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Clear Coat Thoughts for Modern
Automobiles
Sunlight problems from ultra violet are getting
worse now due to lessening of the Ionosphere
from natural pollution, green house or so we
have been warned. These UV rays can easily be
protected with clear coats, ceramic coatings
and a good wax job you car. If you were out in
the sun and the skin on your nose started to
peel or your eyes were becoming white blinded
by the sun you would no doubt put on some
sunglasses, a hat and perhaps some sun block.
Today’s automobile is ready and able to prevent
this thru its clear coating, but it must be
cared for to do its job.
Swirl marks are caused by car washes or
untrained auto detailers, which are too
aggressive for the paint. Such swirl marks are
etchings in your cars clear coat. They reveal
damage to the paint. If you are waxing a car
and wonder if you have damaged the paint
there are ways to tell. How can you tell when
you have accomplished the task in waxing your
car correctly thus saving the paint and
creating a mirror finish? Take your watch and
tilt it sideways and then upside down and it
should look like a movie clip and then a mirror
as you spin your watch with no distortion. You
should be able to read the time in your paint
by the reflection. Another way is to take a
fluorescent light and see if it is crisp or if
you have any weird wave patterns coming off of
the paint in the form of distortion or
refraction of the light in any other direction
except directly into your line of sight. Before
going hog wild on the clear coat with Clay
Magic or any other materials, Check the clear
coat width. These units are from the old
plating industry and used in industry to test
thickness of substances. There are small units
used by art consultants and engineers; but in
the auto detailing industry they use little
hand hold units to check the number of mils
thick a clear coat has left on it after
battling elements for sometime. You can find
them on eBay cheap. Only serious auto detailers
carry these. A good clear coat is 5 mils or
more, but most manufacturers use 2-4 mils and
the substances are better than before. Color
coats are usually 3-5 mils and primer coats are
1-3 mils. Aircraft use more one step paints to
save weight and many manufacturers use less
paint to save cost and save steps by using
multi-step paints, some good and some not.
Minor oxidation can decay paint about 1-1.8
mils. Surface scratches and shopping carts can
cut through clear coat and half way into color
coats, thus a filler wax is needed after
treatment is rendered and do not take a buffer
with a short wool pad to it either. I hope you
learned something here
today.
by Lance Winslow -
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