Paint Thickness Gauge, do you use one?

[TOGWT]

What gauge do you use-Pro / Cons?

Paint Film Thickness:
Most modern vehicle paint film systems (paint build) comprise a primer coat of 2 Mil, a colour coat of 1-2 Mil, and clear coat of 2-3 Mil, an unprotected paint surface will lose approximately 8-10% or 0.4 Mil (0.0004-inch) to environmental exposure in a twelve month period (dependant upon geographic location)
As a point of reference a sheet of copy paper is 3.5Mil (0.0035") removing more that 10% or 0.3 Mil (0.0003") of clear coat will cause premature paint film failure

Coating thickness measurement (Mils)- used in the paint industry to measure thickness (in the case of a paint film surface this should be `thinness') a Mil is 1 / 1,000th – inch. Micron- 10-4 centimètres. 25.4 Microns = 0.001-inch

The clear coat provides protection from a hostile environment and an excellent brilliance, but is easily scratched; once it is compromised repairs involve re-painting, as the base colour has no brilliance, shine or depth, start with the least abrasive product to accomplish desired results, and only if necessary move up to the next grade of abrasive.

Q: What is the "right" paint thickness for a vehicle?
A: There is no "right" paint thickness for any vehicle. Automobile manufacturers paint thousands of vehicles each day with a wide variety of paint formulations; their specification has a range of thicknesses. For some models this can be as low as 3 Mil and, in the case of the rocker panels of Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs), as high as 17 Mils.

Q: If there is no "right thickness", what am I looking for?
A: Paint thickness consistency; for example, when you are reading between 3.5 and 5.0 Mils and a reading shows a sudden reduction in thickness, you know there is a cause for concern in that particular area of the bodywork.

Paint Thickness Gauge:
An electronic paint thickness gauge can be an invaluable tool, before buffing it’s always a good idea to check the paint film thickness to see how much of the paint film thickness is available, check periodically during the process and on completion to see how much was removed. Take measurements with a paint and coating thickness gauge

PosiTector 200 Advanced - measures total thickness of a coating system or up to 3 individual layer thicknesses in a multi-layer system. Also features graphic readout for detailed analysis of the coating system - PosiTector 200 - Coating Thickness Gage

All the major car manufacturers specify that measurements should be taken before, during and after these steps. This is primarily because removal of too much clear coat can cause paint failure over time due to the fact that UVR absorption is the job of the clear coat. If an insufficient thickness of clear remains after polishing the colour coat won't be protected from UV radiation.

For this reason, it’s also recommended that paint be measured when buffing since you can’t see how much paint is being removed during the buffing process. If too much clear is removed, either on the original OEM finish or the refinished areas (colour coat 0.3–0.5 and total paint 1.8MIL thickness min) a warranty issue may develop down the road.

It’s interesting to note that painters must now demonstrate proficiency with an electronic paint thickness gauge in order to become certified to perform refinish warranty work for General Motors Corp. (GM) vehicles.

Professor Detail :grad:

TOGWT ™ Copyright © 2002-2007. Jon Miller, all rights reserved

[veloci3]

The positech 200 is $2600.00. :rubeyes: I wish I knew someone to borrow it from.

[TOGWT]

The Phase II PTG- 3500 digital electronic paint thickness gage, will measure in both MILS and MICRONS, and both a ferrous (steel) and non ferrous (aluminium) surface. Approx $500 –
http://www.1car-detailing-training.com/Product/87/36/Electronic-Paint-Thickness-Gage.aspx

FS 488 Paint Meter, Measures both steel and aluminium approx $ 400 - http://www.wholesalepaintmeters.com/

[DBeamish]

The PosiTector 200 is designed to measure over NON-metals only. That's why the price is much higher than others. It uses ultrasound.

Consider the PosiTest DFT for measuring over both steel and aluminum in either mils or microns. More info at...
DFT Instruments or
Paint Gages, Paint Meters, Mil Gages for measuring Paint Thickness on Automotive Cars, Trucks and Vehicles.

[Queenskid24]

Originally Posted by veloci3

The positech 200 is $2600.00. :rubeyes: I wish I knew someone to borrow it from.

I have yet to find a well known gauge that doesnt have a Steep price tag :rubeyes: lol

[TOGWT]

Updated / Info add

Using a paint thickness gauge gives a professional detailer credibility and also acts as an insurance against ‘break-though’ of a clear coat, which would entail a re-paint and I suspect a very irate customer. Original paint has a better resale value than a re-painted vehicle, plus they will lose the use of their vehicle for some days.

If you use a car outline template and mark the paint thickness, you can advise the customer of any potential problems and you’ll also have a permanent record of the customers paint surface, which can be used as a reference each time the car is polished. Paint Thickness Template - Image of Detailing Template - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

Most paint thickness gauges work by sensing the distance between the sensor and the metal base material. That’s total distance, which would be the thickness of all layers (primer, base, colour, and clear coats) and any repainted material, etc. You have to take an educated guess as to how much each layer consists of.

Magnetic Induction - using this technology the thickness gauge utilizes non-destructive principles when measuring coatings on Ferro-magnetic substrates such as Steel and Iron. The coatings must be non-magnetic such as; paint, enamel, aluminium, chrome, copper and brass.

Eddy-Current - this technology utilize a non-destructive principle when measuring coatings on non-magnetic substrates such as; aluminium, aluminium alloys, bronze, copper, brass tin and rustproof weak magnetic steels. The coatings must be electrically insulating such as; paint, enamel, plastics, anodized coatings and ceramics.

Ultrasonic- an ultrasonic transducer emits a high frequency sound pulse that travels into the coating via a coupling gel and reflects from ANY surface that is different in density. Coating thickness readings are obtained by measuring the time taken for the ultrasonic signal to propagate from the probe to the coating/substrate interface and back. The travel time is divided by two and multiplied by the velocity of sound in the coating to obtain the thickness of the coating. In some circumstances, individual layers in a multi-layer system can be measured.

[MotorCity]

Ever used a PTG like this? I found it in the lab at work




This thing will even give you statistical data... not a need for polishing but ohh so cool!! the last 4 buttons are lowest reading - Highest reading - Mean - Standard Deviation


I bet this thing costs a bundle... I am going to do a detail here at the work garage and use this thing the first Saturday with no snow we get

[PiyAvkA]

Guys, I found another very interesting alternative, it's called paintGage FNF, just Google it.