paul_g
Guest
for $15K that better be the best damn pain job ever put on a FOMOCO vehicle. $15K we're talking serious custom-shop type work here....
At least if it's done right it SHOULD be $15K....
So if no one has noticed.... I chime in on detailing / paint threads because I do detailing work... Not cave-man wash/wax stuff.... Mainly paint correction, nano-ceramic glass coatings... I typically spend 8 - 16 hours on a single vehicle.
I couldn't think I did more of my due diligence when purchasing my new 2019 GT/CS. I have about a $500 lighting system called Scangrip Colour Match. This system is used by high-end detailers and custom body shops because the light doesn't alter or change the color of the paint. Meaning, the light source is so pure and accurate that it will not affect or alter color when viewing under these lights. Secondly the larger of the kit mimics The Sun. Literally, it's intent is to give a spectrum of high-intensity so when you're working on paint correction or application of coatings, it helps spotting high spots, scratches, etc.. Ok enough of that gibberish.
When purchasing a new vehicle I have a $700.00 (US) PTG, the Delfesko Paint Thickness Gauge, my experience and well other documented sources put factory OEM paint between 3mil to about 6ish mil spec. Door jambs should come in around 2mil spec. Why is this important to know. First off, OEM pain is THIN! Usually about the thickness of a post-it-note. It's robotically applied in thin coats, then a thin, yet very hard (at least with new Ford's and GM's') layer of clear then baked at temperatures no body shop can replicate. Mainly because nothing is installed in the vehicle yet. There are no interior parts, moldings, plastics or glass. It's baked at such high temps that it creates an "instant cure"... Meaning, you should never see any solvent pop, or off gassing... Next down the line, usually inspectors will inspect the paint and use a 3M de-nibbing tool to sand out any "dust-nibs"... Then the next guy has an air-pneumatic dual action polisher (usually a Rupes) with some kind of wool pad and compound to polish out what the denib guy/gal did.
Ok back to my point of mil-specs... If a panel has to be repainted (i.e. damaged in shipping, etc...) and fixed at the dealership, NO body shop can do what the robots can do at the factory. Specifically two things... Layer so thin at a level of 2 to 4 mils, secondly, bake to the degree that the assembly line can. Lastly, as I stated above, it's not how good the guy is on the guns, it's how good the guy/gal is at wet-sanding, de-nibbing and then perfecting the paint through paint-correction (this is where my expertise lies).
On my 2005 GT I scuffed my bumper cover. I was smart enough to remove the cover myself and take it to my body shop. Sense this car was fully paint-corrected there was no "blending / matching" that really needed to be done. The OEM paint was (still is) near perfect as it rolled off the assembly line. I made the body guy redo the bumper like 3 times... and I made sure he de-nibbed it. He left like hundreds of nibs!!!
Look if you're going to go into a profession, be bloody damn good at it!!!!!! (rant....)
So you can imagine that my same attention to detail goes into paint inspection when purchasing new cars. But don't come down hard on your self. Even I make mistakes and miss things (despite my OCD'ism…). When purchasing my new vehicle I took three to five readings of every panel in random locations. All my readings certified that my paint was OEM.... 3 - 4.5 mlis of paint. LIKE THAT'S NOT A LOT MAN!!!!
In addition to my readings, I inspected the car with my Scangrip lights, even in the high-noon AZ sun. Aside from some dealership installed scratches the paint was flawless. I took it home, did my usual new car prep... Decontamination, (iron), clay, compound using Griot's BOSS Fast Correcting Cream (took care of all the dealer installed scratches) then went over the car with polishing pads and Griot's BOSS Perfecting Cream, slammed a CQUK 3.0 on it and stuck a fork in it.
Now..... weeks later... My special lights pick up little imperfections in the paint, probably NOT visible during initial inspection do to the layer of industrial fall-out, contamination and light scratches... all of which was corrected leaving nothing but pure, unadulterated OEM paint.. Under a 30x Carson Head set, and special lights, I can visibly see small pits.... the type that look like a car that has had a 1000 miles or so going down a dusty sandy road. My conclusion is it is NOT solvent popping, nor fish-eyes.
I also want to preface this with they are random... in isolated areas (mostly in the rear qtr panel ---- i.e. if it was the last car on the truck, all that back wash would be hitting....) so, my assumption is... It's light exposure during transit either by rail or truck from Michigan to AZ.... Mainly probably caused by AZ as I've seen what wind driven sand can do to paint. Otherwise, my second assumption is the clean-room where the cars get painted had some exposure of dust or contaminants. My last assumption is my car is enamel white, so like black enamel, it will show everything. If it were metallic flake, I would not see a darn thing because Ford mixes so much flake in the paint it's insane!!!
I also want to preface this with it's only visible whilst bending over in a certain degree, closing one eye, using a mirror over my shoulder, wearing special glasses and using special LED Scangrip Lights... You get the point... In otherwords… Three feet away, you can't see it at all. It's NORMAL, all paint systems will have some sort of slight blems in them. For giggles, I examined my 05 and it has the same thing... and besides I'm an OCD nut that needs something better to do with my time. Paint is paint, and I could take it back to Ford and honestly endure the horrendous job they will do to the car and suffer something 1000% worse. So my take is, I'm going to drive the HELL out of it... take it everywhere, enjoy it, wash it, and next year I will get it's annual compound / polish / recoating.... and at that point I'll have taken enough clear off that I'll probably even eliminate the normal OEM orange peal. If I keep the car in 15-20 years, off to a custom shop for something cool.... Or who knows... Maybe in 3 years I'll grow tired and get Prius or something... LOL.
The moral of the story is..... Paint is paint.... Custom shops will do a much better job at getting you high-quality "show-car" paint than a run of the mill collision center or "daily driver ---- you wreck it, we fix it" type of place. Most of the guys/gals at the later body shops mainly work on daily drivers where 99.9999% of the population just want some color put back on the car after an accident... These are the types of shops that don't even remove the damn trim pieces....
The only way to get high-quality OCD level paint job is pure custom-shop paint shop.... Guys like Chip Foose, etc.. For that, yup $15K is about normal. $15K for a Ford shop????? hmmmmmmmmmmm that one is leaving me a bit speechless.
I can bet you diamonds to donuts that a custom shop will give you exactly what you want... and even come up with some cool schemes you never thought of. I had a guy in our NH mustang club who worked for a custom shop. He had a 05-09 style s197 coupe, was in perfect condition yet, he took it into his shop. Top half was like a high flake metallic black triple coat, and bottom was triple coat high-flake metallic maroon... Or maybe it was the other way around... Regardless, that car was a show piece. No orange peal, no dust-nibs, no swirls, no scratches and man.... But it wasn't his daily driver!!! It's his garage queen.
I can say this... regardless of price... I see Tesla's... build quality, gaps, paint.... Don't even get me started on paint. I took paint readings of a Model S last summer... Not one panel had more than 2.5 /3 mils of paint!!!!! How about some more paint Elon!!!!!!
Please let us know how you make out... Personally I'd see about getting the $15K, then head of to a custom shop and draft up some cool designs, two tone stuff... maybe flames... LOL!
At least if it's done right it SHOULD be $15K....
So if no one has noticed.... I chime in on detailing / paint threads because I do detailing work... Not cave-man wash/wax stuff.... Mainly paint correction, nano-ceramic glass coatings... I typically spend 8 - 16 hours on a single vehicle.
I couldn't think I did more of my due diligence when purchasing my new 2019 GT/CS. I have about a $500 lighting system called Scangrip Colour Match. This system is used by high-end detailers and custom body shops because the light doesn't alter or change the color of the paint. Meaning, the light source is so pure and accurate that it will not affect or alter color when viewing under these lights. Secondly the larger of the kit mimics The Sun. Literally, it's intent is to give a spectrum of high-intensity so when you're working on paint correction or application of coatings, it helps spotting high spots, scratches, etc.. Ok enough of that gibberish.
When purchasing a new vehicle I have a $700.00 (US) PTG, the Delfesko Paint Thickness Gauge, my experience and well other documented sources put factory OEM paint between 3mil to about 6ish mil spec. Door jambs should come in around 2mil spec. Why is this important to know. First off, OEM pain is THIN! Usually about the thickness of a post-it-note. It's robotically applied in thin coats, then a thin, yet very hard (at least with new Ford's and GM's') layer of clear then baked at temperatures no body shop can replicate. Mainly because nothing is installed in the vehicle yet. There are no interior parts, moldings, plastics or glass. It's baked at such high temps that it creates an "instant cure"... Meaning, you should never see any solvent pop, or off gassing... Next down the line, usually inspectors will inspect the paint and use a 3M de-nibbing tool to sand out any "dust-nibs"... Then the next guy has an air-pneumatic dual action polisher (usually a Rupes) with some kind of wool pad and compound to polish out what the denib guy/gal did.
Ok back to my point of mil-specs... If a panel has to be repainted (i.e. damaged in shipping, etc...) and fixed at the dealership, NO body shop can do what the robots can do at the factory. Specifically two things... Layer so thin at a level of 2 to 4 mils, secondly, bake to the degree that the assembly line can. Lastly, as I stated above, it's not how good the guy is on the guns, it's how good the guy/gal is at wet-sanding, de-nibbing and then perfecting the paint through paint-correction (this is where my expertise lies).
On my 2005 GT I scuffed my bumper cover. I was smart enough to remove the cover myself and take it to my body shop. Sense this car was fully paint-corrected there was no "blending / matching" that really needed to be done. The OEM paint was (still is) near perfect as it rolled off the assembly line. I made the body guy redo the bumper like 3 times... and I made sure he de-nibbed it. He left like hundreds of nibs!!!
Look if you're going to go into a profession, be bloody damn good at it!!!!!! (rant....)
So you can imagine that my same attention to detail goes into paint inspection when purchasing new cars. But don't come down hard on your self. Even I make mistakes and miss things (despite my OCD'ism…). When purchasing my new vehicle I took three to five readings of every panel in random locations. All my readings certified that my paint was OEM.... 3 - 4.5 mlis of paint. LIKE THAT'S NOT A LOT MAN!!!!
In addition to my readings, I inspected the car with my Scangrip lights, even in the high-noon AZ sun. Aside from some dealership installed scratches the paint was flawless. I took it home, did my usual new car prep... Decontamination, (iron), clay, compound using Griot's BOSS Fast Correcting Cream (took care of all the dealer installed scratches) then went over the car with polishing pads and Griot's BOSS Perfecting Cream, slammed a CQUK 3.0 on it and stuck a fork in it.
Now..... weeks later... My special lights pick up little imperfections in the paint, probably NOT visible during initial inspection do to the layer of industrial fall-out, contamination and light scratches... all of which was corrected leaving nothing but pure, unadulterated OEM paint.. Under a 30x Carson Head set, and special lights, I can visibly see small pits.... the type that look like a car that has had a 1000 miles or so going down a dusty sandy road. My conclusion is it is NOT solvent popping, nor fish-eyes.
I also want to preface this with they are random... in isolated areas (mostly in the rear qtr panel ---- i.e. if it was the last car on the truck, all that back wash would be hitting....) so, my assumption is... It's light exposure during transit either by rail or truck from Michigan to AZ.... Mainly probably caused by AZ as I've seen what wind driven sand can do to paint. Otherwise, my second assumption is the clean-room where the cars get painted had some exposure of dust or contaminants. My last assumption is my car is enamel white, so like black enamel, it will show everything. If it were metallic flake, I would not see a darn thing because Ford mixes so much flake in the paint it's insane!!!
I also want to preface this with it's only visible whilst bending over in a certain degree, closing one eye, using a mirror over my shoulder, wearing special glasses and using special LED Scangrip Lights... You get the point... In otherwords… Three feet away, you can't see it at all. It's NORMAL, all paint systems will have some sort of slight blems in them. For giggles, I examined my 05 and it has the same thing... and besides I'm an OCD nut that needs something better to do with my time. Paint is paint, and I could take it back to Ford and honestly endure the horrendous job they will do to the car and suffer something 1000% worse. So my take is, I'm going to drive the HELL out of it... take it everywhere, enjoy it, wash it, and next year I will get it's annual compound / polish / recoating.... and at that point I'll have taken enough clear off that I'll probably even eliminate the normal OEM orange peal. If I keep the car in 15-20 years, off to a custom shop for something cool.... Or who knows... Maybe in 3 years I'll grow tired and get Prius or something... LOL.
The moral of the story is..... Paint is paint.... Custom shops will do a much better job at getting you high-quality "show-car" paint than a run of the mill collision center or "daily driver ---- you wreck it, we fix it" type of place. Most of the guys/gals at the later body shops mainly work on daily drivers where 99.9999% of the population just want some color put back on the car after an accident... These are the types of shops that don't even remove the damn trim pieces....
The only way to get high-quality OCD level paint job is pure custom-shop paint shop.... Guys like Chip Foose, etc.. For that, yup $15K is about normal. $15K for a Ford shop????? hmmmmmmmmmmm that one is leaving me a bit speechless.
I can bet you diamonds to donuts that a custom shop will give you exactly what you want... and even come up with some cool schemes you never thought of. I had a guy in our NH mustang club who worked for a custom shop. He had a 05-09 style s197 coupe, was in perfect condition yet, he took it into his shop. Top half was like a high flake metallic black triple coat, and bottom was triple coat high-flake metallic maroon... Or maybe it was the other way around... Regardless, that car was a show piece. No orange peal, no dust-nibs, no swirls, no scratches and man.... But it wasn't his daily driver!!! It's his garage queen.
I can say this... regardless of price... I see Tesla's... build quality, gaps, paint.... Don't even get me started on paint. I took paint readings of a Model S last summer... Not one panel had more than 2.5 /3 mils of paint!!!!! How about some more paint Elon!!!!!!
Please let us know how you make out... Personally I'd see about getting the $15K, then head of to a custom shop and draft up some cool designs, two tone stuff... maybe flames... LOL!
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