What makes a base coat good or bad

Jkmorgan75

Promoted Users
Hi everyone, I am finally to the base/clear stage after countless hours perfecting the body on my 68 mustang fastback (bought in 1990 as my first car). I will have used all SPI products except the basecoat. After seeing Wanda recommend on this site, I bought a gallon and 1/2 of Wimbledon white of the Wanda base.

This got me thinking, what makes a good or bad basecoat? I havent really found a straight answer. With all of the work I have put in, should I have chosen a “higher end” base? Would I be able to see a difference in the end?

I don’t mind spending more considering I’ll have this car as long as I am still breathing. Wimbledon white is a solid color creamy off-white, so far from a fancy color. I have been shooting for “show quality”, so I want to know I am not compromising with the base. FYI, I’ll be using universal clear on top. Any thought? thanks
 
Wanda is used in my shop on about 75% of time on collision jobs and happy with it and SPI clears on top. A friend just did a 72 Nova with Wanda base and is outstanding. White in general have poor coverage. Please post some pics.
 
Texasking, thank you for the reply. This site has helped me tremendously and I have seen Wanda recommended enough to feel confident that it wouldn’t be a bad choice.

I think my question stems from the fact that I was shocked how little It cost compared to some of the bigger names, and not understanding why would I spend 3x that amount on something else. Obviously I won’t get a warranty, but I am not getting that with an other brand either, so other that wasn’t a concern.

What I dont understand generally speaking is how does a bad base show up in the final product. Is it less durable, less uniform, more likely to have adhesion problems etc. I am not implying Wanda is bad, I just generally don’t know how I would know if I had a bad base or not. Some things I have read imply that using a poor quality base will show in the end, I just don’t know how.

El Toro,

thanks for the reply. Unfortunately the best pic I have of the whole car isn’t great and is rather old at this point. I will take some more and post them in the restoration section
DB8937DD-06F3-47BE-A81A-6386E7703DCE.jpeg
 
A few things:
--pigment grind. Finer pigment grinds have deeper color and better coverage.
--quality of the polyol. A high quality polyol allows for a very long recoating/clearing period as long as car is kept clean and out of UV.
--overall coverage and solids. If you've sprayed Barry's white, you'd know it's like Elmers glue. Two coats of it completely covered a very dark blue I sprayed over years ago. I always do a third just in case coat.
--quality of metallic coverage and spread.

All things I've learned from Barry over the years, if something has changed or I'm wrong, hopefully he will correct.

I used Prospray on my 67 which was highly recommended at the time. Wanda is always recommended here and my go to the last several years has been Automotive Art Motobase. Have sprayed several factory colors for late model cars with it, and as I don't have a toner bank, they were very good/close matches right out of the can, and good coverage and hide.

Though if you go with DuPont or PPG brand, it gives your car 25 extra hp.
 
Thanks everyone for the responses. From what I am reading, it seems like most of the quality really only shows up on the use ability of the product. The extra cost is just marketing and customer service/warranty. ...and an extra 25hp of course.

I think I read too much from the “you get what you pay for” crowd on other sites. I am glad I didn’t spend the $$$ I was quoted for dbc.

On a side note, the store didn’t know the base could be activated. Do those of you who use Wanda prefer to activate? Also with the 2:1 do you think 1.5 gal (2.25gal rts) will do? I have to paint everything that takes body color. Thanks again
 
i have had a wanda machine in my shop now, geez it has to be 7-8 years now. 1/2 of all the work i have ever done is with wanda. prior to that was diamont which was 3x the price and i honestly like wanda better. keep in mind that wanda was at one point sikken's top of the line base. it was the original autobase before the autobase+. rather than ditching it , they just made it their lower end line and pulled all warranty and support for it. if you ask a akzo rep a question about it, they are not even allowed to answer you lol.
 
Well my buddy is a national akzo rep and he told me that. Im sure they had to tweak something but overall thats it….thats what im told.
 
Jim C got me using Wanda and yes i understand from Brazil but they copied the old Auto Base???? But under the Akzo brand
 
I have no idea. I know they bought the company years ago but not sure what that means for the base formulation. Did they keep the original Wanda formulation, did they just end up using the name, who knows. I dont know where my friend got the info or if the info he got was 100 correct. He has worked for them his entire life and is retiring next year. All i can say is that is what i was told.
 
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