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SINGLE STAGE OR BASE COAT CLEAR COAT

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Old 03-23-2019, 09:04 PM
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SINGLE STAGE OR BASE COAT CLEAR COAT

IM ALMOST TO THE POINT THAT IM READY TO GET MY PROJECT 85 IROC Z PAINTED .AND MY 88 SHORTLY .. IVE GOT A FEW DIFFERENT ESTIMATES.. A FEW FOR SINGLE STAGE AND A FEW FOR BASE COAT CLEAR COAT .... BASE COAT CLEAR COAT BEING THE MORE EXPENSIVE OPTION BUT I WAS WONDERING IS IT WORTH PAYING THE EXTRA MONEY NOW ????? JUST LOOKING FOR SOME OPINIONS
Old 03-23-2019, 11:23 PM
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Re: SINGLE STAGE OR BASE COAT CLEAR COAT

Depends on your goals. Nothing beats a nice base clear. However a properly maintained single stage can provide years of a nice car.

Now the one challenge with some single stage paint will react if you put better paint on it. Try to stick with PPG or similar higher end single stage. If you do macco and then want a better paint job you will be in for more prep work.

Guess I am saying a quality single stage will be better than a cheap clear coat.
Old 03-24-2019, 12:01 AM
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Re: SINGLE STAGE OR BASE COAT CLEAR COAT

Originally Posted by Aviator857
Depends on your goals. Nothing beats a nice base clear. However a properly maintained single stage can provide years of a nice car.

Now the one challenge with some single stage paint will react if you put better paint on it. Try to stick with PPG or similar higher end single stage. If you do macco and then want a better paint job you will be in for more prep work.

Guess I am saying a quality single stage will be better than a cheap clear coat.

thanx alot for the reply

seems like it's only a matter of time untill the single stage starts to fade ?? from my research, but sounds like quality paint plays a major roll as well . I do plan on keeping the car for the foreseeable future so I dont want to have to do it twice..
Old 03-24-2019, 01:43 PM
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Re: SINGLE STAGE OR BASE COAT CLEAR COAT

If it's not a show car and it's a color that doesn't lend itself well to depth than single stage is just fine. Dark colors and metallic colors look much better in base coat/clear coat whereas Whites, bright blues and reds, greys and most lighter colors are fine to use single stage. As long as the paint thickness and brand is the equal the durability will be negligible.
Old 03-25-2019, 07:55 AM
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Re: SINGLE STAGE OR BASE COAT CLEAR COAT

Id go with base coat/ clear coat. If the work is done that's the hard part, spend a bit more I think you will be happier in the longrun. I'm not saying single stage is bad, its just not going to pop or last like basecoat clearcoat.
Old 03-25-2019, 10:17 AM
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Re: SINGLE STAGE OR BASE COAT CLEAR COAT

The higher end single stages are a lot better than they used to be, so if you go that route it will last a long time if you care for it.

I would go with the best paint job you can afford, but Tibo is right about BC/CC lending it's self to better finish product depending on colors.
Old 03-25-2019, 01:10 PM
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Re: SINGLE STAGE OR BASE COAT CLEAR COAT

thanx for all the advise leaning towards single stage on my white 88 cause it seems like white may be a color that does fine in a single stage .. and the red 85 do the base coat clear coat .The plans are to keep it it for awhile ...
Old 03-26-2019, 09:33 PM
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Re: SINGLE STAGE OR BASE COAT CLEAR COAT

I'm a painter at a body shop with TONS AND TONS of custom paint experience. I've used everything under the sun at least once. I vote for base clear all the way. The longevity, ease of color match later on doing repairs, ease of maintenance, etc are not even comparable between the two.

Last edited by dagwood; 03-26-2019 at 09:47 PM.
Old 03-27-2019, 08:09 AM
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Re: SINGLE STAGE OR BASE COAT CLEAR COAT

Old 03-27-2019, 07:17 PM
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Re: SINGLE STAGE OR BASE COAT CLEAR COAT

I'm a single stage guy for black paint only. All other colors, I prefer base/clear.
Old 03-29-2019, 02:10 PM
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Re: SINGLE STAGE OR BASE COAT CLEAR COAT

Originally Posted by dagwood
I vote for base clear all the way. The longevity, ease of color match later on doing repairs, ease of maintenance, etc are not even comparable between the two.
I think that has more to do with the quality of the paint rather than the type of paint. I used DuPont Nason series Arctic white basecoat/clearcoat on my last car and I still suffered from the white yellowing. This was with regular synthetic wax usage, if that actually means anything.I can't help but wonder how faded a red or orange would have looked. I went with DuPont Chroma Premier for this Camaro after reading about the Premier series having better UV defense.
Old 03-29-2019, 11:23 PM
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Re: SINGLE STAGE OR BASE COAT CLEAR COAT

Originally Posted by Tibo
I think that has more to do with the quality of the paint rather than the type of paint. I used DuPont Nason series Arctic white basecoat/clearcoat on my last car and I still suffered from the white yellowing. This was with regular synthetic wax usage, if that actually means anything.I can't help but wonder how faded a red or orange would have looked. I went with DuPont Chroma Premier for this Camaro after reading about the Premier series having better UV defense.
It was more than likely your clear that yellowed......and probably wouldnt have even been noticable on any other color but white. I really havent seen any clears do that for quite some time. I remember years ago (probably 20 years ago) mixing up clear and it actually looked like it had a yellowish tint to it right in the cup.
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