Paint thickness gauge

[Gus]

I want to buy a paint thickness gauge. I wont need to use it much but want to check the paint on my 11 year old 182 and also use it a couple of times a year to monitor the paint after polishing.
I dont want to spend more than £50 really but have been on amazon and they have loads that look cheap and cheerful.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_s...lias=aps&field-keywords=paint+thickness+guage

Out of them, which one would you recommend.

 

[ashtons99]

I guess they will all give you a rough Idea of what primer, base and clearcoat thickness you have but that will be a combined reading of all 3 components. You will still have to go steady if you are wet sanding or using a heavy compound as once you strike through the clearcoat it's back to the paint shop. That said I've found the Mk2's seem to have quite a good thickness of clearcoat, certainly enough to get most marks out with a 3000 grit pad and work down from there.

 

[Sunglasses_Ron]

I want to buy a paint thickness gauge. I wont need to use it much but want to check the paint on my 11 year old 182 and also use it a couple of times a year to monitor the paint after polishing.
I dont want to spend more than £50 really but have been on amazon and they have loads that look cheap and cheerful.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=paint+thickness+guage

Out of them, which one would you recommend.

Gus I've got that Sealy one but haven't got round to using it yet.

I'm going to try and pop down to Ants unit this Saturday to compare readings with his proper gauge to see how it fairs with an expensive one.

I'll let you know the results

 

[imprezaworks]

@autoallure

 

[PAUL JA]

The Sealey one says accurate to 0.1mm, thats 100 microns, some paint on cars isn't that thick !!! You need a meter that reads in microns or at least 2 decimal places in millimeters and an accuracy of 0.01mm
My advice would be to buy once only and buy something decent - http://www.paintdetective.com/default.html accuracy +/- 2.5 microns

 

[Scrooge]

When was I buying mine I researched quite a bit and cheaper ones did appear to be pissing in the wind tbh

 

[Knuckles]

I guess they will all give you a rough Idea of what primer, base and clearcoat thickness you have but that will be a combined reading of all 3 components. You will still have to go steady if you are wet sanding or using a heavy compound as once you strike through the clearcoat it's back to the paint shop. That said I've found the Mk2's seem to have quite a good thickness of clearcoat, certainly enough to get most marks out with a 3000 grit pad and work down from there.

If he gets one of those, it's easy enough to work out lacquer depth from taking a reading of the panel (primer, paint and lacquer) and a reading of a door shut/engine bay etc with thin/no lacquer

 

[Chrisgti6]

If he gets one of those, it's easy enough to work out lacquer depth from taking a reading of the panel (primer, paint and lacquer) and a reading of a door shut/engine bay etc with thin/no lacquer

That's relying on the thickness of Primer/top coat being uniform across the car - which is unlikely.

 

[Knuckles]

That's relying on the thickness of Primer/top coat being uniform across the car - which is unlikely.

True, but for once in a while usage it'll give you a decent idea.