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TR2/3/3A TR3 Color choice?

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Sorry... but my car was painted by the former owner and I don't know what paint he used.

Just before I purchased the car, one of the fenders sustained some damage that required repair and re-painting. In that case, the shop used Du Pont Chroma Premier Single Stage paint. I have a small can for touch-up but the Code is blank (no number given) and the Color is simply "white." But this color duplicated the color of the rest of the car ALMOST precisely (a little bit lighter in certain light).

Du Pont Chroma Premier Single Stage paint requires an activator. It may be hard to obtain if you are going to do the work youself because Du Pont says "For industrial use only by professional, trained painters. Not for sale to or use by the general public." The small can I purchased from an auto paint supplier is for "touch-up" only.

Some of these paints are so hazardous to health, etc., that if you are going to paint your car, I would strongly suggest considering having a professional (in a paint shop) do it for you. Just my two cents worth...
 
Not a problem getting the paint, I've been doing restos for quite some time and get invited to the Dupont training seminars when they come up with new products, which they have had to the last couple years. You can't get the Dupont Chroma line anymore, everbody has gone waterborne for their top of the line stuff. You can get non waterborne in their economy line "Nason", it's low VOC so it complies with the new regulations. I've been using that and quite like it, and it costs less so I can't complain.

I'll do the test sprayouts in the spring, maybe sooner and put up a pic of the two side by side so we can all see how they compare.

Thanks for all the help guys
 
Rob,

I didn't know that Dupont has stopped selling the Chroma line. My supply -- about a pint, unopened, for touch-up, should last a long time. I bought some about a year ago, but not recently. Makes sense that they would phase it out, I guess, because the Chroma is pretty tough to work with unless you are professionally equipped.

Also, Chroma was pretty expensive.

Do you prefer the waterborne or the non waterborne ("Nason") paint?

BTW: The Dupont on-line catalog advertises the following for sale: Chroma Premier Pro, 74500S, Productive Clear Coat as well as Basecoat paint. (??)
 
Perhaps they still sell the Chroma line but now it's their waterborne line, that I don't know. They stopped selling the regular urethane line where I am (west coast of Canada) a year ago. I switched to the low VOC Nason as it's the closest to what I'm used to. I haven't tried waterborne yet, you need have a lot of air movement, I don't have a downdraft booth and haven't bought the portable waterborne drying systems yet. The paint is also quite expensive so I'm in no hurry.

Chroma was very expensive but I found it easy enough to work with, I have all pro equipment except for the booth. I could put up a pic of the last one I did in chroma premier base and clear but it's a Chebby so I might burst into flames
 
Thanks, Rob. According to the on-line catalog, the Chroma line is still urethane, as far as I can tell. Perhaps the termination of this product is limited to Canada... or even California ... where such standards are more rigorous than elsewhere.

I, too, have found Chroma easy to work with (for minor touch-up work). I don't have pro equipment, but I do have some aerosol spray bottles that can be used with Chroma, the activator, and a reducer for small touch-up work on my car.

For any large job, I have to depend on the professionals at the sports car shop where I take my car.
 
Interesting that they still sell it there, I thought it was banned everywhere. I'm pretty sure California was the first to pull the plug (as usual) and we were about a year later. I was told that Dupont discontinued their urethane line altogether and only made it in the Nason line in low VOC. I went to a training session on the new Nason, apparently all the pros were having fits spraying it, especially metallics which is always harder anyway. The technique is definitely different.

Cheers
 
Wear a proper resperator and, follow the rules for surface prep, follow the rules for surface prep, follow the rules for surface prep, and you should be fine. I just had a retired employee move to So. Carolina, and he says down there the restrictions on paint purchases forbid the stores from selling paint to someone not affiliated with a know body shop. He ran his own sucessful shop here in Vermont for many years.
 
Well... I'm not sure what is going on with DuPont (or if I am missing something), but I checked the DuPont Refinishing eCatalog again and found Chroma Premier, Single Stage topcoat 3.5 VOC on sale. It seems to be a "Solventborne" technology and not a "Urethane" technolgy... and not a "waterborne" technology. Earlier I found some that was still urethane technology. But, as you say, perhaps the urethane paint has been discontinued.

I also found "Restoration Shop" AU Acrylic Urethane with Polyurethane Hardening System at TCP Global, and urethane paint at several other sites.

I don't know if these have anything in common with the Chroma Premier Single Stage paint I have...
 
I use a positive pressure fresh air system, personally I think anyone using a cartridge type mask is pushing their luck. All it takes is one iso exposure to mess you up. This isn't my first rodeo, painted a lot of cars and with all kinds of paint types. Surface prep is pretty obvious, more important is the tech sheet on each type of paint, there's a world of difference between paints and how they're mixed, flash times, etc.

The new low VOC paints are still urethane but with far less solvent is my limited understanding. I'm not a chemist so I really don't have a good grasp on the chemical technology.

In theory the paints available today should have significant lower VOC's than the Chroma SS you have Lex, but who knows, maybe they are still selling some of the older stuff where you are. I would be surprised but stranger things have happened.
 
Perhaps they are still selling the older stuff... I don't know. But I do know that beyond mixing up a few drops of Chroma SS to touch up a nick here or a scratch there is way beyond what I would try to do.
 
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