Do you own one?

TacoHerder

TacoHerder

New member
Since im in the process of building my company and buying all essential supplies. I was just wondering. Do you own a paint depth gauge? Is it a must to have when starting out? I dont plan on doing heavy paint corrections any time soon. Would it be ok wise to skip this tool till I really have money for it later? If you own one, which one did you get and do you use it every detail?
 
I own Paintgage and definitively worth it.

You might get a vehicle on the verge of clearcoat failure and visually you cannot see it, or a previous heavily compounded vehicle.

PTG will help you here.
 
So i guess it would be a good ideal to always ask your client if they are aware of any paint correction in the past.
 
There are many that dont have one, but what you need to determine, is what kind of correction work are the guys doing? Is it on very lightly swirled paint or really badly scratched, rids, and swirls, etc., that always require compounding and/or polishing, etc..

If you intend to sometime Detail high-end cars, all the expensive German, Italian, English, etc., vehicles, then it would be a very good idea to have that PTG to help you be sure you knew what you were getting into, as you were figuring out your plan.

I always bring my Paint thickness gauge out with me whenever a prospective Client comes by or I go look at a vehicle, and with the Client, I go over their paintwork and advise them how much material is available to work with and this helps us formulate what they may want to have done. Do they want just a clean up of the damaged paintwork or perhaps spend a few more hours and get it really looking clear and deep but not perfect, and there is still lots of material left on the car for future work?

This valuable tool has helped me numerous times and totally helped convince the Client that I know what I am doing and I am willing to help them better understand what is going to happen, and what condition their paintwork is in - on the top and all the way down. Most people love this stuff.

You can spend a few hundred or a few thousand on a PTG. You have to decide what the ROI will be based on a number of things, that are going to be particular to your business plan.

The best PTG's will show you pretty well all the different layers of material, and do print outs and stuff, and the most basic will give you the total thickness in Mils and Microns, and work on steel and aluminum but not plastics or fiberglass.

I would advise anyone to at least think about getting a more basic one to start, like the Highline meter, or a similar one. Any good meter will be able to give you some peace of mind and be way more accurate on what is on ever inch of a panel rather than trying to guess or asking the Client if they can remember if it has ever been Detailed before, etc..

Good luck with your research !
Dan F
 
Thanks for the advise. I think until I have more experience I plan on just sticking to 1 or 2 stage polishing with light compounding if necessary. No wet sanding for heavy compounds for me until at least a year for me to get used to my DA and how to best use it. I have looked at a few of the cheaper ones, but most dont work on aluminum in the cheaper price range.
 
TacoHerder said:
Thanks for the advise. I think until I have more experience I plan on just sticking to 1 or 2 stage polishing with light compounding if necessary. No wet sanding for heavy compounds for me until at least a year for me to get used to my DA and how to best use it. I have looked at a few of the cheaper ones, but most dont work on aluminum in the cheaper price range.
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don't let that scare you away because you think you are going to burn thru some paint. if you do you have to really be sanding, on some clears to get anywhere close and try using like 3000 or even 5000 grit sand paper but most scratches are sanded with 1500 or 2000 anything lower then that is to aggressive most clear coats are like 1.6 mil thick in most cases. stay with oem paint be very careful with repaints till you get the feel for sanding. when you sand down a $100,000 dollar car and then bring back its shine that makes you feel awesome. go to a salvage yard get you an old fender and maybe a hood practice and don`t go real close to edges paint tends to be thinner closer to the edge.i have sanded a lot of cars paint is paint some of it is on more expensive metal then others
 
Yes I have one. I picked one up from Harbor Freight and use it on occasion. It is not as fancy as some of the other higher end models but for what I use it for it fits the bill nicely.
 
As Dan stated, it does help give you a more professional image with potential clients. While many operate without one, there is always that one time when you might really be glad you have it.

Lexus LS460: Good reason to have a paint gauge.



TacoHerder said:
So i guess it would be a good ideal to always ask your client if they are aware of any paint correction in the past.
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This only works if they are the original owner. Most people have no idea what might have been done in the past. Even if they have had the car polished, they may not know how aggressive the detailer got.

Ultimately, you would probably be okay for a while without it, but definitely plan for it in your budget for the near future.
 
With clear coats getting thinner and thinner, I would make that a essential investment. Heck I own 2 Acuras and one Honda, and the paint scratches easily and rumor has it the clear is also thin on these cars.
 

I don't own one YET...

But if I was going to be doing any kind of paint correction for customers on a regular basis I would invest in one ASAP. I look at it like this: It is cheaper to buy a PTG than to have to pay for a panel re-paint...
 
I went for awhile without one. Picked up a highline II a few months ago and glad I did. Really gives you insight into what you're working with (on metals anyway)

IMO - not necessary when starting out but if you get into more paint correction work, you should consider getting one. the highline is pretty affordable and you'll find some knowledgable guys on the forum doing some pretty high end cars using this same PTG
 
TroyScherer said:

I don't own one YET...

But if I was going to be doing any kind of paint correction for customers on a regular basis I would invest in one ASAP. I look at it like this: It is cheaper to buy a PTG than to have to pay for a panel re-paint...
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So true, better to be safe then sorry. I think I'm going to do some more research and find one I can not only afford, but actually works good enough to trust.
 
I bought this one from EBay for $110.00.

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It seems to work pretty good.

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However, some of the controls are awkward.
 
If you are just starting out then you likely don't need one (right away). You should be limiting the correction to what you are comfortable with, light one steps and making paint shiny. By the time you are experienced enough to move onto more severe paint correction you should have enough set aside to invest in a tool.

The reason for starting slow, gaining experience, then purchasing the gauge (never heavy polishing without it) is to take all reasonable precautions against damaging a customers car. Mistakes are prone to happen, but the true professional takes every precaution they can.
 
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