Determining Paint Quality

[tiwebber]

People usually talk about the quality of paint on their car on a scale of 1 to 10. It would be great to have some pictures lined up that show representatives of each score. I really cant tell. My car's paint may be from 6-9. I just dont know.

Please post a picture of your paint and rate it too. Dont adjust your rating for age / other factors (though qualifying your score is OK). I'll go first. I guess the paint on my car is a 7 out of 10. My picture has way too much glare. In good light you can see the scratches. I'll post a better one for evaluation tommorow. It original paint (qualifier).

At the end of this, if it goes anywhere, it would be good to take examples of each score and create a 911 paint scorecard for reference.

[efhughes3]

Pics do a horrible job of conveying a car's paint job. Maybe you can focus in on a blemish, but you don't see what someone in real life will see as a whole. Secondly, it is very subjective trying to rate it: your "7" may be my "6" or "8".

Truthfully, the old 5, 10, 20 ft, etc rating system is probably as good as you can use for decriptive purposes. My car's a 3 footer.

You've validated my opinion with the qualifying statements on the picture you posted-it being to glossy to see the scratches. You'll never be able to put together such a scorecard that would actually be useful or beneficial to anybody, but it is a good idea.

[PSportoVeloce]

in my experience, as someone who professionally assesses the quality of cars and their paint, paint quality is about a lot more than the paint itself. high quality paint is as much (if not more) about the quality of the application than the paint itself. while anyone can use quality materials (assuming the financial ability), it has more to do about the preparation and after painting care. with modern paint for example, color sanding can transform the paint after it's already been applied, and preparation will ensure there are no surface blemishes that appear as orange peel, drip marks, fisheye, and later in life, checking/peeling. also, things like overspray, and how thoroughly the car was done if repainted (were the doors and windows removed? how about the engine? is there primer overspray in the door jambs? are the vin stickers still there? if a color change, is there evidence ANYWHERE (including the floor pans, engine compartment, if you shine a flashlight in the hinge/cowl area in the trunk with the carpeting removed?). so when i use the term "high quality paint" in describing a car, i technically mean high quality paint job, and not just the paint itself.

in short, the term refers to execution.

[tiwebber]

Ed, the distance score could work too. Lots of people refer to their paint quality that way but it seem like more people refer to the 1-10 scale. I realize its very subjective but it would be great to have some objectivity.

Sporto, thanks for you comments. You add many more dimensions to paint quality. For now, I am just trying to get a handle on visual appearance rather than quality of application.

Here's another picture of my paint in better light. You can see scratches from 3 feet away in the lighter area of the pic. So, I guess my car's not a 3 footer? From five feet away I cant see scratches.

[kilodawg]

Your paint looks good. If you are seeing scratches from 3 feet and they are of the surface swirl type odds are they can be completely removed by a good detailer who knows his stuff.

I've been rather surprised how little our board members keep up with the technology of car care.....

[kilodawg]

Here is my buddy's "89 930 we detailed last month. Original paint and around 75K miles.

[cgarr]

I can always see a big difference under certain lights. If you can make a finish look good under tube lights then its going to look great in sun light.