Hi Everyone,

Sorry for the lack of participation lately but I am recovering from a total knee replacement 3 months ago and I am finally moving around much better now .

I have been having a "debate" of sorts at the office and one of the questions around the water cooler was paint "hardness".

I was curious how this is determined?

Here are my vehicles and I was wondering how they rate on the "hardness" scale:

1. 2009 MINI Cooper Clubman S Horizon Blue paint
2. 2005.5 Volkswagen Jetta TDI Platinum Gray paint
3. 2002 Jeep Liberty Patriot Blue paint

Thanks in advance!!!!

Mike

 

Paint hardness can be generalized between brands and models but the BEST and ONLY sure way is to test it yourself.

Grab a PC and a white pad with Swirl and see if you can polish out a test spot. If the swirls are deep and it comes out easily, then you have soft or medium soft paint. If you need an Orange pad, then it's harder. If an Orange pad doesn't work and you need a Yellow pad or a rotary buffer, then it's very hard.

Here's the followup test. If after it's polished out and it scratches very easily...say from the PC cord rubbing the paint..then the paint is VERY soft.

Get where I'm going with this?

Other factors come into play. Is there a coating like Zylon on it? Is the clearcoat PPG Ceramiclear as found on many late model Mercedes?

MINI or BMW paint tends to be medium hardness, though Jet Black is very soft.

I don't do many VW's, but Audi paint is on the harder side compared to BMW.

Jeep paint tends to also be medium hardness.

Richard

quote=Mike1968NM;2895735]Hi Everyone,

Sorry for the lack of participation lately but I am recovering from a total knee replacement 3 months ago and I am finally moving around much better now .

I have been having a "debate" of sorts at the office and one of the questions around the water cooler was paint "hardness".

I was curious how this is determined?

Here are my vehicles and I was wondering how they rate on the "hardness" scale:

1. 2009 MINI Cooper Clubman S Horizon Blue paint
2. 2005.5 Volkswagen Jetta TDI Platinum Gray paint
3. 2002 Jeep Liberty Patriot Blue paint

Thanks in advance!!!!

Mike[/quote]

 

Thanks Richard! As always very sound advice!!!!