Clear coat
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Hi guys, I’m new to the forum,and have enjoyed viewing this website for some time now. I have been using Glasurit and RM clear for a number of years. What do you guys thing about SPI produts? I have began using their produts and they seem to work great. I must say I never had a problem with any clear coat that I’ve use from any manufacturer. It makes me wonder are all clears almost the same? I would think that making a clear isn’t rocket science and any “secrets” on how to make a great clear must of been revealed by now. I have a hard time justifying the costs of the “name brand” clears….what do you guys think?
Oh jeez not another one of these threads :rofl
I have used one of their clears and it was pretty good for the money, but definately not close to the best clear I have used.
What some people fail to realize when comparing prices, most refinish clears are priced for what they do. If you want a clear to be slow, but cure under heat and be buffable within the hour, it is going to cost you. If you want a lifetime warranty with it, that will cost you also. if you want a paint company to test said product under a variety of conditions and within a structured system, it will cost you.
For painting a few cars here and their SPI has a real niche, but for most large collision shops it doesn’t fit. Thats what big paint companies want, big shops using alot of paint.
If you are painting a car hear and there, why use the expensive brands? I’m not sure that they are any more durable. I have used Glasurit for a number of year and it has worked great but very $$$. SPI is resonably priced and seems to hold up for a number of years. My question is why spend tons of money on clear does it really matter?
Ryan, what clear(s) do you like better and why. I’m obsessed with this paint stuff and always trying to learn more and try new products.
if u are using rm and u have a job that fails for some reason tell them u put spi clear on top and see if they help you out. :kofee
[quote=”Danp76″ post=23668]If you are painting a car hear and there, why use the expensive brands? I’m not sure that they are any more durable. I have used Glasurit for a number of year and it has worked great but very $$$. SPI is resonably priced and seems to hold up for a number of years. My question is why spend tons of money on clear does it really matter?[/quote]
You kinda have to look at your own personal situation and decide. If you run a decent sized shop I would never take a chance. If you paint a few cars here or there you will be fine using SPI. If you do work like Jim C where the film build goes way past what any company would warranty then SPI makes sense there too. I am not saying any of this as a knock on their product quality at all either.
Look at it this way. Say you run a shop painting 15-25 cars a week. You use SPI over PPG base. Say a bad batch of hardener goes out and it takes a few weeks to hear about it. By the time you realize it you have sprayed 65 cars. Is SPI going to write you a check for $50,000-100,000 to redo all the jobs that failed? One of the big paint companies will. This scenario is unlikely to happen but it has to be thought about. This expense could bankrupt a shop.
If you are just painting for yourself and you like the SPI use it. Quality wise you will be fine.
Point makes sense Ryan, I just often wonder how much marketing hype is involved with these products. Some clear is $100 a set-up, others around $400 are they really 4 times better in quality? How much of it is marketing, does it really cost that much to make a clear? I’d love to see a chemical analysis between the top name brand clears vs. the top aftermarkets. I know how things are marked up in industry, wonder if it’s a similar scenario with clear, as we are buying a blind item unless we are chemist with access to an expensive lab…how can we really say one clear is “better” then another unless we are a chemist?
There are, of course, differences in chemical quality. Most expensive clears have better UV protection, flexibility and sometimes higher solids content among other things. That probably makes it better, but not twice the price.
You have to keep in mind, the cost of all the products in the system not only covers the warranty as mentioned, but also the research into the product, marketing etc. And of course the large cost of paying for the base coat colour matching. I am sure it costs a lot of money matching existing colours and variants as well as keeping up with all the new colours (and variants) from manufacturers around the world.
And as for the warranty, the paint manufacturer may cut you a cheque if there is an issue, but they also provide training and technical support, another expense that you only get using a complete warranted system from a larger company.
[quote=”Danp76″ post=23677]Point makes sense Ryan, I just often wonder how much marketing hype is involved with these products. Some clear is $100 a set-up, others around $400 are they really 4 times better in quality? How much of it is marketing, does it really cost that much to make a clear? I’d love to see a chemical analysis between the top name brand clears vs. the top aftermarkets. I know how things are marked up in industry, wonder if it’s a similar scenario with clear, as we are buying a blind item unless we are chemist with access to an expensive lab…how can we really say one clear is “better” then another unless we are a chemist?[/quote]
What I said in my first post kinda answers this. Raw material vs raw material the cost isn’t going to be as drastic. you lose the warranty, reps, and any support if things went south.
Cost per gallon is a poor comparison. You have to look at cost per sprayable oz and how far it goes.
If you like SPI just use it. What your asking would need to be determined by a third party chemist.
[quote=”ryanbrown999″ post=23679][quote=”Danp76″ post=23677]Point makes sense Ryan, I just often wonder how much marketing hype is involved with these products. Some clear is $100 a set-up, others around $400 are they really 4 times better in quality? How much of it is marketing, does it really cost that much to make a clear? I’d love to see a chemical analysis between the top name brand clears vs. the top aftermarkets. I know how things are marked up in industry, wonder if it’s a similar scenario with clear, as we are buying a blind item unless we are chemist with access to an expensive lab…how can we really say one clear is “better” then another unless we are a chemist?[/quote]
What I said in my first post kinda answers this. Raw material vs raw material the cost isn’t going to be as drastic. you lose the warranty, reps, and any support if things went south.
Cost per gallon is a poor comparison. You have to look at cost per sprayable oz and how far it goes.
If you like SPI just use it. What your asking would need to be determined by a third party chemist.[/quote]
Then there is the other end of it…you might find the clear with the best chemicals at the lowest price to be the worst spraying product that is not user friendly, or a little yellow or not have as good of depth…
I hear you guys. Lots of costs in r&d for the company, especialy in color formulations. That aside, I often wondered if you pulled the label off the clear, do they all copy each other to some degree? How many ways are there really to make a good clear? I would think that the aftermarket companies don’t wanna fail and establish a name for themselves, and wouild strive to make a good clear, wihtout the overhead of the larger companies. I have never had any clear fail on me, name brand or otherwise…I begin to think that a good clear is a good clear and a cheap clear is a cheap clear, that is aftermaket companies advertise low and high end clears like the major companies…why can’t they make an as good or better clear for less money? and if you are not a dealer or painting several cars a week, is there really a difference in the quality of the actual product and not the quality of the warranty?
R+D is a big cost to. it’s a lot cheaper to reverse engineer a product that someone else already put the time and money into developing and testing. then substitute some cheaper raw materials and bingo, a nice economy clear.
Yup,
R&d
Inventory
Marketing
Import/export tax
Shipping
Warranty
Brand positioning
Raw materials
ComplianceIt can take years to bring a new product to market.
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