Car paint

[A900ss]

Can somebody please explain the differences between acrylic, cellulose, 2k, water based and any other paints for used for cars.

What are the benefits/drawbacks for each sort and are some of these paints now illegal?

Thanks in advance

[gretsch drummer]

Cellulose- you can just add (top gloss) thinners and the solvents evaporate which dries the paint. It was mostly used on the older cars (up to around 70/80s era). It's not very durable, but you can spray it with just a decent mask on.

2k- also know as '2 pak' means 2 component. You add an activator/hardener to the paint or lacquer. The hardener reacts with the paint/lacquer and sets off very hard and is very durable. But the hardener is also poisonous as it contains isocyanate so 'should' be sprayed while wearing an air-fed mask.

--You can have 2k base which means you add hardener to the colour. So say if you painted a car in 2k red and you polished it, your polishing pad would turn red because the colour and hardener is mixed together.

--More commonly you spray base coat then 2k lacquer on top. This protects the colour coat from fading in the sunlight etc.

Waterbase- is a new'ish type of paint system. Instead of thinning the base coat down with solvent thinners, you can just thin it down with water (or proper WB reducer). But people say the waterbase lacquer is rubbing, so people still lacquer with 2k.

Edited by gretsch drummer on Friday 4th April 00:00

Edited by gretsch drummer on Friday 4th April 00:02