is ASTROnomical . for a decent urathane system its average $3000 just for the paint products to refinish a car. you want to not skimp because the cost of a redo is brutal . I would go with Spies Hecker, Glasurit is not what it used to be.

Did Earl Scheib die and nobody told me??? besides, who is going to live long enough to need a second respray???

I've been trying to decide between Spies and Glasurit. I am leaning toward Glasurit but you have me wondering why you would say 'it's not what it use to be?'


The 7-1 mix ratio on Spies Hecker has me wondering if less paint mix isn't going to change the volume of the product needed to complete a project.

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84 300SD
85 380SE
83 528e
95 318ic

You have confuzzled me. The mass of paint required should not change, but you said volume. Please explain.

For a standard color, base/clear should be way less than $1000 for everything. 3k, maybe if you're doing a house of kolor kandy job and blocking many of coats of clear. I've mostly sprayed Dupont which is on the higher priced side but last few jobs I've used Matrix paint which seems to be just great. A gallon of Matrix clear is < $200 https://www.amazon.com/Universal-Clearcoat-Designed-Refinishing-Hardener/dp/B073V4GCC4

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Old Blue - '83 240D 6 speed manual trans, OM648
Green Machine - 2001 Europa G500
'87 300SDL Bought on Peachparts
'02 E320 4matic wagon

Patchouli Wagon - 2004 E500 - SOLD
333k mile 97 BMW 750il V12. - SOLD
The Californian - 85 300TD - SOLD
Daily Super Sedan - 03 Audi S8 - SOLD
Family Truckster - 2012 VW Touareg TDI - SOLD

It could. Paint is applied by volume solids in the can. Paint can be stretched by adding additional solvents or other materials which will require you to use more paint.

One trick to lower the cost of basecoat is to lower the volume of pigment. Pigments are the most expensive components of paint (except UV absorber). Lower cost for the initial paint, and more paint will be needed to achieve hiding.

A lot of the times, this the difference between different lines of paint from the same company.

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2010 Toyota matrix

'93 500 SEL
A bad addiction. Takes all of my cash.

'12 Volvo S80 T6
Needed something that wasn't as hard to deal with as my bad addiction

'18 Mazda Miata
No more boring cars for everyday transport!

Earl Scheib? That's really a blast from the past.

While I mix small volumes of paint by mass rather than volume, paint is sold by volume.


So: A 4-1 (paint-hardner/activator) mix ratio will produce 1.25 liters of, ready to spray, paint. A 7-1 mix will yield 1.14 liters of mixed paint.


Buying 5 liters of 4-1 vs 7-1 ratio paint would actually result in having .55 (over half a liter) more paint to shoot.

I'm not a maffs type person so someone should correct me if I'm wrong.


Half a liter of SH paint is probably around 300 bucks now.

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84 300SD
85 380SE
83 528e
95 318ic

I remember Earl Schieb paint jobs at $29.95 USD (not a typo). Maybe one could buy the tape for that much today.

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"Rudeness is a weak man's imitation of strength" - Eric Hoffer

There is also Maaco? I think?
I have been hearing for years about SPI clearcoat. Has anyone used it?
https://www.southernpolyurethanes.com/clears

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Tony H
W111 280SE 3.5 Coupe
Manual transmission

Past cars:
Porsche 914 2.0
'64 Jaguar XKE Roadster
'57 Oval Window VW
'71 Toyota Hilux Pickup Truck-Dad bought new
'73 Toyota Celica GT

Your math sounds good, but it isn't necessarily true.

When you are mixing, volumes can shift. You can add a quart of hardener to a galloon of paint and end up with less than a gallon and a quarter of paint. When liquids are combined, you do not necessarily get the additive volume. For paint, it should be close in most cases.

Weight can be more accurate, though you must account for different densities of material. For example, TiO2, the pigment in white paint, is very heavy. Blue pigments are a lot lighter, and there is much less pigment in a gallon. If you use that methodology, make sure you account for the different densities of paint.

Frankly, mixing via the recommended separate volumes will work fine.

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___________________________________________
2010 Toyota matrix

'93 500 SEL
A bad addiction. Takes all of my cash.

'12 Volvo S80 T6
Needed something that wasn't as hard to deal with as my bad addiction

'18 Mazda Miata
No more boring cars for everyday transport!

If the TDS doesn't list the weight/volume I pour up a liter of the product and do that math.

If I'm mixing more than a couple hundred ml of paint I use the volume method. If you just need 30 ml of epoxy 2K primer to touch up a spot where you burned through to bare metal the skill of mixing by mass (weight) is very convenient.

My drawback is that the best balance/scales I can afford are not sensitive enough to mix the hardener in a blob of body putty or filler. You just can't do 2g on a kitchen scale.

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84 300SD
85 380SE
83 528e
95 318ic

Respected paint indy recently quoted me $800 to strip and repaint my hood only.

300SD 1984

Aluminum?

I just finished sanding the paint on my 85 w126 hood, filling a few dozen (literally 30-40 dings) with body putty, blocking the entire surface down and shooting two coats of epoxy 2K primer then the following day two coats of highbuild primer. I'm leaving that primer to dry and completely shrink so another two months before I block it down and prep it for base coat...


That's 300 bucks worth of paint and labor already in this hood. I've put at least 7 hours labor into it and probably close to 200 bucks just in paint and disposables and the hood was on tables and not mounted.


If he's going to match paint and all the crap that has to be done to blend the hood with the fenders and A frames I'd say that $800 is not outrageous.


What color is your car?

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84 300SD
85 380SE
83 528e
95 318ic