Styling Paint finish

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Styling Paint finish

Joined
Jul 29, 2016
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57
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Location
Vault 101, Cheshire
I gave our nice new 500 its first hand-wash yesterday and I noticed that the paint finish is gorgeous - it seems sort of 'thick' and luscious. Default Bossanova white btw.
A world of difference from our previous car's paint job, which seemed thin and brittle.
 
My 63 plate 500S has the black sparkly paint (various names for it) and although it looks really nice when freshly washed/waxed, it just looks dirty and dull the rest of the time as I simply don't have time to be constantly cleaning it.

I'll never get a black one again. Also, the finish/paint was soft as anything and it chips to show the white undercoat if you even so much as give it a hard stare.

It would be nice if the finishes have improved somewhat the last few years.
 
It all very much depends on the required pain process for each colour, some might get one coat of colour and a lacquer and others might get several coats before the top coat. Some special colours may have several different coats of different colours to get the required finish, you have to remember that there are only a few microns of pain between the world and bare metal so no matter how thick it might seem, it really isn't
 
My 2013 Twinair is also black and I have to agree with DBunX. While the paint finish is excellent, especially when clean, the colour chips readily and this damage shows up clearly on the black. Our white Pop doesn't show it so much obviously. I bought a car bra that protects the vulnerable front on trips but it does nothing to help with inconsiderate door-bangers.
 
IMO the big change from 20 years ago is the panel preparation, which is way, way better than anything we saw back then. The final coats are, if anything, softer and less durable - but untreated chips and scratches no longer lead quickly to rust spots due to the far better base metal treatment.

In the bad old days of the '70's, manufacturers often stored bare bodyshells until they were red rusty and then painted them with insufficient preparation; I remember in particular seeing practically brand new Cortinas shedding paint like a sunburnt lizard.
 
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