Tell Me About Lesonal

crashtech

crashtech

Combo Man & Mod
I have a rep talking about getting Lesonal in here for me. I'm not so sure it is a good move from Standox, but I am being promised a lot of color support and the Colormap in particular I always really liked. But I think what competes with Standox Basislack would be Autobase. Is Lesonal just as good? Anyone have experience with it?
 
I can't aid in this much but what amazes me is how many different base coat options people have now.. It seems like a endless list.. I've heard some weird lines recently that I have never even heard of before..
I can't even remember the name..
We don't have to many options here, I have Pro-Spray and then their are a few PPG jobbers, a Dupont jobber that won't deliver and now we have a Sherwin rep pushing from another state..
 
Well I really would have liked ProSpray, but the jobber nearest me pissed me off, so the only way I could do it is to have it shipped in, and that only makes sense if I can have a complete mixing bank and only need to order backups.
 
I like Lesonal, but you may find that the price difference between the two isn't enough to choose it over Sikkens depending on what discounts he may or may not give you.

Pro-Spray is probably the best "aftermarket" system out there. They have a good system. But Akzo's system of color docs and tools blow them away really. Akzo has a superb camera..probably the best one out there. Their variant deck system is great also. Coverage with Pro-Spray and Lesonal will be about the same. Pro-Spray really lacks just simple color documentation on some areas though. They don't even have a standard swatch of Toyota 040 but list all 100 variants in the computer..lol. I heard for a year that they were releasing thousands more swatches and never saw them. I just made the switch back to Sikkens last week. My jobber had an opportunity to get the whole system in and gave me a good deal so I went with it. Nothing against Pro-Spray though...their old car colors, especially the Mopars, are pretty dang good. I never ran into any issues with the system. Pro-Spray color software is pretty good too. Almost positive whoever deveolped it, developed the Sikkens and Lesonal color software also...a lot of similarities.

I don't know of Pro-Spray would help you, unless it was saving you a little bit of money over the Standox.

Lesonal is going to be a bit thinner than Sikkens..may take a coat more to cover. It requires no binder to mix off the bank so you can just pour a tint, reduce and spray. Sikkens needs 1 binder for basecoat. Pro-Spray has 4 different binders and you'll be using 2 in a mix, and the other two will depend on if it is a metallic or solid color. With lesonal, you can't mix single stage on the bank. Sikkens you can by switching the base binder to single stage binder and can't do metallics. You can with Pro-Spray also by using 2 other binders..they also have different silver metallics for metallic colors if you are spraying single stage metallic. Pro-Spray has a intermix color sealer/engine bay system including on the mix bank also. Sikkens has colorbuild plus for colors for sealer and primer. Lesonal only has a "value" shade system of black, gray, and white. Sikkens has an interior converter for interior parts as does Lesonal. Pro-Spray does not, but they do have codes for interior colors and you can mix as a single stage with flatener.

Just a few things I can think on the top of my head. I used Pro-Spray for a little over a year I think and previously the wanda and Sikkens before that. I'll do my best to help ya answer any questions you have...just shoot.
 
I was pretty much thinking that Lesonal would be a definite step down from Standox, but didn't know for sure. I just don't know anything about it. I think I am going to tell him it's Autobase or nothing. Autobase must have changed because it used to be base only with Autocryl being their single stage, it was all different toners back in the late 80's anyway. I used to think basecoats that could be made into single stages probably were converted enamels, but I guess I am wrong.
 
They phased out Autocryl and introduced the single stage converter. I believe they introduced this off of the utech line, where you can do the same thing. AB+ is a polyester/acrylic blend. Lesonal is closer to a polyester type base. I think the enamel conversions are the cheap way to do it, but Akzo really doesn't have a lot of cheap stuff like omni, nason, etc..

Lesonal has all the same color tools as Sikkens. I've only used Standox maybe once or twice, so I really can't comment on it for comparison. I would think your rep would let you try a few colors and stuff before you would make a decision. Afterall, the results are what sales, not the salesman talking points.
 
The thing that worries me is there is more to a basecoat than what you can tell just by spraying it. How much are AB+ toners going for? Do they have a bunch of different price tiers?
 
It all depends on what your rep or jobber sells them to you at. Surely they wouldn't be selling them to you at full retail. It isn't like Glasurit where a gallon of red costs the same as a gallon of white. There are 2 different price tiers the mixed colors fall in based off of what the toners cost. The highest price toners are the silver metallics that come in gallons. about 3 of them that are between $600-$700. Those take forever to go through because there are 4 more that are in liters are around $200 per liter. Most of the pearls are that same price. Most of the yellows on the bank are the same price as each other...same for greens...reds..etc. Your rep should be able to let you look at a price sheet so you can compare. Lesonal is generally going to be about 30% less than Sikkens.

Are you happy with the Standox as is?
 
I'm OK with Standox but they don't support me at all. I bought all the toners myself and I don't get much in the way of color documentation unless I call the jobber and beg for it. That said, their more expensive toner is about $141/liter.
 
Crash,
have you ever called Standox helpline? Give them the color code and VIN and they will find the variant.
 
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