I have an old car that I plan to show and drive. I plan to drive a lot to National shows, so it will pick up paint chips..

It is a metallic two tone.


What would be the best type of paint system to use?

I plan to use a Urethane

But

Single Stage, BaseCoat/ClearCoat

Solvent or Water Bourne??

or ??

Thoughts??
Fred

metallic two tone, B/C for sure. post some pictures, we like pictures especially old car pictures.
Jay D.

FStanley wrote:...What would be the best type of paint system to use?

I plan to use a Urethane

But

...

Solvent or Water Bourne??

Solvent or Waterborne will depend on what you are comfortable with, where you live and how much you want to spend.

I'm a rookie weekender hack that has shot waterborne once. Once I got the hang of it though, the stuff (PPG Envirobase) was awesome to work with in a color with both pearl and some fine metallic. But I am in Northern California, the humidity was very low and the temps were up. The flash times with those conditions were almost nothing.

The stuff was expensive though $$$.

Not sure what folks do with waterborne paint in high humidity areas like North Carolina.

I am sure others on this board with a lot more experience will chime in, the more info the better, like where are you located? Do you have a conditioned spray booth or a garage? Equipment? etc etc etc.

The foundation for the paint is much more important in preventing chips than the paint itself. How the metal is prepped, the materials used under the paint, how they are sanded, how clean the surfaces are before spraying, correct mixtures, dry spray, and how thick the build is. Any of these can cause a weak link leading to chips. Others may even be able to add to this list.

I think that Chevman covered most of the important stuff to do with prep/paint. I would only add....get a good quality removable nose bra. I go to national events as well usually with me running 80 to 85 on the highway. I've found that is where most of the high speed rocks, sand (hell, even bugs and birds!), and such are doing the damage. I've used good quality nose masks for my cars for the last 20 years. I always check to see if there is a "stock" one (they will always be cheaper) available, if not I have a custom upholstery shop make one for me. I've spent as little as $80 for a stock one up to $350 for a custom color keyed one for a huge one on a truck. They use combinations of snaps, hooks, and velcro for mounting. The good ones literally take 5 minutes to get on and off.
One caution.... ALL makers of them will say in their literature to only use them on an OEM finished car/truck. They are most likely covering their butts as they know somebody is going to finish a car, worry about it, and slap it on the next week after painting. I ALWAYS wait 90 days before putting one on. Even then, I put it on for a day, take it off and check my coating. Put it on for a couple of days and check my coating. Then I know I can just put it on and off as needed.
Hey, don't laugh about the bird thing....Wife and I were on a 1000 mile trip last spring in her car. If it hadn't been for that nose mask she definitely would have had pretty severe damage from a bird from hell. It hit hard enough to penetrate the outer layers of the mask.....

Since I started using epoxy primer on all my bumper repaints I have
noticed a huge decline in road rash. Epoxy really increases adhesion.
And urethane is the way to go for strength, same stuff as the clear
so you can clearcoat it too if you want.

so is it true that if I had an accident, basecoat/clearcoat would be the easiest to blend in?


Fred

Yes,,