A little bit of forward planning.

I'll be giving my Charlie and a kit-car a complete respray in the not too distant future (er, once I buy a compressor, gun and paint...) and also hope to respray the wings and bonnet of my Spec. I'm trying to become better informed about the various types of paint out there. There's tons of info on t'net, but I'm really looking for opinions based on practical experience - what have peeps actually used (or have seen being used) and what where the pros and cons of each.

I know a reasonable bit about the basics - eg: 2-pack is probably the best, but I won't be using it because I don't want to die (or I don't plan to invest in the air-breathing kit needed) - and I have resprayed a couple of cars in the past with results I was happy with (that was with cellulose paint).

Any opinions on the following:?

Jenolite Re-paint enamel. (I know nothing about this other that what I've read on t'net.

Cellulose - is this still (legally) available - I have read that it will only be supplied for use on 30-year old plus vehicles? Initially my preferred option as it's something I'm familiar with.

Water-based - sounds attractive in theory, but it needs a clear top-coat (not necessarily a problem) which is usually Acrylic. (And why does the 'thinner' for this paint cost so much - isn't it just, er, water?! I guess not...) And if it needs an acrylic top-coat, why not just go Acrylic all the way?

Arcylic - is this petrol-resistant (I've used aerosols of Acrylic which clearly ain't...)

I have 2 and-a-half cars to ultimately paint, and only the 'half' car needs a perfect colour match with the rest of the body - the other two are complete resprays, so only have to be 'close' to my chosen colour.

(The Charlie will be having a complete colour change, one of the vehicles has a glass-fibre body, and the other - the '89 Spec - will need the perfect colour match - Celeste Blue.)

Any thoughts/advice/hints gratefully received. Thanks

I'll reply to this as I was in exactly the same position not long ago so here goes.

2-Component paints. (2-pack)

The best modern paint choice for durability. 2 pack primer will also hide small imperfections like sanding scratches due to its high solid content so prep not as critical as with cellulose. Not for home use though, as exposure to the isocyanates it contains can cause serious health issues, like death for example. Adverse physical reactions can also be found in pets, kids, or neighbours close enough to get a whiff of it. Better left to the pro's with the right equipment.

Base and Clear

A non toxic base coat can be sprayed at home but must be covered with a clear coat within 24 hours, and the clear coat contains isocyanates as above. Non iso clears are available, but are no more durable than cellulose so the durability advantage of the base/clear system is lost.

Single stage paints.

Enamels. jenolite, tractor paint etc.

Mostly used for agricultural or plant hire type machinery. Not toxic like 2 pack, but very slow to dry. A good durable finish can be achieved but it depends on how and where you apply it.
Some folks with the patience of a saint have rollered it on, others brush it, most spray it.
The drawbacks are that it takes a while to fully dry in which time dust and debris fall into the wet paint, and it can be months before it's fully hardened so any removal of runs or subsequent applications have to wait.

Synthetic enamels.

Alkyds, closely related to house paint. Advantage - dries quicker than enamel, disadvantage - doesn't stay glossy for long, and once it's on cannot be over painted with anything but more alkyd. If you were tarting up an old banger before running it in to the ground this is the cheapest way to do it, otherwise forget it.

Cellulose.

Despite the confusion of recent years Cellulose is still legally available. The advantages are many, infinite colour range, ease of application, quick drying (15 mins or less) and a very forgiving paint should runs or orange peel occur. Mistakes can be flatted back and repainted after a couple of hours, and cellulose can be buffed up into a glass like finish.

Drawbacks - Cellulose is a very 'soft' paint nowadays, not like old cellulose which seemed harder. It chips and marks easily. Then again those chips and marks are easy to redo to keep the car looking respectable. Not as durable as the modern stuff, but equally capable of a top class finish given good surface prep beforehand.

Well, I couldn't have asked for a better reply than that, Old Nail! Many thanks - that's really useful info.

Reassuring to know that cellulose - even if not quite the one I once knew - is still available. It'll undoubtedly be my artillery of choice.

Any idea what the 'Acrylic' paint is that's commonly available in your stock aerosol cans? What's that 'based' on, and how does it compare?

Cheers again.

'Acrylic paint' is the term generally used for two pack.

However, 'Acrylic lacquer' is just another name for (or version of) the type of cellulose that they sell these days, and is mainly used in spray cans. The only difference is that it is carried in the can by a less potent medium than cellulose thinners, and it dries even softer.

Acrylic lacquer from spray cans will usually coat any type of substrate without creating a reaction with the paint below (as generations of vandals have discovered) whereas proper cellulose is quite sensitive to what paint is already on the item to be painted.

One of the things that might determine your choice of paint which you didn't mention in your post was what is on there now? You see, cellulose will only paint over cellulose, or at a push well aged and hardened enamel or 2 pack. The vehicle used to carry the pigment (cellulose thinners) is so strong that it will 're-awaken' i.e. lift and crinkle any other types of paint below it unless they are several years old.

To test if the existing paint can stand repainting with cellulose you need to get some thinners on a rag and rub it on a small part of the paint surface. If the paint colour comes off on the rag then it's cellulose, if not it's either 2 pack or base and clear, and if it crinkles it's enamel. (do it where it won't show)

If it's cellulose then all's well, even if it's old 2-pack (mine was) you'll get away with it, but if it's enamel you need to spray a barrier coat over the whole thing, after the sanding and bodywork is done but before the first primer coat. That prevents the solvent in the cellulose thinners from lifting the existing paint.

I really enjoyed painting my car, and if you do yours then you probably will too. The finish you get can be as good, or as bad as you are happy to have it, as the end results entirely depend on the work that you put in rather than the money that you spend.

You're a mine of info! I guess you simply can't beat having 'been there'...

I should be pretty safe using cellulose on my projects - two still have their original paint on them, and any bare (ie: rusty) parts will be given cellulose primer after treatment. The other car is glass-fibre and will also be 'primered' first.

Have you found your new paintwork to be completely petrol-resistant?

Thanks, Old Nail.

Yes it's petrol resistant, as I found out when filling it up for my trip to Scotland, my Nike trainers were less so. Just remember when using cellulose that the thickness of the final paint film is measured in microns not millimetres, so any imperfections that still show at the primer stage won't magically disappear when the top coat is applied. That's why good prep is essential.

As I said, even as an amateur painter, or first timer as I was you can get a showroom finish if that's what you want, all it takes is the time to make it so, and these days time is so much easier to find and spend than money.

What was the original coating on a 2cv? celulose or 2k

I'd say cellulose, but quite possibly enamel too. Old style cellulose dried harder than the stuff they sell now, and oven baked enamel is a hard wearing paint which would suit the utilitarian premise of a 2cv. Either finish would accept cellulose over it now as any original paint is at least 20 years old. The difficulty comes when a car has been touched in or resprayed as you then don't know what they used so it may react.

Like anything else, a great invention can be used wrongly to make a quick buck too, and since the motor trade know that 'shiny sells', many dealers and restorers are using the properties of two pack paint to make up for inadequate body work and prep. Mine had been given a perfunctory 'blow over' in two pack without much regard for surface preparation, as modern two pack is thick enough to cover a multitude of sins, it's the 'body filler' of the 21st century.

how very true,

im always suspicious of the shiny "resto's" but people keep buying them and rewarding the bad behaviour

Thanks again - all good stuff