Slightly OT - New paint job on '03 Cooper S, Single Stage Paint? WTH?

[Jonny042]

Kept this out of the technical area at least....

I took our trusty but rusty '03 MINI in for some repair and by the time all the repair spots were done 2/3 of the car was getting painted anyway so I splurged and had them paint the whole thing. The car is a solid black, no metallic.

One panel looked to me like the finish is a little thin and didn't get a full wet coat and didn't flow out, so I took it back, and commented the clear looked a little thin.... they said there's no clear, it's single stage paint!

I was actually so flabbergasted I left the car with them to polish up the offending panel and when I went to pick the car up I asked them basically WTF (but nicely, I was very calm and polite). The manager said he decided to paint my car with single stage because he thought it was the best product for the car, even though they normally paint base/clear he thought it would be best to use it in this case. He says he stands by the job, any problems bring it back.

He claims:

- it actually cost him more to do because he had to special order the paint
- didn't save them time
- it is more durable than base/clear
- he used the most expensive of the three available PPG single stage paints

So... did I get ripped off?

[strath44]

hmm sounds like rubbish to me, it definitely would have saved time no doubt in that. to me a single stage on such a modern car is strange.

[David McLaughlin]

Spoke to my boss the other day about this. He says BS. That car should not have single stage. The shop saved money for sure and you got a sub-par paint job.

[Jonny042]

Should I perhaps give him the benefit of the doubt? I actually WANT to believe the guy, he SEEMS to be a real professional...... or maybe he's just a good salesman but I can usually see through that.

The black single stage actually looks pretty good, blacker than black, really - a quick google search shows a lot of hot-rod/musclecar types use single stage for non metallic solid colours.

I dunno. Every single time I farm something out I wish I hadn't.

[thepenguin99]

Nothing wrong with single stage for a solid color. Paint prices for single stage run the gamut from cheap to expensive just like base/clear systems. Most people associate single stage with cheap because the el cheapo paint shops use a lot of it.

[xsboost90]

ive seen lots of single stage paint jobs. Dupont sells a base/clear system and a single stage system- each one is nice, uv resistant and in most cases you wouldnt be able to tell the difference. Usually base/clear is used only on metallic paint colors where buffing the surface would smear the metallic. Most factory cars are painted just this way, even porsches for many many years. Just because it has clear doesnt make it better.