Paint Meter/Thickness Gauges!

lecchilo said:
i think i'm going with that also

have to save up though... i'm broke :bawling:
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Yea they are certainly not cheap. But if you are doing paid details, its good idea to have especially when doing paint corrections.
 
Bumping this thread...need some more info about paint. I have received my paint meter but I would like to know a little more about the thickness of paints as a baseline when I do readings...



On a single stage finish what are typical readings of overall thickness? How much of the overall reading is broken down into the thickness of the primer, base coat top coat?



All the above for clearcoated systems as well?



Any help would be appreciated.
 
Thanks Thomas.



I guess the specific info I am wanting isnt available anywhere really.



Good bits of info found on your link:



"Most factory paint jobs range from 3.5 to 5.5 mils (87 to 137 microns). Thinner readings indicate that the clear coat is almost entirely removed or in the case of single-stage systems that the primer is about to show through."



"Because of the potential for removing the majority of the UV blockers, most auto manufacturers recommend that a maximum of 0.3 mils (8 microns) clear coat be removed as prevention from UV damage to underlying paint layers."



Problem is for example, if I detail my car. Paint reads 135 microns on the hood, my car is 5 years old now, how much of the original measurement is gone. (When it came out of the factory what is the measurement?) How much of the 135 microns is actually clear coat and how much of that is the in microns still has UV inhibitors?



These are the type of questions Im referring to. It seems that the paint gauge is still a good idea/investment but without true baselines its hard to reference actual numbers to compare and be useful to its fullest potential. I did a search for Paint readings measurements on the internet and pulled pretty much useless info. I wish there was a chart that manufactures would release to show these numbers.
 
It is good to measure how much you are removing when you do it yourself. Before, after, so you know if you're removing much or none at all. I would guess the PC would remove nearly nothing.



However, I thought I've seen a paint guage that measures up to 4 different materials above the metal, IE, primer, paint, clear.... Just pray there's no bondo! :sign
 
01bluecls said:
Thanks Thomas.



I guess the specific info I am wanting isnt available anywhere really.



Good bits of info found on your link:



"Most factory paint jobs range from 3.5 to 5.5 mils (87 to 137 microns). Thinner readings indicate that the clear coat is almost entirely removed or in the case of single-stage systems that the primer is about to show through."



"Because of the potential for removing the majority of the UV blockers, most auto manufacturers recommend that a maximum of 0.3 mils (8 microns) clear coat be removed as prevention from UV damage to underlying paint layers."



Problem is for example, if I detail my car. Paint reads 135 microns on the hood, my car is 5 years old now, how much of the original measurement is gone. (When it came out of the factory what is the measurement?) How much of the 135 microns is actually clear coat and how much of that is the in microns still has UV inhibitors?



These are the type of questions Im referring to. It seems that the paint gauge is still a good idea/investment but without true baselines its hard to reference actual numbers to compare and be useful to its fullest potential. I did a search for Paint readings measurements on the internet and pulled pretty much useless info. I wish there was a chart that manufactures would release to show these numbers.
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I know what you mean - the 944 read from 376 to 703 or so. :think2 :think2 :think2
 
i know this thread is old, but I'm going to be buying this very soon, and was wondering how it works bluecsl??

the link above, the one which you say you got it from, doesn't work... their website works fine, but when I click on the paint gauge, there's some sort of error... is it just my comp ?

anyway, let me know how the PTG works
 
lecchilo said:
oh and I found it here...

Coating Thickness Gages



is that it? seems like a great price compared to what you paid
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That's the one I found as well. :D





And I have the same question as 01bluecls... When working on a older vehicle, how do you know how much of the original clear coat has been removed?



And since the above link stated "most" cars have between 3.5 and 5.5. Are there new vehicles out there with more or less? For example I detail a brand new Mercedes Benz, and the reading comes out to 5.8; do I just assume there hasn't been repaint, and treat it as I normally would?



Is this where you would make an assumption? I'm pretty new to paint reading gauges, and I'd like to learn more. :help:
 
for about $3000 you will get a gauge that gives readings up to 3 layers.



That is the only way to know for sure how much clear is left, but it doesn't mean that the gauge we use is useless.



Aston Martins have 11 layers of paint including 2 clear coats. So the reading would be about 190 microns.
 
tdekany said:
for about $3000 you will get a gauge that gives readings up to 3 layers.



That is the only way to know for sure how much clear is left, but it doesn't mean that the gauge we use is useless.



Aston Martins have 11 layers of paint including 2 clear coats. So the reading would be about 190 microns.
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Right, I understand that, and at this point $3,000 isn't going to happen. I would however like to purchase one of these in the future. What's the name of the product?
 
Not sure about the links. Generally a car reads about 5.5 mils or 135-150 ulms. Another general guideline from what I have learned is that clear coat makes up about 2.5 mils of the 5.5 mils. If I read a painted panel and it shows that there is less than 100ulms, very little clear is left and I avoid any deep polishing as much as necessary. Anything over 190 usually indicates a repaint. Each brand of car is different. Overtime and research and experience, You learn which cars should be reading at which levels.
 
01bluecls said:
Not sure about the links. Generally a car reads about 5.5 mils or 135-150 ulms. Another general guideline from what I have learned is that clear coat makes up about 2.5 mils of the 5.5 mils. If I read a painted panel and it shows that there is less than 100ulms, very little clear is left and I avoid any deep polishing as much as necessary. Anything over 190 usually indicates a repaint. Each brand of car is different. Overtime and research and experience, You learn which cars should be reading at which levels.
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Thanks. I plan on writing down the make, model, starting mils and ending mils for each car I do, and review the sheets every know and then, or before I go back to do some work on the car.
 
lecchilo said:
oh and I found it here...

Coating Thickness Gages



is that it? seems like a great price compared to what you paid
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hey blue, so this is the same gauge as you have correct?

would you suggest I get the one with the integrated or external probe?

I'm thinking of going with the external so I can look like a doctor haha j/k... i think it's easier to just hold the gauge upright and move the probe around....

anyway, can you just verify that they're the same, I'll be buying in the next couple days...

oh and how has it worked for you, no problems at all ??
 
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