S5 paint... Have clearcoat?
 

Hi, Im selling my black 90 Turbo II on ebay. I had a bidder call me and ask if the car had been repainted because it is soo shiney. It looks to be the original paintjob, but it really isnt dull at all. Did the S5's come with clearcoat? Thanks!!

I would look at your car. You can tell if it's got a clear coar, the painjob will look "deep". I know that my white s5 na has the original paint and it is not base/clear coat.

Yes, the S5 came with clearcoat.
I had some S4 mirrors color matched and painted for my S5 and the guy mentioned this to me. I doubt this would pertain only to my vehicle... unless that baaastard lied to me! LOL

so that's one yes and one no. Which is it?

I would like to know this before I do some touch up work. The place where I bought my paint sold me paint and clear coat. I thought all cars came with a clearcoat so I didn't think to ask about it. (I have since learned otherwise) Can I still use the two stage base-and-clear if the car doesn't have clearcoat or do I need to get one stage paint?

sorry to thread jack...

I have a black '90 that has the clear coat pealing off. And it is the original paint.

I got an 85 with the orignal clear coat peeling. So I would think an S5 would have it also.

it depends on the color. There was a thread that specified. You might find it if you searched, but it might be kind of hard to find. You can also check the paint code (Brilliant Black) and call the dealer or an auto paint store. They can tell you the factory system that was used whether it is 1 stage or a bc/cc 2 stage paint.

Look up your paint code. It's under your hood in the corner by the passenger. Go to www.paintscratch.com and go through the paint ordering process. See whether or not it says to get clearcoat.

EDIT: I checked the site, and every single '89 & '90 has clearcoat. Including brilliant black.

Non clearcoat paint will transfer some color to cloth when polishing, a clearcoat won't do that.

If my Mazda knowledge holds true I don't think that they started clearcoating non-metallics until the mid-90s. My '89 Blaze Red woth original paint certainly does *not* have clearcoat.

Well my 90 blaze red has clearcoat. The factory paint is baked on and they do have clearcoat.

i don't believe any of the red colors ever came with a clear coat, those who have any variation of a red 2nd gen who have a clearcoat then your car has likely been repainted because of all the series i have never seen a factory red that is factory clear coated in both S4 or S5.

Yours must have been re-painted. My '90 has the original Blaze Red (code#SQ) and it is definately single stage/ no clear.

Well, paint code for Brilliant Black is PZ. I used it to redo my healight covers, sunroof panel, and door and it looks great without clearcoat, as long as you polish the bejesus out of it. But clearcoat would be wiser.

I don't know about the black, but regretably, few if any Mazdas had clear coat from the factory until well into the 90's. Mazda seriously lagged other manufacturers in this regard (although thinking about how badly many domestics, and some imports from that era peeled, that may not be an all bad thing).

My '91 in blaze red is original paint, and it is not clearcoat - except the passenger side door, which has been repainted with clearcoat (I've had the car 9 years, and it was not newly painted when I got it). It has notably deeper shine, and is slightly "redder" due the tendency of non-clear coat reds to fade, even if carefully cared for like mine. If I wax the car, my polishing cloths pick up a lot of red.

Check your engine bay, bottom of the hood (especially edges), door jams, around the hatch seal, and so on. You're looking for whether the paint:

a) matches the same luster and colour as the body panels

b) has any signs of paint overspray, as all but the best (and therefore most expensive) prep and paint usually ignore these areas in a repaint, and hit them with overspray, making them look dull and rough, and leave them with the original paint. My door jams, etc are just as shiny and red (better, in fact, since no fading or minor scratching) as the fenders, with no sign of paint that has been oversprayed.

You should be able to tell if it's clearcoat or not with a little waxing, and if you can't determine with certainty if it came that way, just tell your bidder so - the real point is if the paint is good. I wish my whole car had been resprayed with the clearcoat red the door was, it looks like a million bucks, and while the rest looks impressive, it doesn't look as good.

ok i work at a body shop and i could tell you if it was repaited you just have to look carefully..open your doors truk and hood and look carefully at the jams around the edge where the inner meets the outer surface if it was repaited you can see either what they call dryness where the clear coat overspray went into the jam a little bit.it will feel rough or you may even see a tape line if it was a poor tape job...if its factory it should be smooth and match the textur of the outside