PX and PZ paint codes (clearcoat or not)
 

So, yesterday i did a full polish on my car, trying to sort out 20 years of use. The car and paint is in great condition now, except a few minor scratches and dings i cant fix.

But when i started on the first stage of polish, i noticed that the car does not have any clear coat. This supprised me since the tag in the engine compartment is stamed PZ, and from all sources i can find online, PZ says: Brilliant Black Clearcoat, and PX should be just "Brilliant Black".

My car is European, but should that matter? I am very confused now. I checked the original german dealer brochure, and it only refers to the color as "Black (PZ)", and there are anly 4 different color options: Signal Red, Black, Silver and Green-Blue Metallic.

http://ups.mazda626.net/images_month...5-IMG_3576.jpg
http://ups.mazda626.net/images_month...9-IMG_3580.jpg

I don't think BB had a clearcoat. My car doesn't, and much of the paint seems to be original.

Of course, it's hard to say if it's had a paintjob at some point in the past too.

Regardless, your paint looks killer, and that's the important part :).

Dale

yeah, it looks pretty good now after a polish, but we could not go properly at work since we didnt have a paint gauge. There are a lot of scratches left, but not as visible anymore. I also need to source a new rear hatch since i removed the spoiler and got holes in it now :(

I don't know about black or European cars but I am sure that 93 Touring models had clear coat but the R1 and Base models did not.

car looks great! the body shop manual says single stage for BB/PZ so no clear. the "high reflex" paint on the tourings was the same paint, but applied differently

If you go to a paint mixing store (a proper, good professional paint-only store) and ask them to look up PZ Brilliant Black, you will find some odd information.

PZ has been used and remixed by Mazda globally a few times.

The paint guys here asked me if my car was an MX5 or RX-7. I said why does it matter, just mix the paint please.

They said, no, it matters because the mix of PZ from MX5 to RX-7 is very different, one has a bit of red mixed into it (?) and one is nothing more than straight black tinter. One was clear coat and one was not.

It then even boils down to the year of the Mazda car, in addition to the model, as the PZ was mixed differently in different years, on different models.

If you really want to know more about PZ, then go to a bodyshop/paint mixing place and consult their electronic database. They have a lot of info in there that we don't know about.

Personally my car has a mix of both types on it, clear coat on the main shell and non-clearcoat on the rear hatch and roof, due to a respray many years back in Japan, and I can see the feint blending lines in the light some days if I look for it.

We solved the mystery about mine at least. The hood has had a respray with a clear topping to clean up scratches and stone marks.

I will get it resprayed at some point, with plain black PZ and a couple of layers of clear. Maybe with some small effects in the paint, but not sure yet. Atleast after the polish, the car looks mint:D