Know Good Car Paint and How to Use It
Weather changes, as well as the duration of car usage, can cause the car paint to become dull and scratched. This condition certainly makes the car less appealing to the eye. Therefore, it is necessary to repaint to make the car's paint shine like it used to.
However, before doing so, car owners need to recognize what kind of base coat is good along with how to use it. Instead of being more curious, let's directly look at the complete discussion as follows.
Types of Good Car Paint
There are several types of good car paint that you can use when you want to repaint your car. Here are the complete types.
1. Primer base coat
This type of paint is usually used as the first layer after the car has undergone the filling and sanding process. This type of paint contains special pigments that can prevent corrosion and improve adhesion (the bonding strength between the paint layer and the car body metal). In the automotive paint industry, primer base coat is divided into three types as follows.
Urethane primer
This paint has strong resistance to rust because it is made from polyisocyanate and polyurethane. Thus, the paint spreads easily on the car body surface and makes the painted surface super shiny.
Epoxy primer
This paint is used for metal materials to prevent them from rusting easily. This paint is also waterproof. To achieve maximum painting results, you can spray this paint up to 2 times.
Wash primer
This paint is made from alkyd resin and nitrocellulose, making it quick-drying. However, this paint has the disadvantage of having adhesion and anti-corrosion properties that are not as good as urethane and epoxy primers.
2. Surfacer paint
This type of paint is usually used as the second layer, after the painting process with the primer base coat (putty or undercoat) is done. Surfacer paint itself has many functions as follows.
- Able to disguise scratched or slightly dented car bodies.
- Provides adhesion effects to the undercoat and top coat layers.
In the world of car painting, surfacer paint is divided into two types as follows.
Lacquer surfacer
This paint is made from acrylic resin (alkyd) and nitrocellulose, making it quick-drying.
Urethane surfacer
This paint is made from acrylic, alkyd, and polyester materials, giving it good adhesion properties. However, this paint requires a relatively long drying time, so you need a dryer with a temperature of about 140 degrees Fahrenheit or 60 degrees Celsius.
Thermosetting amino alkyd
This paint is made from acrylic resin and melamine, giving it a coating ability similar to that of a new car. However, to dry this paint, you need to use a dryer with a temperature of 90-120 degrees Celsius or 190-240 degrees Fahrenheit.
3. Top coat (clear coat)
This type of paint is usually used as the final layer because it has UV protection functions. Here you can decide whether the painting result is glossy or matte.
How to Use Car Paint
Here are the steps you can follow when you want to repaint your car.
1. Pre-painting stage
Before painting, you must perform the following steps.
- Fill in the dented parts of the car body or sand the scratched areas.
- Wash the car, then dry it.
- Spray epoxy and then sand again until the scratches fade. If done, wash the car again.
2. Painting stage
The steps you need to take in the painting stage are as follows.
- Paint the targeted part of the car body with the primer base coat and then dry it.
- Next, coat it with surfacer paint. Repeat spraying twice if using epoxy for maximum results.
- When the surfacer paint is dry, coat it with top coat and dry it.
If you feel less skilled in painting your car independently, you can visit the nearest Daihatsu workshop.
