New System Gives Paint Touch-Up a Facelift

By Kati Simmons News Editor
April 16, 2004

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LENEXA, Kan. -- A new paint touch-up system called Premier Paint 2000 is working to change the way the automotive industry thinks about paint repair processes.

According to Phil Staton, general manager of Premier Paint 2000, the system addresses many of the major problems that have plagued the paint touch-up industry, including shrinkage, adhesion, metallic color change, pepper chips, dull finish and minor scratches.

"The Premier Paint 2000 system will address minor scrapes, scratches, and rock and sand chips on cars and trucks with a permanent repair," he said.

Shrinkage is a problem caused when paint dries and the solvents evaporate causing the paint to shrink, said Staton.

"As this happens, the paint in the chip pulls up around the edges or gets a dish shape, making the chip obvious to the eye," he said.

Part of the Premier system is what Staton calls an "enhancing agent," which helps to reduce the paint shrinkage as it dries and give the paint a better shine. Staton said that the result is that 98 percent of chips almost disappear.

Another problem that Staton said has plagued the paint touch-up industry is getting the paint to adhere to the vehicle. He said that with traditional paint repair, much of the paint washes off after a few washes.

According to Rick Wray, president of Premier Paint 2000, a customer who buys a car that has had its paint touched up could be upset to find out that the touch-up washes off, and could mean trouble for a dealer.

Staton said that Premier Paint 2000 takes care of the problem with the use of a "barrier coat," which helps to clean the surface and leaves a microfilm to work with the "enhancing agent" to lock the paint into the chip.

"The result is that we have vehicles that we touched-up over one year ago that look the same as the day the new process was applied," said Staton.

Traditional paint touch-up methods also have trouble with metallic and pearl colors, he said, which make up more than 70 percent of the vehicles on the road today. With these paints, the metallic and pearl finishes separate from the paint pigments and settle on the bottom.

Often, when the paint is applied to the chip and the excess paint is wiped away, the color is removed, leaving only the metallic or pearly sheen and making the chips obvious to the eye, said Staton.

Premier Paint 2000 boasts a "metallic modifier," which Staton said works to lock the color pigments to the metallic or pearl sheen so that the paint touch-up is able to better mask the chip.

Pepper chips, also called sand chips, are another paint problem that sometimes are difficult for traditional paint touch-up methods to correct, said Staton. These are the little chips that "pepper" many cars' hoods.

Staton said that since there are so many small chips, dealers often just leave them as they are or have the entire hood repainted. Premier Paint 2000, however, offers chemicals that fill the pepper chips to help make them disappear, he said.

Traditional paint touch-up systems can require extra polishing to remove their naturally dull finish, said Staton, but his system uses an "excess paint remover" with special additives to leave the vehicle with a great-looking finish.

The final problem faced by traditional paint touch-up methods are minor scratches that are difficult to fill and often just ignored in the touch-up process.

"We have developed a scratch compound that, when used with our special buffer, removes these minor scratches without wet sanding," said Staton. "We are even taking out some scratches that stop your fingernail."

With Premier Paint, Staton said, 90 percent of surface scratches disappear and do not come back.

"We at Premier Paint 2000 make the overall finished product second to none by addressing the whole vehicle, not just a few chips or scratches," said Staton. "We give the vehicle the best finish possible without a new paint job."

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