Waterbased Paints

[bimbo]

Just wondering if anyone has had much to do with waterbased car paints. I am going to be painting a dual cab hilux soon and looking at all my options. Looking at how it compares cost wise, are there any brands that are the bomb or to steer clear of, what sort of coverage do you get - or how much would you need to cover the exterior of a dual cab hilux including inside the engine bay, how easy/hard is it to spray compared to solvent based?

Car will most likely be getting painted in a metallic charcoal color. if it makes a difference.

Cheers
James

[Mick.]

Hi mate I've been using water based automotive paints pretty much since they come out. It's not something you would want to attempt especially using in the back yard or even an automotive painter would stuff it up with no training. What you get taught with solvent based base coats and clears goes out the window when it comes to water.

You require totally different spray guns to spray with, its more expensive, prep work is different, It has to be prepped better then solvent based painted, it needs to be cleaned with wax and grease remover as well as a water based cleaner, spraying is totally different, needs to be force dried with air (blowers) or it takes forever to dry, I used to spray it at 40 degrees when I was using it every day, goes on almost a white milky colour until it dries, pattern coats are done differently, not all clears will go over water based. I've used water in PPG, Spies Hecker, Standox, Sikins, Glasurit and the way you spray, prep and pattern coat is totally different for all of them.

It does have a lot of advantages though when used in the correct environment once you have been trained to use it correctly though. If I owned a panel shop it would be the first thing I'd put in.

Cheers Mick.

[bru21]

What's you thought on water based paints expected life these days?

I know the early ones were terrible - aka falcon EL etc... where the undercoat fell apart under the top coat on the bonnets / roof.

I love 2K, and use it wherever I can.

[bimbo]

Thanks for the reply Mick, good to finally get a response form someone who has actually used it. I do a bit of airbrushing and use waterbased acrylic paints for that (autoair) which is why I thought it may be a way to go but from the sounds of it not for a hack like me. I would be keen to get a small amount to play around with though. Maybe I will give a pannel a go but sounds like I will be sticking with 2k.
Cheers
James

[Mick.]

What's you thought on water based paints expected life these days?

I know the early ones were terrible - aka falcon EL etc... where the undercoat fell apart under the top coat on the bonnets / roof.

I love 2K, and use it wherever I can.

The water based paints these days are great. They cover better, blend easier, dry faster (less paint to get coverage), spectrometer matching is more accurate and pattern coat easier. The down sides are if get a bit of crap or silicon it cant be wet rubbed out, more sensitive to poor prep work and silicones, everything you learnt when using solvent based goes out the window, different gun set ups, PPS is needed as it bleached plastic pots.

We where one of the first shops to ever go totally water early on so as there wasn't a lot of info or reps that new much about it we where constantly getting phone calls from other shops and reps for answers to problems but most of the dramas where caused by not letting the product dry out properly or putting to much on.

As for the ELs I'm pretty sure that was when they where going though the paint transition from acrylic to 2 pack that they where having those dramas. Australian cars hadn't even heard of water based painted back then. We have only just got into it in the last 10 years. We are easily 20 years behind the Europeans when it comes to paint technology.

My patrol has been resprayed in Sikins Water based basecoat and cleared in the Ceramic clear. If I was doing a full restoration this would be my paint of choice over all the others.

The down sides of any paints from factory these days is the car companies are putting less and less on so it's breaking down to the UV rays and acid rain much quicker then it did 10 years ago. You only have to look at an older Merc, Lexus or BMW and there paints are still holding up well and there all sprayed in water.

Cheers Mick.

[Mick.]

Thanks for the reply Mick, good to finally get a response form someone who has actually used it. I do a bit of airbrushing and use waterbased acrylic paints for that (autoair) which is why I thought it may be a way to go but from the sounds of it not for a hack like me. I would be keen to get a small amount to play around with though. Maybe I will give a pannel a go but sounds like I will be sticking with 2k.
Cheers
James

No worries mate.

If you where airbrushing I'd say it would be no good. It cant handle high film build, the colour doesn't look anything like what it does when you clear it so if you where throwing colours together to get different colours like you do when your air brushing then you don't really know what your getting as it looks really milky, black looks blue,red looks pink, purple looks maroon etc.

Doing a 2 toned car you have to paint a whole colour and clear it. The rub down for the second colour and repaint it as it never dries enough to mask on thde base without marking it.

Cheers Mick.