Hard/soft paint after respray

[mon the fish]

The hardness of a paint that's applied at the factory - say BMW which is very hard - how hard/soft is a resprayed area likely to be? Is it dependant on the bodyshop, and how close in hardness is it likely to be to the original paint?

I do my own machine polishing (just an amateur with a DA) and am intrigued about the consequences of using the same pads and polish from one area of paint to the next

Edited by mon the fish on Thursday 30th November 11:00

[Squiggs]

It's a 'How long is piece of string' question really.

How hard the lacquer is will depend on what lacquer the bodyshop uses, and with literally hundreds of different lacquers on the market no two are exactly the same.
And lacquer is a two part product - lacquer on it's own will never go hard, so hardener is added.
Too much or to little hardener will also effect how hard the finished lacquer is (putting too much in is just as bad as to little).
Then there are additives that can make the lacquer harden quicker - but again these will effect the finished hardness of the lacquer.

All that said some car manufacturers do have proper approved bodyshops that only use that manufacturers approved paint and lacquer. I don't really know, but would like to think, that this is as close as the manufacturer thinks they can get to the factory lacquer.

[mon the fish]

Thanks for the replies. So, if you buy a car that has had some paint on the front end in the past, it's a bit of a stab in the dark as to whether what pad/polish combo you use on (say) the bonnet would be the same as the rear wing?

Food for thought...

[V8covin]

From my experience a properly repainted panel will have more clear on than the original.
Manufacturers will put on as little as they can get away with.
Moreso at the budget end than prestige though

[227bhp]

How hard it is depends on how long it's been on, end of story.
Painters buff cars as soon as they've dried enough to do so, when it's been on a while (months, years) and it's fully hardened it's much harder to work with.

[xjay1337]

mon the fish said:

Thanks for the replies. So, if you buy a car that has had some paint on the front end in the past, it's a bit of a stab in the dark as to whether what pad/polish combo you use on (say) the bonnet would be the same as the rear wing?

Food for thought...

if you are in any way concerned then just use a paint depth gauge. altho this is not an exact figure.

I've polished many many cars (must be 100+) and have never struck through from regular polishing.
although I have caught panels with the pad edge