Well, everyone else thinks I'm crazy for thinking about having this done, but here it goes. To me, it seems like the paint on my 02 seems to scratch very easily. It looks like most scratches are going to the primer because it looks whitish in the scratch and most of them I can feel with my fingernail. I try to be very careful but it seems like I have a lot of scratches that are like this. I could see some that just go into the clear coat and base coat, but these seem like they go all the way through. So to put this issue away once and for all, sometime this week I am having the body shop run a paint thickness meter on the truck and come up with some readings. Does anybody know what the nominal thickness should be? Also, I had one body shop say that the best paint jobs are the thinnest because they don't chip so easily. I buy into some of that but not all of that. If anybody else thinks I'm crazy also, let me know.

 

The total film build of most clear coated paint systems (factory) varies between 4 and 6 mils. That includes all sprayed materials (primer, color coat (AKA: base coat), and clear coat). The clear, itself, is around 2-3 mils of that thickness (0.02 - 0.03). This is roughly the thickness of two pieces of paper or a double ply yard trash bag.

The only way that I know of to accurately measure this type of thing is to purchase a guage like the one shown here

Here is an interesting read on the use of a coating thickness meter.

RP

 

Rock Pick

Better check your decimal point location. 1 mil = .oo1 thousanth.
1-2 mills would be .001 - .002 thousanths.

Your measurment of .02 to .03 would be 20 to 30 thousanths.

Average thickness of a piece of standard paper is about .003 thousanths.



Gooser

 

You're correct... sorry about that. Decimal errors always burned me back in high school and college.... I guess the legend lives on!

LOL!

Thanks!

RP

 

Chroma,

It is very interesting that you brought this topic up....I just talked to my buddy at the local body shop where he lets me in to do my detailing during the winter months and I get a chance to talk to him about new products and I was complaining to him that auto manufacturers were skimping on paint and that I thought I would like to get my truck in to get a "thicker" layer of paint .......just like they used to put on; but he quickly told me to keep my money in my pocket as this was not the problem. the paint or what is commonly called the base coat which determines the color of your vehicle is basically applied just to do that. Add color, that is it....the protection now comes from the clear coat. He basically toldme that no matter how careful you are there is virtually no way to prevent these scratches from happening short of not using your vehicle. His best advice was to just use preventative maintainance and to be selective as to where one parks, which products to use and how often to use them. He is no the only body man that has told me this so I trust him.....also a shirt tale relative so he has no real reason to bullsh*t me or tell me false info.

Hope this helps you.

 

Rockpick is reaonably correct. Depending on the surface (thicker on horizontal, thinner on vertical). 7-10 mils is pretty average. The thicker the paint is the more prone it is to chipping. The paint manufacturers have made great strides in improving the durability of their finishes. When I was a painter (been out of the trade for six years)there were some really cool products that came out that were supposed to make the paint on plastic bumpers stick better, and resist rock chips (Dupont plazstick). This could also be applied to leading edge panels (front of hood &fenders).

Regarding the scratches, just watch where you park!You could keep your truck in the garage.

Regards,
Kevin

 

Almost forgot, an inexpensive mil thickness gauge can be purchased for about $50.00 at most bodyshop supply stores. the one I have is made by Marson. It is a magnetic type, so it will not work on the hood or bedsides of the supercrew. There are non-magnetic mil gauges available for a heck of alot more money. You could do alot of mods for the cost of those!

 

Unless you have some really nasty scratches, I doubt they're going down to primer. Most scratches look to be a different color-or at least a different hue-that's why they are so noticeable. Try using something mild like a fine cut cleaner on the scratch to see if it is in fact down below the baseline, or just the clearcoat. If it's below the base, you can build it up, wet sand it, clearcoat it, wet sand it again, and buff it. Touch up paint does a great job if you take your time to do it right, and follow all the steps.

SL