The Northwest Voice

All > Columnists > Cars
Shifting Gears: Auto paint care
Topics:
Posted by nwv_admin Thu Jul 14, 2005 14:34:00 PDT
Viewed 2227 times
0 responses 0 comments
When you look at a vehicle, there's nothing more appealing than an eye-popping shiny and smooth paint job that looks a mile deep.

No doubt, paint makes the car.

Way back when Henry Ford was building the first cars, lacquer-based paints were all they had. Complex and synthetic enamels had not yet been invented. Lacquer paints are shiny and easy to care for and forgiving of mistakes to the paint, but lack the qualities of flexibility and durability, as they dry very hard. In hot summers, over time, the lacquer paint cracks due to the heating and cooling of the body panels they are applied to.

Lacquer paints are all in one: base coat and the clear coat mixed together. Today, painters use synthetic base coat/clear coat (two-stage) paint products that have the shine of the old lacquers but the flexibility and the durability that the lacquers did not have.

Today's auto paints are tightly regulated by the EPA because of their polluting, toxic qualities. During the application process, the paints used now are highly carcinogenic and toxic and require special equipment to apply them. These products are designed to be applied with a modern, low-pressure/high-volume spray gun, not the older, high-pressure guns that blast overspray into the air at copious rates.

Today's systems use much less product and, when properly applied in a well-equipped booth, contribute little to air pollution. As you know, a great paint job is not cheap.

So how can we properly care for the $5,000 paint job applied with the current clean process? I talked to a local Picasso of the auto paint trade, Carl Costerisan, to find out.

Carl said the best thing you can do for your new paint is not to wash it with soap every time. No matter how good you rinse it, some soap film still remains. The paint -- not the soap film over the paint -- needs to show. Rinsing with clear water while rubbing it with a soft cloth will remove dirt just as well as when using soap.

If you visit any auto parts stores, you'll see a bazillion brands of polishes. Carl said that most, by and large, do the same thing. The most important thing to look for is that they are non-abrasive. Leave the abrasive types to the pros. Incorrectly applying these can result in a professional call to Carl.

After you wash it, now you have to dry it. Carl said that too many people use dirty bath towels to dry their cars. This is where most of those ugly swirl marks come from. Carl said to invest in the super-soft, man-made towels available at the auto parts stores. When you drop the towel on the ground, toss it in the water and get another. One speck of sand can put a really wicked swirl-scratch in your paint. These little tricks, said Carl, will leave your new paint looking fresh for years to come.

To recap, don't use soap every time, save the soap for when it's REALLY dirty, don't use drying towels that were wedding gift cast-offs and don't be afraid to use the Maytag on those Kragen Auto man-made fiber towels. If you do these things to your modern, non-lacquer paint job, you'll be the envy of all of your car show friends.

Until next time, drive safe, have fun and happy motoring.

Send to a Friend

Report a Violation