saturn paint really thin?

A

acl99

New member
today my friend wanted me to attempt to fix a really deep long scratch in his side door(deep keying), he knew it would not be perfect and he would need to get it repainted most likely, so i gave it a shot, filled it up let it dry than started wetsanding it down with 2000 grit unigrit paper...i mean it worked fine on my acura, so why not the saturn?.. a few strokes later the touchup is leveled but the problem is the surrounding paint has been sanded away to a plasic base :sosad So my question is are those "dent resistant" saturn doors plasic, and is saturn paint just really thin? Im fustrated but glad a repaint was expected.
 
The variances on oem CLEARCOAT from manufacturer to manufacturer are in the .2 to .3 (tenths of a MIL) territory from info I have, so if there is a difference, it's not very much. However, the TOTAL film build from E coat, primer to base /clear per manufacturer can be anywhere from about ~4 MILS to almost ~6 MILS, so there's possibly a 2 MIL difference (substantial enough) on just what it takes to cut all the way to the substrate on a given car, and you may have found it.



Was the area you touched up / sanded rounded or flat? Rounded areas you have to be cautious because the block or foam pad tends to apply a pressure point in the center of the curve, and cuts unevenly (and fast) because of this.



If that's not the case, then it's certainly possible Saturn is on the low end of oem film build, and maybe Acura is on the high side. Live and learn right?
 
Come to think of it, since Saturns are plastic bodied, there would be no E coat as far as I know, since there'd be no need, and that and the type of plastic prep / primer being different, may account for a much thinner film build as opposed to metal paneled car bodies.
 
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