Transtar Paint Opinions

[skidd]

I'm in the beginning stages of a full In-Garage DIY body and Paint of my mk4. I've never sprayed a car before, but have done basic body work in the past. I'm just about done with the gaps and about to move onto Rage. I'm doing a 3 color job. BMW gray (472), Black Stripes and a bright silver pin-stripes.

In the mean time, I'm trying to plan out all the stages, especially Paint. After reading many a thread, I was of the opinion I wanted to shoot Sherwin Williams Dimensions. I'm looking for a decent reasonably low-cost paint that I can be happy with shooting in my garage, and that I won't cry over the money spent if I find I have to re-do it for some reason. I went to 2 local paint supply stores in town today (not a lot to chose from here). One that does PPG and the other does Sherwin Williams and Transtar.

The PPG guy was pretty great.. thought he pushed me hard towards the deltron line instead of the shop-line paint. He gave me a quote of about $1400 for everything I'd need for Base, Stripes and Clear. I should have asked him to quote me on the ShopLine brand too, cuz $1400 is a bit higher than I had planned.

The other shop was full of some pretty nice guys, more than willing to offer as much advice as I could absorb. They even had a local custom car guy in the office at the time that just kept offering up tid-bits. These guys sell Sherwin Williams (dimension and 7000) also has a mid-level line by Transtar. When I told him what I was doing, he said the Dimension line would be fine, but this Transtar mid-level stuff is their bread-and-butter to most of the shops they service in the area. He sure made it sound like it's way better than the Dimension paint, but below the high-end 7000-ultra. A nice happy medium for what I was doing.

The kicker was the price. $1000 for...
- gal of 2k primer (Euro Classic)
- 2k sealer,
- gal of base color (MB)
- quart of stripe color (MD)
- pint of pin-stripe color (MB)
- 2qts of clear (Euro Kwik)
and all the reducers and activators needed for it all.

Keep in mind.. My goals are pretty simple. DY Garage Paint Job. My car is a driver, not a show-princess. I even commute to work in it. I want it to look good, but I don't care if I never win a car-show contest. I've read STL-Scotts, Kleiners, sroninsonx and others thread dozzens of times, so I'm pretty confident I can pull it all off. What ever paint I go with, I just need it to be pretty forgiving for a Newb... and pretty forgiving on my bank-account.

Any thoughts on this Transtar stuff?

[dpariso]

FYI- I'm current owner of STL- Scotts Cobra. And, after 10 yrs since he painted it and 13K miles..., it still looks great.

[Avalanche325]

I painted my own car, first time ever, in my garage, and did black with silver stripes.

DO NOT sell yourself short! You can get show quality in your garage. You just have to buff a little more from not having a real booth. (I am going to brag here, because you need to know) My 3 local Cobra buddies all had theirs done professionally and freely admit that I have the best paint job. I have been asked multiple times at cruise-ins, who did my paint by people looking for someone to do their car.

Here is what I attribute my success to:
1. Da Bat and Kleiner 's advice, posts, and the time DaBat spent on the phone with me.
2. Quality products. I used PPG Deltron. Quality goes to sandpaper, tape, everything.
3. I worked cheap, so I could afford to spend extra time.
4. This book - https://www.amazon.com/Paint-Your-Sh.../dp/0760332754
It really goes over panel fit and flow. A lot of cars miss the flow part.

I think the higher end paint gives you a little margin. It also holds up better. It generally has better UV protection and hardeners. The pros know where you can cut a little here and there. But I don't, so I stayed top end.

I shot my doors. Had my gun set wrong, FREAKED OUT, sanded them down, and called DaBat. He helped me figure out the issue. When it tells you the pressure to set your gun to, that means nozzle pressure, not inlet. You have to magically know that what is on the inlet gauge = xx psi at the tip! (These paint sniffers, i'll tell you) So, just a small redo and a change of underwear.

PLEASE look in a proper respirator or even better something like a HobbyAir system. That is what I used. Modern paint is EVIL.

I used a DeVillbizz FLG - 4 with multiple tips. I shot everything from Slick Sand to clear with one gun. You have to clean it like it will used for brain surgery after EVERY shoot.

YOU CAN DO IT! And you can get a high quality result. Set your sights high!

[Jeff Kleiner]

I shoot PPG sealers and bases along with 5 Star clear so can't offer anything on the Sherwin Williams other than to say I wouldn't be afraid to use it. STL-Scott and I talked a lot while he was doing his car with it. In the PPG lines most of the time I'm using Omni Plus/Shop Line Plus (they are the same product with the only difference being that only their Platinum distributors can sell the Shop Line). If the color warrants I step up to Deltron to get better coverage &/or more depth of color (for example the old standby Guardsman Blue or most silvers). I use Evercoat Slick Sand for my high build---you'll put down at least 2 gallons. The SS can serve as sealer if your base can go over that light of a ground coat. If I need something darker, or have a few burn throughs on the Slick Sand, I hit it with MP23* urethane sealer in the appropriate shade. I see that you're showing 2 quarts of clear (which at 2:1=3 quarts sprayable) ---you're going to want a full gallon (1.5 gallons sprayable). $1,000 for materials is actually towards the low end; I'm usually in the ~$1,400-1,600 range depending on colors...unless you get into something over the top like the one I did a couple months ago where the base alone was >$2,200/gallon

Good luck and keep us posted!

Jeff

[skidd]

thanks for the words of advice guys. The likes of SRP , and Kleiner are the reason I'm not afraid of doing this myself.

Hey Jeff... should i just shoot the "shop line" from the PPG guy and be done with it? Perhaps order a gallon of that 5-star clear you talk about (read a thread somewhere where you said how much you liked it).
I'm willing to bet I'd be in about the same price range as that Transtar stuff.

.. or.. do I just stop being a freakin' cheap-skate.. and splurge for the Deltron? Add the primer and sealer.. and I'll be in the $1800 range or so. Honestly, more than I planned to spend.. but.. money well spent?

P.S.. I'm totally stoked doing the body work right now. Honestly, I hate body work. What little I've done in the past, I didn't love it. This time is a bit different.. since this car is my dream car. I'm at the stage where the gaps are all a decent 3/16, and I'm embarking on the dreaded drivers door. I don't love how much filler it's taking to raise the lower front, but it sure feels good to see it get to body level!

[Jeff Kleiner]

It looks like that BMW 472 is a medium gray...I think you'd get good coverage from Shop Line Plus (Or Omni Plus) without having to step up to Deltron if you put it over a G7 shaded MP237 sealer. Price out Shop Line Plus for the main & pinstripe colors and see where you wind up (the black can be plain ol' Omni or Shop Line). The 5 Star "Xtreme Kleerkote" #5125 is actually rather inexpensive, like $200 for a gallon+2 quarts of activator.

You can avoid loading mud up on the lower corner of the driver's door if you add a thick 3/8" flat washer between the hinge and the lower forward door stud then work on hinge and body adjustment---body pushes all the way in in front of the door and pulls out about an inch in front of the rear wheel:



ALL CREDIT FOR THIS TIP GOES TO MY BUDDY PROFESSOR MILLER

Cheers,
Jeff
jaybody4.JPG

[j.miller]

[QUOTE=skidd;350783]thanks for the words of advice guys. The likes of SRP , and Kleiner are the reason I'm not afraid of doing this myself.




…………………………………………………………...I'm waiting...………………………………………………………..really...…………………… ……………………………………………..REALLY !!! k I'm over it. The lesser lines of paint will be just fine for a complete. The low lines have trouble color matching factory colors(a whole other lesson). Any brand name paint will be 5% of the challenge .The other 95 is your ability. For a low ball, down and dirty, cheap arse , yo mama even says you ugly paint job,,,,,,by all means, use Kleiners method ( I am already so sorry I said that) (but I'm not deleting it , am I!). All kidding aside,,,, 5 Star Extreme Clear is the shizzy whizzy (that means good) as long as you are not in a state that grinds paint mfg into the ground . 5 Star in CA is a "NO GO" altered formula) …..Hey, just saw you are working on the Driver door. I'll be in the shop today iffin ya wanna chat (have a talk). (I know a few tricks......batcave 951 676 0191

[skidd]

da Bat gets his own category... . Thanks to you.. I always remember to have plenty of beer on hand! Nothing worse than not having a beer after a day of sanding.

[srobinsonx2]

Excited to see the progress and final product. Did the paint in the garage thing. It was a lot work, learned a lot, and had fun. Even got some private coaching sessions from "da Bat". My Baby isn't perfect but I am proud of her and did it myself. Im in SA so holler if you want to get together. I probably can't offer much valuable advice. But, if you are looking for smart ellic comments, obvious statements, and generally distracting observations, then I am your man.

Keep us posted.