also. Pricing is similar and am wondering if I should "jump ship" and use Matrix for most of my work. I'm getting wholesale pricing at both shops and have a good relationship at both stores so I would not be burning bridges either way. Thoughts??

Either one is fine as long as the color matches are working for you.

their clears however are not really up to par. use good clear. something like DCU2021 over them. also add your 5% hardener to any basecoat. I usually just use whatever hardener I'm going to use in my clear to keep it simple.

So far I have been able to match most of the requests either with Omni or Matrix. I'm curious about the hardener in the base--I have never done that. Is it for durability only?

the short answer is yes

I believe the Omni and Shopline are the same product, just different names depending on whether the paint supplier is an exclusive PPG paint supplier or not. I've used both lines, Matrix and Shopline/Omni and both worked fine for me. The Matrix High Solids MS42 came out nice as well. Also note, some colors are not in all data bases so you may have to choose the paint line that you can actually get the color in. Matrix is a relatively newer company compared to PPG, so older colors may not be in their system. In the PPG line ups, some colors may be available in their Deltron line but not their Shopline/Omni line and vise versa.

This car was shot with PPG Shopline JB base with Matrix MS42 Clear below:

Lenny B wrote:I believe the Omni and Shopline are the same product, just different names depending on whether the paint supplier is an exclusive PPG paint supplier or not.

O.K., good to know. Beautiful '68 (?) in the pic! We have a'68 Vert. 347,T5Z we do cruise nights and non judged shows.