Anyone in Berks with paint thickness meter?

M

mj2k

Senior member
Keen to know the depth of clear coat on my car, know it has been machine polished prior to my purchase, but some light scratches remain.....want to know there is enough left before I crack out the DA!

Cheers

Matt
 
pvr said:
Sussex I am afraid …
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Ours only does total thickness though. Could compare to a few other cars to give an idea though.

OP if you are going to Duxford let me know and I will bring mine if you want.
 
Can't get to Duxford, as already had plans prior to getting the Z.

Thanks for coming back so quickly.

Might speak nicely to a local detailer & see if he will give it a few measurements if I run over to him.
 
It does measure total thickness, but if your reading is 80 - 80 - 30, you know that you don't want to sand too much of the 30 position :D
 
pvr said:
It does measure total thickness, but if your reading is 80 - 80 - 30, you know that you don't want to sand too much of the 30 position :D
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If the OP's is at 80 he would be around 50 down from factory already, so I hope not for his sake :lol:
 
With a single reading meter, take a few readings in the door and boot shuts, and under the bonnet. You can get a good idea of what the original base coat thickness is that way, then have an educated guess at the clear thickness on the outside of the panels :)
 
pvr said:
They don't work on plastic though ...
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Had not even considered that!

Waiting for feedback from a local pro as to how much just to measure the thickness.

Couple of scratches on the side skirts make me wonder about just buying the aeros. Given everyone talks about these being painted off the car, I'm assuming 'blending' isn't as much of a challenge as my shop makes it out to be?
 
No need to blend side skirts what so ever. Get the paint matched at the shop and you will never know.

To measure the thickness is 5 minutes work, should not be chargeable!
 
I am also hoping for the zero charge :)

Good to know regarding the side skirts not requiring blending! I would therefore reckon I could get the lower part of my fangs also painted without the need for blending given they have a clear line where they join the main part of the bumper?
 
Changing shapes work well without blending, panel gaps are not enough (think of the different silver car doors you so often see ....)
 
mj2k said:
I would therefore reckon I could get the lower part of my fangs also painted without the need for blending given they have a clear line where they join the main part of the bumper?
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That's what I'm going to be doing this week. The bumper needs to come off anyway to fix the headlight washer, so I'll keep it off and sort out my fangs. I got a can of the Halfords own BMW Titan Silver paint and quickly painted an old wing mirror cover to check the colour match, and it looks pretty much perfect to me holding it up against the car anyway, definitely good enough to match with the changing angle of the fangs.

Rubbed down with 600 grit, primer, 2 coats of colour, 3 coats of lacquer. Once dry I wet sanded it with 2500, then hand polished with megs 105.
paint-test.jpg


The few marks in the paint would have been avoided if I'd bothered to clean it properly, and be a bit more careful with dust, but I was just doing it quickly to see the colour as I tidied up the garage a bit. I also didn't really pay attention with the wet sanding and went through to the original red on the edge, again because it was just a test :P
 
pvr said:
Changing shapes work well without blending, panel gaps are not enough (think of the different silver car doors you so often see ....)
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So how does that work with regards to the side skirts, I would have thought as they only had panel gaps that there would be an obvious tell?
 
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