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John Kimbrough
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I am preparing my JH for repainting, but wanted some advice on the kind of paint to use on it.  It has the original finish on it now.  I think that was enamel.  Recommendations on brand, clear coat or not, etc, would be helpful.  Thanks, John

Mitch Ware
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IMHO Don't go the enamel route again, and stay away from lacquer. I'm partial to Dupont DBU base coat with a good quality clear coat. It will look good, be easy to care for and cheaper than the other two.

Mitch Ware

1974 Jensen Healey JH5 #111119670
1971 Triumph TR6 #CC66950LO

 

John Kimbrough
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Mitch, thanks for the response on painting.  I looked on the DuPont Performance Coatings web site and didn't see any reference to DBU.  Can you tell me what it stands for.  Thanks, John.

Mitch Ware
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Oops, replace "dupont" with "PPG"

 

Mitch Ware 

1974 Jensen Healey JH5 #111119670
1971 Triumph TR6 #CC66950LO

John Kimbrough
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Jim, looks like this PPG DBU is an acrylic urethane enamel.  Is this the current automotive paint standard?  It is hard to tell from the literature.  John.

Mitch Ware
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Yes, this is the current technology in automotive finishes today. DBU is slowly being replaced by PPG's DBC product, but it is just a variation on a theme. But DBU is currently what we paint 99.8% of the cars that come into the shop with.

 

Mitch Ware

1974 Jensen Healey JH5 #111119670
1971 Triumph TR6 #CC66950LO

Gary Martin JH 15371
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Mitch, I also will be repainting my JH soon. My car had the typical enging carb fire. I already striped and repainted the engine bay. I'm using PPG DAR Acrylic enamel (about $40 per quart). And using Advantage 200 hardner in place of the more expensive PPG DXR 80 hardner.

Do you recommend the PPG DBU over DAR ? I was trying to stay away from Base-clear coat and stay with a single stage coat.

Mitch Ware
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Working with an enamel, such as the DAR, presents a couple of issues. The first one is that when you spray it, it will stick to EVERYTHING. You will need to make sure that anything you don't want to end up with paint on it is out of the room or completely covered. The overspray is quite pervasive. Also, it is much harder to get a color match with the enamel.

That being said, if you are only painting the hood of your car and leaving the rest of the car with the original paint, you don't want to have enamel on one panel and base coat/clear coat on the adjoining panels. It just won't look right.

Of course the overspray issue is also present with the clear coat. While the base coat can safely be sprayed with your daily driver parked right next to your JH, if you spray the clear coat anywhere near anything that isn't covered, you will get clear coat overspray on that too.

If you are respraying the entire car, I'd go with  the base coat/clear coat. The maintenance of the finish is much easier. Just keep it clean. I don't wax my cars, never had to. With enamel, you will want to keep it waxed to protect the paint.

 

Mitch Ware

1974 JH-5 #111119670

1971 TR-6 #CC66950LO

pc
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The single stage vs. bc/cc question really depends on the color you choose and look you want to achieve.

Some colors, especially many metallics, only come in bc/cc. If you want a "vintage look" like a 50's Jaguar BRG I think ss is the way to go. A bc/cc gives a more modern look. (I know it sounds goofy but I feel a cc finish can look a bit "distant" and "detached" while a ss often has more of a "right here" character.)

As for maintenance, bc/cc finishes resist fading best but ss finishes don't show swirls and scratches nearly as much.

Color choice is such a personal thing. Luckily the JH really does look great in most colors, light or dark, solid and metallic, vintage or modern.

Brand wise, everybody and his brother around here use Dupont or PPG so if I was shooting a car myself I think I'd use BASF or Sherwin-Williams just to be antisocial.


PC.

Dan Eiland
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When I had my Sunbeam Tiger repainted the shop didn't remove the engine but did cover everything with aluminum foil and taped the foil so the overspray didn't get on the engines or wires, brake hoses, etc... It worked really well and I have used the idea since on other projects with great success.

Dan



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