I need opinions on paint quality-brands of paint that are better than others. I'm close to having the El Camino ready for paint and have a shop that I want to use. I've seen the finished product and it always looks great-the problem is 3-6 mos. later some of the cars come back with a "cloudy" haze look to the paint. Doesn't seem to matter if it is a flat paint or a metalic, light or dark although it shows up on the dark cars worse for sure.

Is this a problem with the paint, the car owner not treating the new paint properly or a problem with the paint shop's painting process?

All opinions greatly appreciated!

Could be lots of things,usually had this problem wih the cheaper fast dry clears and not letting it sit long enough before wetsanding and buffing.Let it sit for a couple days after painting,wetsand, let it sit another day and buff.Takes longer to buff but usually takes care of the dieback problem. Mike

Dan, there are a few different issues we are dealing with here. One is that you can't usually ask a shop to spray a different paint than they usually spray.
They spray a brand of paint because they have found it to be the best for them, be it supplier or just the paint itself.

Second, if this shop has paint failures, and that is exactly what dying paint is, are they the shop you should be using.

Anyone who says that a particular brand of paint is junk and another is the cat's meow is just not thinking about it much.

EVERY major brand makes a good product. PPG, DuPont, Sikkens, Sherwin Williams, Glasuret, etc. makes a good long lasting product. If any of these brands are applied improperly, they will fail.

The die back (there are different forms of die back, this is just one of them) you are refering too is caused by poor atomization or solvent entrapment (basically both the same thing, just arrived at differently). It is caused by a guy trying to make the paint "flow" (I HATE that term when talking about modern paints, but painters still use it) instead of properly setting up, or choosing the gun used. It is caused by a painter not choosing the correct solvent for the shop temp. It is caused by applying too much product in too short of time.

But it is seldom caused because of a name on the can.

I think you need to re-think your shop choice.

I just want to make something clear and tie in with Mikes post.
There are many "cut rate" companies out there these days. These companies market mostly clears and undercoats, being the color business is a MONSTEROUSLY HUGE cost. So they just make the clears and undercoats.
The products are cheaper than the name brands and you get what you pay for as a rule.

Then the major companies had to go and cloud the issue by releasing thier own "cut rate" lines within their brand name. They like to call them "Value lines" but they are "cut rate" none the less.

PPG has OMNI, DuPont has NASON, S-W has Dimension and most every other company has similar. I can not emphasize enough, these labels are NOT the same quality as the top of the line label!.

Many shops will say "Your car will be shot in PPG" however they are actually using OMNI, that is NOT the same thing!

Don't let anyone tell you different! They are NOT the same. Yes, there are some products within these "value lines" that are a high quality, some are even the top of the line stuff with a value line label on the can. HOWEVER, as a RULE the value line is NOT of the same quality as the top of line product.

Be sure you get what you pay for.

THANK YOU! Your advice makes a ton of sense to me. It sure answers why sometimes the paint looks great, and sometimes it doesn't. I appreciate your advice more than you know-I can't afford to mess up here!

Anyone have a paint shop in the Los Angeles area that they have had good experience with?

Thank You!