Can you help tell me about my clear coat: Soft or what

[kwak12r]

First post to this forum but have been lurking for some time.

I just ordered a Flex 3401 and am ready to start using it this weekend but as I read thru the posts a lot of mention on the paint being

`soft` and thin. This is a concern but i do not know how to tell if my cars are "soft" or if it is too thin.



So.....can anyone tell me how the paint is on a 2011 F-250? a 2007 Mercedes CLS-63?



Where do you find this information at?



Thanks

[imported_animes2k]

I think a forum like Autopia is a good place to find this information, gained from experience.



I`m pretty sure the paint on the Benz is going to be on the hard side, and not terribly thin. They`d recently started using their Ceramiclear clear coats on many of their cars.



Can`t speak to the F250 tho.



You can also figure this out yourself by doing test spots and seeing how easily the paint marring clears up, using gentle and more aggressive polishes and pads. Start gentle and move up from there (if needed).



Assuming you`re using good technique:

- If your gentle pad/polish combo leaves marring and the paint otherwise clears up quickly, you`ve got soft paint. Be more gentle in your approach.



- If it takes a heavy pad/polish combo and/or multiple passes to clear up light marring, you`ve got hard paint.

- If your heavier polishing combo doesn`t leave micromarring or leaves very little, you`ve got hard paint.



Hopefully you can figure out a good pad/polish combo for the paint on each car. Sometimes you`ll want a heavier pad with a lighter polish, sometimes a lighter pad with a heavier polish, sometimes light/light, heavy/heavy, medium/medium. Experiment to figure out the best solution for your particular paint.

[Accumulator]

kwak12r- Welcome to Autopia! I doubt that either car is thin enough for you to worry about unless they`ve been previously corrected in a very aggressive manner.



I`d expect the Benz to be rather hard, possibly *very* hard. There`s some way to tell if it`s ceramiclear by the paint coad..maybe something as obvious as a "c" in it, but I forget the details.



I`d be very surprised if the F250 is very different from most of Ford`s "work vehicles". I`m only familiar with Crown Vics, but the paint on those is reasonably thick (not "oughta worry about it-thin" by a long shot) and nice and medium in hardness (corrects OK but not even close to "stupid-soft").

[Ron Ketcham]

I`m no longer totally up to date on the systems used at the various plants.

For example, in the 90`s, Ford used BASF 2K on all St. Thomas production (Crown Vic/Gran Marquis), then switched to DuPont 1K materials.

The F 250 is a crap shoot, since I don`t know what plant produced it.

Louisville, Mexico, etc.

The F series are a 1K, that much I know, so not as robust as a few years back.

Grumpy

[Accumulator]

Ron Ketcham- I :bow before your genuine expertise



So it`s not as standardized as I woulda thought with the Fords, huh?

[Ron Ketcham]

Nope, each plant may seek supplier bids for an paint material approved by Allen Park.

At one time, you could find a plant using PPG ecoat, BASF primers and DuPont base clear.

Next year they may use a PPG primer, base and clear.

The year after (most stay with PPG ecoat as all the others are made under license from PPG) they may go with a DuPont primer and PPG base-clear.

GM has also done the same and few Chrysler plants as well.

Imports, for the most part stay with one supplier for the entire system, with the exception domestic built vehicles.

Then, they all seem to use the PPG ecoat and what ever primer/base/clear speced by the home office.

Grumpy

[Guitarist302008]

I did an F-250 before, but it wasn`t that new and it needed very minor correction so I only used KAIO with a white pad.



I know Chevy`s paint is hard (or the ones i`ve done in the past have been) so I would imagine Fords would be pretty hard.

[kwak12r]

Thanks for such great and quick responses and the warm welcome!

Both of these vehicles were bought new and I am the only owner. I have always washed and been careful with that and do not see much, if any, real correction needs.

My plan was to use Menzerna Super Finish and then top with Dodo Supernatural. I think I can use a white pad for the Finish and a red

LCC CCS red for the wax.



Thanks for the input and I look forward to following this forum!

[Guitarist302008]

Thanks for such great and quick responses and the warm welcome!

Both of these vehicles were bought new and I am the only owner. I have always washed and been careful with that and do not see much, if any, real correction needs.

My plan was to use Menzerna Super Finish and then top with Dodo Supernatural. I think I can use a white pad for the Finish and a red

LCC CCS red for the wax.



Thanks for the input and I look forward to following this forum!



That`s what I used on my Z when I got it.. washed, clayed, white pad with super finish, and 3 coats of FK1000

[Accumulator]

kwak12r- That Menzerna/Dodo oughta work fine.



Ron Ketcham- Hmm...can`t help but wonder if some of the egregious paint failures might be a result of all those mix-and-match combos :think:



Guitarist302008- While whole "hard/soft" thing is pretty is (except for the extremes) pretty relative anyhow, I gotta say that my Crown Vic was quite a bit softer than any of my GMs. Kinda like my Mazda MPV was (can`t help but think how Ford and Mazda were connected when that one was built, though Ron`s input makes that sound irrelevant).

[imported_animes2k]

Having not used it, I was sort of under the impression that Supernatural was more along the lines of a beauty wax... Not to the Souveran level, but not a super-durable wax, either. I see estimates of around 4-6 weeks durability.

[Accumulator]

Having not used it, I was sort of under the impression that Supernatural was more along the lines of a beauty wax... Not to the Souveran level, but not a super-durable wax, either. I see estimates of around 4-6 weeks durability.



Same impressions here, but if somebody wants to use it (especially on that Benz) then I guess I won`t be a wet blanket. I`d want to do the truck with Collinite or Fk1000P (if it`s a lease that`ll be going away in a few years I`d just OptiCoat it), but I take a pretty functional view of this stuff any more. Heh heh, my form-follows-function sometimes borders on Autopian Heresy :o

[kwak12r]

I was going to use the Dodo SN only b/c I have a 30ml sample!

I do like the warmth of the carnuba based wax so what else would the forum recommend if not the SN?

I am not familiar with Collinite or FK1000P.

I do want to be able to use the flex to apply the wax as the F250 is way big.....and it bought outright, no lease.

[imported_animes2k]

Yeah, I think I`d do the SN on the Benz and put something more... functional on the truck. Unless you don`t mind waxing again in a month or two, but I`m not sure how long that 30ml sample is going to last on the DA :) (I have a sample myself, just haven`t had a chance to try it out).



If the truck sits outside, is used for work, what have you... definitely go with a sealant or strong wax. FK1000P is available from autogeek, as is Collinite (476, right Accumulator?).

[Guitarist302008]

Yeah, I think I`d do the SN on the Benz and put something more... functional on the truck. Unless you don`t mind waxing again in a month or two, but I`m not sure how long that 30ml sample is going to last on the DA :) (I have a sample myself, just haven`t had a chance to try it out).



If the truck sits outside, is used for work, what have you... definitely go with a sealant or strong wax. FK1000P is available from autogeek, as is Collinite (476, right Accumulator?).



Yes they both are ... not to interrupt there.



I was actually going to say OP if you like the wax look, why not go with some Collinite 915? It`s a longer lasting pure wax, about 30.00 for enough to do about 20 cars or more, it`s ratings are also VERY high. I used some on my bumper just to check how well it does and it`s held up well. I think I have 3 layers on there and then 3 on the rest of the car.



You could also go the collinite 845 route if you want something easier to apply with a PC.