Paint: Acrylic or 2pack

[NachaLuva]

My Gf is painting her beetle from bare metal. After cutting out rust, etc, she is trying to decide what kind of paint to use. She has decided on a metallic mid blue.
I had always thought metallics were always 2pack but after some research it seems acrylics can be metallic too. Then there's acrylic enamel, acrylic polyurethane, acrylic lacquer... Crikey!
Now I'm really confused!
I know 2pack is a pain to do, you need a specialist booth pref with a water bath, needs to be baked, you cant buff it or you lose the hard surface, any mistakes/runs/dust/etc are there for good and even experienced painters can have probs, also you cant do small touch ups, you need to paint the whole area and feather it in...not easy to hide!
On the plus side it has better gloss and is harder wearing. Not sure bout the depth of colour, maybe better.

Acrylic on the other hand is easy as to do, easy to buff to a high shine, mistakes can easily be fixed and it doesnt attract dust like 2K. Downside is it fades faster and is less chip/scratch resistant.
And its cheap! :iconwink:

So, does anyone know the differences between these acrylics, is 2K so much better or not worth the trouble/expense. Most of all, can she get the metallic blue she wants in acrylic?

 

[d_generate]

Base coat is almost the same with acrylic and 2pack so colour is not going to be a problem, you don't need to bake 2pack, the base coat dries at about the same rate as acrylic,it's just the clear that takes a while but it will usually dry overnigt in a garage with a heater on but it is a pain in the arse, I've used both and next time I paint a car I'll probably use acrylic simply for ease of use and it only costs about 30% of 2 pack.

I've painted rims on a warm day in 2pack and they were dry enough to handle within about 3-4hrs, dust and bugs & legality are your biggest problems painting at home.

 

[Species]

We've had 4 cars done in 2 pac in our back shed, 2 in a solid colour and 2 in metallic and the old man (who does the top coat) thinks 2 pac is so much easier to work with... a lot more forgiving. It's quite possible to get a glossy finish without having to cut and polish and if you do have any runs in the clear top coat, it's a lot thicker so you can fix it up a bit. You have to have proper protection from the fumes though, it's nasty stuff. He has a proper respirator and gets those disposable suits.

Have a look at his latest, this is straight off the gun.
edit: this was a bare metal respray too

 

[d_generate]

That looks great, not an RS2000 is it, looks like the longer snout, I had one from new for 12yrs + 3 other Escorts. Did it have much rust in the C pillars, they rot like buggery there and the plenum chambers.

I've got all the breathing gear too but it's something like a $20,000 fine for doing it at home so I just won't risk it after the shire coming around a couple of times to see if I was running a repair business at home...............as if.

 

[NachaLuva]

Have a look at his latest, this is straight off the gun.
edit: this was a bare metal respray too

Great effort Species. Looks awesome!

Yeah the $20K fine is a helluva reason not to do 2pac in your shed lol.

My first car was a 1300 Escort...not the best memories after I wrapped it around a tree lol

We've had 4 cars done in 2 pac in our back shed, 2 in a solid colour and 2 in metallic and the old man (who does the top coat) thinks 2 pac is so much easier to work with... a lot more forgiving.

I thought 2pac was more advanced and acrylic was easy

It's quite possible to get a glossy finish without having to cut and polish and if you do have any runs in the clear top coat, it's a lot thicker so you can fix it up a bit.

I was always told 2pac has great shine off the gun but runs and dust/bugs are a big prob as you cant cut 2pac as it removes the hard surface layer, which is the big advantage 2pac has over acrylic

 

[Species]

The escort isn't from any of my work but not a real RS, no... the old man modified the front end on a regular 2dr and fitted the RS nose cone from a completely rusted out one. I must admit the back shed job did allow some bugs to crawl in the in the top coat of my car, but I've watched a few car restore/build shows and they buff the heck out of their clear coat. I'm no expert though, I just bog and sand...

d_generate, where the shed is, is in a "rural" zoned area, not that it changes the law to my knowledge, but a very remote chance of the council actually worrying about it.

 

[d_generate]

I was doing it in the front yard lol, no rear access. and yes it's a much better and more modern paint but way harder to fix if you make a mess, good thing about acrylic is it's virtually dry as soon as it hits the car so any mistakes can be sorted within the hour though like many paints it's not fully cured for about a week so polishing really needs to be left for a little while & everyone has a different method of putting the clear coat on though solid colours don't need it which is a great advantage as there are only 2 processes of painting instead of 3.......unless it's metallic.

 

[NachaLuva]

Just spent a few hours chasing around for K&H "Surface Technologies" primer filler. It seems after 3M took over, they have deleted the line. The K&H tech guy said the 3M primer filler is exactly the same stuff, made on the same line just different label. But much more expensive!!!
Was also told by the K&H tech guy that its good for both acrylic & 2pac.

So buy up stocks before its all gone! lol