It is the protective top layer Clear Coat which the machine polishing will be removing and by taking the all-important Paint Depth reading, you can ascertain how much paint you have to play with from the outset. The thickness of the paint you see on your car is measured in microns (µm), with 1 micron being the equivalent to one thousandth of a millimetre (1/1000mm). There are three layers: Primer, Base Colour Coat and Clear Coat (lacquer). How much paint are you likely to remove and how much paint do you have to play with on the surface? Get it wrong and you could end up with a bigger problem on the paintwork than what you started with!įirstly, let us look at what the paint is comprised of. It is at this point where you must pose a couple of questions. The obvious route to remove blemishes from paintwork would be to pick up the machine polisher – but think about it, removing imperfections means removing paint. Why Measuring Paint Depth Is So Important? In this blog we’re going to explain how Paint Depth Gauges can provide plenty of education behind the history of paintwork and also some peace of mind prior to jumping in with a machine for the first time. We have covered machine polishing and paintwork here on the UF Blog in greater depth previously, but prior to picking up the polisher for the first time, the importance of understanding the depth of the paint you are going to be working with in the first place is crucial. Whilst professional detailers with their experience in the field will likely already be tuned in to the tips and tricks needed to get the best results, knowing where to start when you are trying machine polishing for the first time can be a different prospect altogether. When you have thrown all the elbow grease you have at defects such as surface scratches, swirls or holograms, but the cosmetic appearance of your vehicle will simply not improve, it is more than likely that removal by machine polishing is the only answer. Sometimes your eyes can tell you much more than the gauge.With such a vast range of detailing products now readily available for users to correct blemishes or imperfections on their paintwork, taking up the task of bringing a vehicle back to its best might seem an easier prospect than ever, especially for amateur enthusiasts. Do this with the best lighting you can get. When you see really low numbers of total thickness and they are pretty consistent across a panel, you then know that the amount of available clearcoat will most likely be much lower as well, and you have to be more careful.Īnother good tool is to really look at the surface of the paint from several angles with your head down almost right on the painted surfaces to get a good look at the surface closely and see if you can detect any thing that looks not normal. You still have to be careful, but at least you have an idea how much clearcoat might be on the surface and in the case repaints, there will probably be a lot more clearcoat than what the factory put on, and has most likely been rubbed off by other Detailers. The Total Thickness of the Clearcoat is always much much less than the total thickness. Just remember that unless its the most expensive defelsko, these are all just giving you Total Thickness pretty accurately, but not perfectly accurately. Only the most expensive delfesko measures all 3 substrates. The Highline measures both steel and aluminium, and not plastic. The Highline is local as stated above and that perhaps may be a good thing for warranty if needed. So, you then get the idea you may need to be more careful and use less aggressive compounding there. The thinner the total thickness shows, means there is also less paint there too. To at least get a ballpark idea of what is on the panel is always a good thing if you are going to be doing some major correction there. Usually, a good close examination with your eyes can see bodywork and perhaps not as good a matching paintjob on it. The gauges mentioned are probably a good thing to have to at least get a ballpark of how much total thickness is actually there, and can definitely detect where bodywork with fillers was done. The only gauge that measures all the different substrates accurately is the delfesko 200 which is I believe a couple thousand to start. These gauges mentioned only measure total thickness and not just the total paint thickness.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |