Probby Posted April 1 Share Posted April 1 Hi folks Does anyone know what type of paint the factory paint is? Curious to know whether it would have been a base/clear system or a celluose type finish where its a gloss colour. Car is '96 and red if that makes a difference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rider Posted April 2 Share Posted April 2 The car paint isn't cellulose. We know that for two reasons, thinners don't reactivate the paint and there is a clear coat which is something you never see on top of a gloss oil based cellulose paint. The 90's were before the era of water based paints so its probably safe to assume the original paint would be acrylic with a clear coat lacquer finish. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Probby Posted April 2 Author Share Posted April 2 So from what I've been reading (and from what my polishing cloth suggests!) the flat colours were a mix of clear/base and single stage. Metallics were clear/base. Certainly the panels which have not been painted on this car appear to be single stage, when polishing my car cloth quickly turns red. Also the paint polishes very easily by hand. Not something a reasonably modern clear/base system would do in my experience. Colour codes also suggest this - Super Red comes in two flavours, one appears to be used with a clear/base system - the other on its own. The plot thickens Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burna Posted April 4 Share Posted April 4 On 4/2/2024 at 11:39 AM, rider said: The car paint isn't cellulose. We know that for two reasons, thinners don't reactivate the paint and there is a clear coat which is something you never see on top of a gloss oil based cellulose paint. The 90's were before the era of water based paints so its probably safe to assume the original paint would be acrylic with a clear coat lacquer finish. As I understood, as I was told many years ago, is that Black Supras weren't lacquered, so if you see panels with lacquer on you can safely presume it has had fresh paint since factory. Not sure on any other colours, but I bet the case was the same for all the non metallic Supras. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rider Posted April 4 Share Posted April 4 You can gloss up acrylic paint by adding a medium to it, effectively a varnish, to then spray as one coat. With an acrylic paint once it has dried out it is near impossible to reactivate so doesn't lift with polish. So it seems the OP could be polishing off cellulose paint which wouldn't be a factory applied paint choice in the 1990's but may well have still been a body shop choice in the 1990's especially with old school sprayers who grew up with cellulose. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Probby Posted April 6 Author Share Posted April 6 Well, I'm non the wiser, each panel appears to do something different. I think the doors and the boot lid are untouched and they don't appear to bleed any colour. Popped to my local paint shop and chatted with them, the say the 3L2 super red only has one variant, was only for the Supra and is a base/clear system. So maybe I have just uncovered the many, many paint jobs this car appears to have had I've got a paint depth gauge somewhere. Be interested to see how deep it is in parts. And what colour actual 3L2 comes out as vs whatever the skirts are painted as! Thanks again all Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.