Single stage vs BC/CC solid red
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 228
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Single stage vs BC/CC solid red
Normally I'd go straight for BC/CC in this day and age but a recent problem with solid red painted car is making me consider single stage again. The care in question appears to have failing red pigment underneath the clear coat. I've never seen this before. Usually the clear begins to fail and peel first, but in this case the clear is still fine. It's impossible to polish out the fading pinkish spots appearing because its trapped under the clear.
Since a repaint is in the cards, I began to think about the old lacquer days of early GM paints. Granted, I'd be using modern urethane single stage in theory, but if the single stage started to fade out, it could be brought back with a buffer. It would take more upkeep naturally vs BC/CC, but it could be maintained. I'm I thinking about this right or is BC/CC still the way to go? The car in question is a sunny daily driver a gets about 7 hours of sun during the workday.
Since a repaint is in the cards, I began to think about the old lacquer days of early GM paints. Granted, I'd be using modern urethane single stage in theory, but if the single stage started to fade out, it could be brought back with a buffer. It would take more upkeep naturally vs BC/CC, but it could be maintained. I'm I thinking about this right or is BC/CC still the way to go? The car in question is a sunny daily driver a gets about 7 hours of sun during the workday.
Racer
Joined: Aug 2024
Posts: 276
Likes: 171
From: Pikes Peak region Colorado
2025 C3 of the Year Finalist - Modified
BC/CC IMO is much better way to go. Example would be if you had to repair the one of the front fenders you would do the repairs , prime and prep the fender and spot in the base and clear coat the fender up to the top style line and polish it in for a seamless repair.
While possible with single stage it is much more difficult to blend into the panel you are refinishing and often requires the entire panel to be painted.
BC/CC lacquer is much easier to spot in and blend into or within the panel especially on a recent repaint, original lacquers is not so much.
From personal experience my frame off 74 had a custom worked but stock looking rear bumper that was bolted on. Some lady was not paying attention and nailed the back of my car at about 15mph or so. Broke the rear bumper, cracked rt 1/4 panel. After repairs was able to refinish with BC/CC urethane by spotting in damaged areas then clear coating the back half of vehicle for an seamless repair.
Just for conversation purposes when Ms got out of her car and we were looking at the damages she exclaimed " Oh it doesn't look bad, it looks like you need a little bumper thingy" My reply was " You need to wait in your car until the cops get here."
While possible with single stage it is much more difficult to blend into the panel you are refinishing and often requires the entire panel to be painted.
BC/CC lacquer is much easier to spot in and blend into or within the panel especially on a recent repaint, original lacquers is not so much.
From personal experience my frame off 74 had a custom worked but stock looking rear bumper that was bolted on. Some lady was not paying attention and nailed the back of my car at about 15mph or so. Broke the rear bumper, cracked rt 1/4 panel. After repairs was able to refinish with BC/CC urethane by spotting in damaged areas then clear coating the back half of vehicle for an seamless repair.
Just for conversation purposes when Ms got out of her car and we were looking at the damages she exclaimed " Oh it doesn't look bad, it looks like you need a little bumper thingy" My reply was " You need to wait in your car until the cops get here."
Safety Car
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 3,691
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From: WI
I wonder if there was some overhardened bondo under those areas of the OP's red paint which lead to the splotchiness of the original color?? Was a good urethane "Sealer" used under the paint prior to applying the basecoat? IDT it would have mattered what system was used, ...the color differences are probably due to some substrate issues, unless there is light shining in the garage just so....in those areas only.
If it were me, I would sand off as much of the old paint as possible. That's a lot of work for sure. Just piling on more paint brings it's own set of problems. So get as much off and get a good base.... 400 grit is a good grit to spray on. If you were great at painting single-stage and had your own dust-free spray booth then I'd say, ok SS might be ok. But since you probably don't have a booth and don't spray a lot of single-stage, BC-CC allows a painter to make repairs, buff, fix boogers and get it right. Whereas SS doesn't. So I would spray B-C myself.
The other issue is red tends to oxidize quickly, esp when cut and buffed. A couple coats of clears helps prevent that. The downfall is it takes a lot more work to do the BC-CC system than a single stage.
If it were me, I would sand off as much of the old paint as possible. That's a lot of work for sure. Just piling on more paint brings it's own set of problems. So get as much off and get a good base.... 400 grit is a good grit to spray on. If you were great at painting single-stage and had your own dust-free spray booth then I'd say, ok SS might be ok. But since you probably don't have a booth and don't spray a lot of single-stage, BC-CC allows a painter to make repairs, buff, fix boogers and get it right. Whereas SS doesn't. So I would spray B-C myself.
The other issue is red tends to oxidize quickly, esp when cut and buffed. A couple coats of clears helps prevent that. The downfall is it takes a lot more work to do the BC-CC system than a single stage.
