Happy Holidays to all,

I have been reading so much about different paint products that I am now totally confused. I know it is a personnal preference but, can someone tell me the difference between enamels and urethanes and lacquers?
Can I have your opinion on what you have used and how it held up on a daily driver.
Also does anyone know of a company called tcpglobal.com?
They have there own paint from Restoration Shop. Has anyone used this paint from this company? If you go online and look at what they have, does it match up to the PPG paint just looking at the web site?

Any info will be a great help. Thnaks in advance.

 

Best advise I can offer is find a local auto paint supply store in your area. They are usually very helpfull and you get more than just opinions due to the fact they can't afford to sell stuff that gives them problems.

 

Stick with 2k products for best long lasting results (epoxy or urethane based). But proper protection of eyes, skin and lungs along with good ventilation is imperitive.
A urethane is most likely going to give you the longest life with the least maitenance required. Urethanes cure chemically through crosslinking and really don't even require regular waxing to maintain the finish. But there are urethane that use better resins and ingredients, so generally you do get what you pay for, I wouldn't expect an omni urethane to have the life of the more costly concept line for example. Other reasons why one basecoat or single stage may be cheaper may mean less pigment meaning more coats required to get proper coverage, less color research or tints meaning less likely accurate color matches to original color, less money spent on marketing, less uv inhibitors, ect.

A step down from urethanes and polyurethanes are enamels. These are an air dry system, but a hardener can be added to decrease cure times, improve recoatability, and durability and life. I would add a hardener if you use an enamel.

Lowest on the totem pole are lacquers. They have a short life exposed to the elements, and are known to check and shrink. Many of the old show jobs were done with lacquer, and many still prefer the look of a freshly buffed lacquer job and feel even the urethanes can't match a buffed out lacquer job. Higher solids urethanes tend to have a small amount of urethane peel that can be tough to avoid and completely eliminate. Lacquers are high in voc, bad for the environment, which is one reason they were being phazed out years ago. Also with the high amount of solvent, many coats would be required, so the paint won't go as far. From the lacquer days, may be the reasons some still think 10 coats of clear would be a good idea. With todays higher solids urethanes that many coats would only likely lead to problems and earlier failure or chipping.
Today you won't find lead in lacquer anymore either, so todays wouldn't even be comparable to years ago. If using a lacquer, probably best to keep it well cared for and the vehicle garaged. Urethanes and enamels (except if its a basecoat) will spray with a gloss. Lacquers require buffing to get a good gloss. Lacquer also isn't very resistant to chemicals and solvents, look out if you spill that brake fluid or have spillage out the gas filler.

For a paint job with the longest life expectancy with least potential for an incompatability, I personally prefer an epoxy primer over any baremetal(metal should be rust free and sanded) and applying bodyfiller over the epoxy primer, and to seal up bodywork areas. Then a urethane primer over that for the added fill and ease of blocksanding. Then possibly the epoxy reduced as a sealer prior to paint, over the urethane primer after all done being block sanded and is ready. The epoxy as a sealer is not absolutely needed, but will add some added durability and chip resistance and other benefits vs just painting over the urethane primer. It may also be a good idea if the sealer color will help provide quicker coverage of the paint or is needed to get everything all one even color to paint over.

Basecoat is usually either polyester or enamel based, although there are some urehthane basecoats I believe. I prefer polyester because its easier to work with and has quicker drying times. An enamel based may require long flash times between coats, longer wait if a repair happened to be needed, and longer wait before applying clear, and more likely to cause solvent popping, exp with dark colors if times are rushed (good idea to allow plenty of flash time and not rush things anyways) The basecoat will be the weakest link, but activate even if it isn't required if you have the option. Or else you can add a capfull of your clear hardener per mixed quart. But if your base uses a special activator reducer, such as dupont chromabase's basemaker, you should probably use the correct stuff in that base. Read all product data sheets on whatever products you use, and try to follow recommendations for proper use.
I have not used tcp global products, but a few have been trying it over on the hotrodders.com bulletin board. I don't know for sure, but doubt would be good if matching a color. I think they are a smaller company and have only a select number of custom colors, not tints and formulas and the color research required to mix up any of the bazillion colors available and used at one time out there, like ppg dbc and chromase for example do.

 

Thanks great write up Kenseth17. Puts a great bit of light on this subject.
I went to three different auto paint shops and really got three opinions.
One liked the old style lacquer ( new formula for todays EPA ). The next loved Enamel, said it was the way it went on for him and looked great. The paint shop asked me what
was my preference and they could get anything.... I think I am ready to go with
PPG CRE-904 or CRE-904FF for the epoxy primer/filler on my bare metal truck and a
PPG Urethane. Thanks for the opinions.