I'm not a car painter, or at least not yet. But I want to get started. I've heard about House of Kolor forever. Is that what I should start using? Somehow, I think that PPG and Dupont and other brands that supply OEM manufacturers have a bigger R&D budget, and a corresponding better product. Is that true?
Here's my two cents worth... and be forewarned, this is long winded, but it'll make sense in the end. Go to your local auto paint jobber and make friends. Sounds silly, but if you know little or nothing, these guys will turn out to be your best friend. Be honest with him AND yourself and tell them that you know very little or nothing about painting, theyll end up finding out eventually so save yourself any embarrassment now. Most of them have forgotten more then you'll ever know and usually are more than happy to teach. I got lucky in this vane myself. I had a guy walk me through everything. He suggested me learn the basics of painting with the lower priced urethanes then move on to the HOK and kool shit later. Hell, he even gave me my first three pints of paint. Of course he knew that if he did a good job of helping me, he'd have me hooked and he'd have a customer for life. And he was dead on right. I happen to go to a DuPont dealer, so that's what I use. If you find yourself at a PPG dealer and the guy behind the counter is someone you connect with, that's who you should learn from. Once you get the hang of the painting basics move up to HOK. As far as the R&D goes, HOK is owned by a larger company, Valspar. So there is real R&D done at the corporate level. Keep in mind that custom car painting is a big dollar industry and none of these companies can afford to slack off and not do their homework. This is like any other art form. To be the best you can be it takes practice and learning the basics. If youre not going to learn the rudimentary shit, dont waste your time because itll show. Hope this helps somehow. Vance
I am no expert either but I have used Dupont before the new stuff and house of color. Dupont is kinda finicky and very unforgiving paint. I have used acrlyic laquer as well as enamel I painted one of my motor cycles with House of color candy apple with gold basecoat. The paint is superb! It also ain't cheap! Start with a pint if you can and shoot something small and see how you like it!
Personally I love the stuff. But I also use a lot of Sikkens and Dupont paints as well. If your just starting off, check out the PPG Omni line of paint. I've had good luck with that line when doing budget jobs in the past. Personally, I don't think it would be worth the large cash outlay for HOK if you are just kind of messing around and haven't done any / many totals or even painting in general. When it comes to things like metal flakes or pearls, I consistantly wind up using OSF (old school flake) and HOK. They definately rule the roost (being my storage cabinets) when it comes to speciality effects and things of that nature.
PPG has a lot of good products....Dupont has a lot of extra products [and steps] that are ????necessary????? I have never used HOK products.
Could not have said it any better myself! All that I would add is I used some of the cheaper basecoats from PPG, Dupont etc. such as Omni and Nason when I started out (so as not to waste a bunch of money on trial and error) under HOC candys with great results. See if the paint store guys will make you a intercoat clear(to put the candy in) out of the binders for the Omni or Nason bases to save you some cash. Also don't forget the SEM companys candys, cheaper and easy to use. And like Vance said, don't be afraid to tell the guys in the store you need the help, ask them what they recommend and they will really help you out. John (but if the guys in the store are dicks, leave and go some where else! )
If you want to learn on your own..get some good painting books...try www.smartshoppersinc.com and www.kirkerautomotive.com for paint and materials...Smart Shoppers will get you everything you need to paint a car for under $150.00..color, activator, primer, etc.....they sell Kirker paint which is an affordable product that really works pretty good...equivilant to Omni and Nason...after you master that you can go to HOK, DuPont, PPG, etc. Painters have their own favorite products and they sometimes are pretty set in their opinions...try the inexpensive stuff first...
once you get the paint you want, go to home depot or menards and buy a steel mailbox to paint. there like $10.00 or so for the cheap ones and you can just scotchbrite them and start painting. easy and cheap. plus you got a cool mailbox.
I love it,,its all i use.But i learned on HOK.IF you dont take the time to learn the system,it will cost you big in the long run.What ever paint you use you have to know how it works,and what you can do with it,if your lookin to do custom stuff.Everything everybody said is true,the guy sellin you the paint will become your best friend.They know this stuff inside out..ALso i would not discount the other brands dupont,,ppg.A bad painter can make a HOK Paint job look like shit.A lot of people seen to bitch about HOK being expensive.Ive found that dupont,,ppg is even more money.Average quart of basecoat 50,60 bucks.ive bought half pints of dupont for 20 ,,big diffrence.So i would give it a shot.What are you lookin to do? a car,bike.or just playin around..also check out witch cars win best paint usually HOK.
Vance's advice is right on and very much the same thing I did when I lived in Sunny California. One small thing I'll add; some of the advice will be given from a professional standpoint. Professional from the painters point of view. Reason I say this is, the paint shop head guy talked me into using an almost white sealer under black paint. The paint job came out pretty good for an amateur level job and was a good learning experience. I did ask about using a black or dark gray sealer, but was steered toward white. Which made rock chips very visible. I believe the shop recommended the white sealer because that's what the local pro's used in their day to day panel repair and perhaps it made the topcoat easier to see when painting. Aside from that - and next time I'll pursue the sealer color question a little farther - the paint shop treated me pretty good. Sometimes it seems like their equipment prices can be high, but they're like any other biz and have equipment sales from time to time. They sold me a very nice HVLP gun for a fair price, set it up for the intended type of paint, shot test patterns, cleaned and lubed it before they'd let me have it. I'm saving it for the color coats when - and if - I ever get the 31 up to the paint stage. You can do things for them as well. When one kid lost his favorite (not made in Taiwan) paint can opener I gave him an old USA made one from a couple I had. Made a few points there, but the thing to remember is, bein nice is a two way street....
Short HOK history. Jon Kosmoski was a regular guy who found he couldn't get the quality paint job he could afford, so he learned to do it himself, and became an award winning custom painter. He was still disatisfied, as the quality of the materials still left something to be desired, and there weren't many options in the late 50's for custom paint suppliers. So he contacted a chemist, and began formulating his own paint. He uses the highest quality resins, and pigments available. He still paints, and tests his products constantly, IN the real world. Valspar bought his company a few years ago, they had nothing to do with building the quality of it, though it seems they are keeping Jon's quality up to par. I use it all the time, been doing so for 20 something years. It's great stuff. But custom paint can be pricey, and you really have to know how to paint with it, esp. candies! The Candy urethane paint I put on my 55 Olds 18 years ago is fading a bit, but still looks pretty good. It sat in unheated garages for years, and even outside for a couple. I've probably painted 40-50 cars with HOK and am still surprised how good thay look, even after all these years!
I'm not a painter, but it's my understanding that the people that sell House of Kolor products as well as the people who put on their seminars have a great reputation. Since painters are reading this thread, I wanted to make sure you were all aware of a new company that a customer of mine raved about. I've never had any contact with them, but I was told that they are earning a superb reputation. Spend a few minutes reading their Web site. I think you'll be as impressed as I was. Southern Polyurethanes http://www.southernpolyurethanes.com/ Hope this helps some of you. Dave Mann http://www.roadsters.com/
Wow. Thanks for all of the great replies. I'm sure that I can establish a good relationship with a PPG seller, seeing as how I live in Pittsburgh. My brother-in-law is a painting subcontractor and can certainly help me with some relationships. He uses a lot of Sherwin-Williams. Does anyone have any experience with their automotive division? Do they have a good product, and can the wall paint fellows help me get a deal with the car paint guys, or are they completely seperate? Thanks again, Matt
As an owner of a custom that has HOK paints all over (and IN it), I can say that theres a difference. I can usually spot an HOK paint job a mile away. My car has all HOK flakes, candies, tinted clears and base coats. It really pops in the sun and glows at night. I'm spoiled now.... But I'm not the one that painted the car. I'm only speaking as a satisfied owner. Spike
House of Kolor is now owned by Sherwin Williams . Sherwin Williams also owns Valspar , Martin Senour , Krylon , Dupli-Color..... and many more
1st time painter, used omni single stage on the 1st one and omni base ,pearl ,clear on the 2nd, using a tp tools turbine. 1st ones been on the truck for 6 years and holding up great, 2nd one I just shot . Like said before start with the cheap stuff then work up.
Just one guys opinion.Those fancy muilti coat car show paint jobs may not be as long lived as "factory" car colors.If your car lives indoors under a cover the life of the paint will be longer than if its outdoors a lot.The fancy show paint is often put on knowing that its only going to be there 2,or 3 show seasons then removed for something even more brilliant.