Pro Painters-What paint brands and why?

I hear a lot of people talking about the pros and cons of different brands. I thought it would be interesting to get some specifics. (This should make a pretty good reference for beginners, or unhappy consumers.)

Since you are in business, I assume you have used a number of different brands of paint over the years, and you have settled on a system you like.

I'm curious what brands of paint you use, and why? Here are a few questions:

1- What do you use now? primer, sealer, paint, clear?

2- What brands have you quit using, and why?

3- Anything you are using that you intend to replace?

4- Any other tricks or products you would recommend, for bodywork, masking, painting, problem solving, versatile product or tool?

5- How long have you been painting?

I'll share my experience too: :-) I've been using this system for about 10 years with no problems.

1- Marhyde Ultimate Primer, a 2-part Urethane (guidecoat & sand 360 W/D)
Shermin Williams P1A60 sealer sealer, gray or red.
R-M, HOK, and X-otic Colours base coats, no problems using together.
HOK SG100, or X-otic 34-200 midcoat clear, and R-M DC92 Diamont topcoat clear( can change hardener or reducer for conditions, and stays workable for several days.

2- Most national brands. DuPont-too many coats, hours, and materials for coverage when they went lead-free. PPG good stuff, but the clear consumed up to double the manhours and materials for "cut & buff". Shermin Williams- faded and gloss died with time. In all fairness, this was years ago. I am not familiar with any new products.)

3- No.

4- Use the 3M green tape. I use the 1/8 for most graphic layouts. It doesn't lift or move around as much as Fine Lines, especially on tight radiuses. Edges are almost as clean, cost is lower.

The Fiberglass Evercoat Euroglaze is still the best glaze I've found. It's really a cure all, even in the middle of the spray work. Just repair then spot seal and continue.

Dupont 222S clear adhesion promoter is a great product for adhesion on questionable surfaces, like graphics over existing paint. (Light coats...it runs easily.) The only thing it doesn't stick to well is sign painters enamel.

For adhesion: Base coats (at least mine) always stick to basecoats, but topcoats need to go on within 24 hours, or else shoot another coat of SG100 before topcoating.

Sand & buff: let clear dry 2-3 days. 1200 Meguiars paper, then variable speed air buffer, 3M 06031 with a white foam waffle pad, and 3M 05973 with a gray waffle pad to finish. Minimal manhours, no burned edges or buff marks.

5- 40 years this year. Full time for 20 years.

Paint done with this system, and good care, can still look new 10-15 years later...or longer!....and I live in Arizona, where the sun kills the paint!

#1 standox , ( high line dupont paint finish ) ,for custom colors i use a HOK base with the same standox sealers,primers and clear.
#2 quit using sikkins , the base liked to lift anything !,ppg ,did not like the clears , dupont ,color match was crap before they bought standox.
#3 i will stay with standox
#4
#5 15 yrs

#1 no 2k primers. i use only epoxy.
#2 i hate dupont/ppg clears. i use spi clear. i use matrix colors unless spi has the color
#3 none
#4 dont strech your tape. thats why it lifts. i sand from 1000 down to 4000. clean cut compound , foam pad.
#5 39 years......... too damn long

I am absolutely NOT a pro painter, in fact I don't know that I even qualify as a beginner as I have only ever shot one vehicle and that is my '55. It has been so long (over 15 years ago now) since I shot it that I don't remember for sure what brands I used.

All of that being said, a couple things that I absolutely learned during the process was that prep, prep and more prep will make you much happier with the outcome. Also, if you are shooting a dark color (as I did on my '55) make sure that you have more than enough lighting! I found that I never really had a problem with runs shooting the etching and filler primers, but once I was shooting the base coat, (Dark Metallic Blue) it is really hard to detect runs in the paint until it was too late. Shooting the clear seemed to be about as bad and probably would have been worse had I not learned this lesson after shooting the base coat.

Anyway, sorry for Hi-jacking the thread. I appreciate the info provided by you guys on this toppic because I am approaching that stage on the Firebird, and will probably re-painting the '55 in the near future as well.

Cheers,
Firechicken

I have had good luck with marhyde primer and price is right, but boy is it ever thick, but have used a lot of different 2ks and haven't noticed any immediate problems anyways. Depends on what I am looking for, if only need a little bit, I will get one that I really don't need to reduce, if going to be using a lot marhyde tintable. Plan on trying spi primers soon both urethane and epoxy. Years ago used ppg k200 and dp epoxy, now thier primer is too expensive and dp I've heard issues with since went lead free. I've used omni epoxy since dp went lead free.
For paint, I've always been a ppg guy, mostly dbc, when I was buying the paint, while most shops I worked in most used dupont chromabase. PPG was just a tad cheaper and to me it was a little more user friendly and better color match/coverage. If I am buying a value line, so far I like utech, but only used it once. Others I've used were ppg omni and rm limco, but so far utech beats them. I think they are all somewhat comparable in price between equal lines, it comes down to what you have available to you and what system you know the best.
I used spi clear on the last car and really liked it. I plan on using spi on the little side work I do, unless I need some clear like yesterday, or a real small quantity. Also like ppg 2021, but it costs more then then spi without really laying, looking better. or being better quality. I don't have a lot to compare to cause I haven't painted proffesionally for awhile and every place I painted has used dupont, except a used car place using low lines. The only opportunity I had to try other stuff was at home over the years, and way back in the 90's where they had mixing systems of a few different manufacturers. Started in 1990, were combination back then, did car complete from bodywork, to paint and buffing and finishing. got out of working in shops for awhile due to doing bodywork for bigger manufacturers being better pay/benefits, not having to stick money into a bunch of tools to use to work on stuff for them. Just got a job in a bodyshop again a year ago, but only do bodywork thier, big semis, rivits suck.