We bought a '06 Monterey Red a couple months ago and for Christmas I got the original window sticker and build sheet from the National Corvette Museum. I see a charge of $750.00 for "special paint". I'm curious as to what exactly is special paint.

 

Premium paint had a tint coat that enhanced the metallic look. C5s had several colors each year as does the C6. For 2006, it was LeMans Blue, Velocity Yellow, and Monterey Red.

 

There is nothing special about any so called Tint Coat. Just another idea to bang us over the head for more money. I am in the Auto Body business for 39 + years and I have seen my painter prepare Monterey Red for spraying and its just like any other 2 stage color. Base Coat and clear coat, thats it.
BTW, where are you from, I just traded an 06 MR A6 cpe in NY, and it ended up in GA for sale.

 

But isn't the clear coat tinted on those "special" GM colors? That wouldn't make it a clear coat, would it?

 

Std. Urethane clear is applied. I opt for a High Solid Clear when painting any high end car. There isnt any tint in the clear that is applied.

 

Wasn't atomic orange a premium color as well?

 

Yes, but it wasn't available in 2006 of course. Back then the only orange was DSOM (Daytona Sunset Orange Metallic).

 

Don't know how it is done at a body shop but in the factory they use a tinted clear coat for the special paints like JSB, MR, Mil Yellow, etc that filters out unwanted colors and makes the desired color stand out more. This isn't any big secret people from the plant have been discussing the paint process for years.

Bill

 

You would be wrong...there is a special pigment added to the paint to make it more "sparkly" than other metallic paints. It's called Xirallic and it isn't cheap, ~$500 per pound! It is small (5-25 µm) corundum crystals (aluminum oxide) coated with titanium oxide, tin and zirconium oxide.

Last year when the earthquake/tsunami hit Japan causing damage and high levels of radiation, it knocked out the only plant in the world that makes the pigment causing orders for 2011 Crystal Red and Cyber Gray to be kicked back. Jetstream Blue had already been discontinued since 2011 was the last year for it. The plant reopened after 2 months although the high levels of radiation have caused the cars using Xirallic to be more "radiant". Lol, just kidding. There was supposed to be another plant opened in Germany at the end of last year.
http://www.corvetteonline.com/news/c...e-to-disaster/

I will agree GM uses it "to bang us over the head for more money" since what they charge is out of proportion to the cost of the additive. BMW offers it as a no cost upgrade. If the Monterey Red paint you got from your painter costs the same as other paints, it likely doesn't have the "special" additive. It'll still be a metallic but it won't have the shimmering, sparkly affect of the original paint.

 

Regarding BMW, I thought that on the current M3 all metallic colors were an upgrade. Approx $500? Only white or black are no cost.