Paint Quality: PPG vs Omni vs 'generic'
 

I am in the process of bodywork/prep for paint on my Black 90 Vert.

Bodywork is basically done and I am shooting a complete primer this morning using PPG K36. This was chosen for various reasons including positive experiences by myself and some acquaintances.

I am going to use a single stage urethane, color is black. Single stage reasons include ease of repair so that I do not have to ever live with chips or door dings.

PPG makes a couple of different lines. DCC which is the top of the SS line will cost $350. Omni will cost $150. My paint supplier would not even give me a price on PPG Shopline, which is marketed to body shops.

I really like PPG products, but I am having trouble justifying in my mind the cost of material for this car. It is not that I cannot afford the top of the line, I just want to know if I need top of the line. After all, this car looked like shit, it will look great for several years no matter what I paint it with.

My question is as follows:

1. Paint supplier tells me the difference between the two is that DCC will last for '15-20 years' and that Omni will only last for '2-3 years'. Is this bullshit? Is Omni really such a poor product? Will it fade or peel or what? I think that he may be greatly exaggerating the difference. Keep in mind that the car lives in Dallas TX and we get lots of sunshine. The car will be mostly parked inside, but also spends much time on the road; this is no garage queen.

2. If Omni line really not so good, then does anyone have experience with paint lines like this?

http://www.tcpglobal.com/restoration...surethane.aspx

I discovered these guys buying tools online. I noticed the paint and became curious if the paint was maybe similar to the Omni line or to the PPG Shopline product?

I would really appreciate some insight based on experience with these products.

Thanks in advance.

Jack

paint question
 

PPg sucks,
You only want to use sikkens paint. It is considered top of the line

lol @ Sikkens being top of the line.

I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Every major paint manufacture's (ie. BASF, Sherwin-Williams, Sikkens{Akzo-Nobel}, PPG, Dupont...)top of the line prodcut - is TOP OF THE LINE.

The only degredation in quality is when you go to cheaper material. No matter what brand.

If you're going to use single stage, you want the best. The cheaper stuff (which isn't 100% urethane based...its a mix....) will not have the UV resistance or the holdout that it take to last for years. With BC/CC you can get away with a little more since you can use a cheaper base coat (so long as its compatible with the clear you're using) and a good clear, and end up with a solid job. But with single stage, you only get 1 layer, so make it the best it can be.

The 2-3 year life span on the cheaper product (presumably acyrlic/urethane?) is entirely accurate and the 15-20 years on the straight urethane is also accurate....keeping in mind we're talking about paint life (shine hold-out and polishability) not the actual body work. That all depends on the quality its done with as you probably know.

I live in Dallas (Flower Mound, right down the road from you) and I've never shot single stage, but my first choice is Omni BC/CC for all my cars. It's about half the price and stands up great. These 3 cars were all painted with Dupont Omni AU in my garage

http://www.trueslide.net/images/rx7.jpg

My FC was painted 2 years ago with Omni, except for the hood which I haven't painted yet.

http://www.nikiatkins.com/capri/DCP_0079.jpg

The Capri I painted . . . shoot, 4 or 5 years ago? Won Best in Class at the Fun Ford Weekend in Ennis. The paint is still great except for the spots I used as a shelf while it sat in the garage.

http://www.trueslide.net/mustang/driverscorner2.jpg

My wife's Mustang - originally she was in a wreck about 6 years ago that didn't do much except mess up the front bumper, so she had Streetwerks (Now Caliber Collision Centers) install a new one and repaint the car. A year later, the bumper they installed was cracking through the fiberglass, so I pulled it off reglassed it and repainted the whole thing. You can't tell a difference on her car between the $3000 pro paint job and the $300 Omni paint job I did in the garage. As proof, there are two parts of the car that I sprayed, and the remainder they sprayed. There's not even a difference in color, even though the paint shop told me the original paint was a 3 stage paint. I just told them to get as close as they could in the Omni and it matches like a dream.

Thanks for the input guys.

This stuff?Where do you buy your paint? I've been using English Color.

Looks like either 1171 or 2499 in the background. :)

I've had great luck spraying SPI paints.

http://southernpolyurethanes.com/

I know its not what youre looking for, but their clear is soooooooooo nice.

Yep, that's the stuff - I get the MBC, the use the Omni clear over it. I buy my paint at English and that is 2499 in the background. They're good guys at English, but not exactly a world of help. :P

I use PPG deltron Products
DBC base and DCU 2055 Clear coating

Here a few cars I painted with these products

Neat! I've used the PPG Deltron DBU and DB(C? don't remember exactly) to do spot work on cars where the color wasn't available in Omni. It sprays pretty nice, but I don't guess I have enough experience to notice the difference. :D Especially with the massive price difference ($220 for a gallon setup of Omni vs ~$550 for one of the two Deltrons, don't remember which.)

my red rx7 was painted with omni.. it turned out great and has held up wonderfully for the past year...
Attachment 704033

Very nice!

PPG makes omni it's one of their line of products. The quality isn't as good as ppg though, and you could tell just in the price difference.

Yeah, that's been covered before. Do you have any experience with either paint, or are you just going off of the price difference? :D

+1 for PPG, thats what i just bought also. you gotta go base coat/clear coat tho cuz I heard it lasts longer than a single stage. and you'll be paying less for it than getting a really expensive single stage.
as far as top of the line stuff..I think BASF and Glasurit. especially Glasurit, urethane based paint that if it gets scuffed a little bit, it'll cure itself and mold back the scuff in the sun, ie: heat. my friend whos been doing body work for over 15 years had a class on glasurit products and they painted a piece of metal and passed it around the class w/ a ball pin hammer and everyone got a smash and no paint came off. they also painted a frizzbee and tried to bend the paint to make it crack. nothing. thats what he told me and when i saw the prices for the glasurit paint i believed him.lol