Paint Thicknesss..

K

Krisek

New member
Hi Guys,



I have car Mazda 3 2004 ( Bought Used no accidents )

I had my paint measured by Chris from ESHINE - when I was picking up some stuff ...

Thanks Chris your great guy.



Paint thickness on my hood was 2.7 Microns - Chris told me ... That is low ... but its still safe to use PC ( I have UDM - Orange/White/Blue Pads )



I was talking with Chris after about that and some of his conclusions:



"It was 2.7 Microns. I do not know why it read so low because if it is in fact 2.7 there would be major clear coat failure. If the car was single stage (No clear) I can understand but just do not see how the reading can be so low."



"The paint was thin and the reading was accurate because my vehicles measured properly. The Polisher you purchased will have a hard time removing paint, it is very delicate. We measured your vehicle all over and the readings were low everywhere. "



I can't see any problems with Clear Coat on my car ... Any thoughts guys ...



I trust Chris - but I would like to hear different opinions.



( I guess car was Polished ... with Rot. ? I was always Polishing by hand )

With not abrasive stuff like NXT ...



Chris used PosiTest DFT Coating Thickness Gauge
 
Because I work in mils, that is how I will refer to this. Your 2.7 microns = 106 mils.



That is very low for a newer car.



I have worked on plenty of cars from the mid to late 90's that had way more paint left. My wife and I sold a 1990 Honda Accord that had over 300K miles on it about 6 months ago. The paint on it was about 110-115 mils avarage.



You are probably fine with a polishing right now. The issue comes in when you polish it another 2-4 times with an orange pad. Once you get around 100 mils you are toying with going through the clear on most cars.



I hope that helps.
 
Thank You ...





So I better Sticking with ... White Pad ? and XTM no1 ... And Some fillers to keep it on the safe side ?
 
I would say that is a good bet. White has so little cut that you could get a lot more details out of the paint without any worries. Most people would not worry about depth orange or not. But I am the paranoid type that would hate to pay for someone's car to get a respray.



The thing is there is no telling how thick the cc is out of that 106 mils. If you have 20 mils of cc you'd get quite a few buff sessions. If it were 10 I'd be nervous. There has to be a threshold for when a detailer says the reward is not worth the risk. For me that # falls at 105 mils.(on most cars)
 
Thank You Again,



What speed should I use with White Sonus SFX and XMT no1



Or maybe White pad with SSR2 and blue with XMTno1 ?
 
Krisek said:
Thank You Again,



What speed should I use with White Sonus SFX and XMT no1



Or maybe White pad with SSR2 and blue with XMTno1 ?
Click to expand...



I've not used those products, so I could not tell you.
 
FSIW, I've never taken any readings on it (oughta do that some time...) but the paint on my Mazda MPV is *THIN*. So thin I'm quite hesitent to do serious correction on it. In places where it's chipped it's downright amazing how little paint is on there. Guess that's one more way they keep the cost down... (to put it nicely).



Areas where the vehicle isn't cleared (e.g., under the hood) are so thin that you can cut through in no time with very mild products if you're not careful (gee, guess how I know :o ). The black single stage window surrounds are very, very thin too.



Same ol' same ol'...don't mar it in the first place so you don't have to do a lot of correction. IIRC I've corrected the MPV maybe three times since new, never used anything harshser than 3M PI-III RC 05933 on a 4" green Cyclo pad. Even 3M PI-III MG 05937 could cut through the uncleared areas in two/three gentle passes.
 
Krisek said:
Hi Guys,



Paint thickness on my hood was 2.7 Microns - Chris told me ... That is low ... but its still safe to use PC ( I have UDM - Orange/White/Blue Pads )
Click to expand...



I'd double check this just to be sure.



1 mil = .001", or 25.4 Microns. If your paint was really 2.7 microns, you'd be able to read a newspaper through it.



2.7 mils is probably what you mean, which is still really thin, 68.58 microns. An average human hair is 4 mils, or 101.6 microns thick.



The paint on the hood of my Miata averages 3.8-4.5 mils , don't know why Mazda is so stingy with the paint. I'd be really careful even with the UDM.
 
pb_foots said:
I'd double check this just to be sure.



1 mil = .001", or 25.4 Microns. If your paint was really 2.7 microns, you'd be able to read a newspaper through it.



2.7 mils is probably what you mean, which is still really thin, 68.58 microns. An average human hair is 4 mils, or 101.6 microns thick.



The paint on the hood of my Miata averages 3.8-4.5 mils , don't know why Mazda is so stingy with the paint. I'd be really careful even with the UDM.
Click to expand...



I confused microns and mils myself based off the OP. This is more accurate information which leads me to wonder what the real reading is.
 
I've taken readings on repaints that where in the 2.0 mil range on replacement panels. All they got is a very light polishing.
 
Sounds like it's been polished too many times. You may want to try a glaze and polish it with a finishing pad. You'll probably have to re-glaze it as often as you would wax it, but I wouldn't risk taking off any more clear if I were you.
 
Apollo_Auto said:
Sounds like it's been polished too many times. You may want to try a glaze and polish it with a finishing pad. You'll probably have to re-glaze it as often as you would wax it, but I wouldn't risk taking off any more clear if I were you.
Click to expand...





Hi Guys.



Thank you again...



So you saying to not use White with XMT no1 ?

Instead go with something like Manzerna Finishing Glaze ( Wolfgang Glaze ) on Blue/Black pad ?



Poorboy’s World White Diamond Show Glaze for Light Vehicles - I have this can I put Fuzion over that ?



Menzerna Finishing Glaze PO 115C (32oz) - or maybe buy this ?

or this

Wolfgang Finishing Glaze 3.0 (16oz)
 
gmblack3a said:
Most new cars are in the 3.7 to maybe as high as 6.0 range.
Click to expand...



This is correct. The average reading should be somewhere between 4 and as high as 6 mils.



Also, as stated by Jean-Claude, he is 100% correct in saying that 1 mil is 25.4 microns.



With this said, I would go with the least abrasive that you can. Attempting to polish out scratches/etc with anything more aggressive could be catastrophic...and of course, this leaves out any possibility of wet sanding anything.
 
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