23/10/2026
We are seeing that some people wonder why paint fails in the harsh Australian environment and some people seem to not understand the cause so for anyone who wonders why and don’t want to be mislead by inexperienced or unprofessional shops. Here’s a brief breakdown on the cause and the OEM recommendations
Most vehicles are manufactured overseas to the OEM standards of those countries, recommended film build varies from manufacturer to manufacturer but Australia itself has its own OEM recommendations of clear falling between 50-60 microns to withstand Australian UV and environmental conditions. This information is readily available to all paint shops who bother to research it.
The cause of overloading clear in a single application to attempt to prevent UV will cause the product to dry or not dry correctly which can lead to product failure, this is why Australia has its own tested and proven processes and recommendations in the paint industry.
You do have the option of having what’s called a flow coat done, which is applying the recommended coats of clear according to the TDS(technical data sheet) this process usually involves applying 2 coats, allowing it to cure and resanding the clear and applying another 2 coats. Flow coats are used to obtain more depth in a colour or used on show cars to be able to sand flat and give a glass finish. Usually a very expensive undertaking.
You also have specific clears on the market that are designed for what’s called stacking. Stacking is the process of applying multiple coats of clear after long flash off times. This process is not warranted by clears that are not designed for the process.
When a shop tells you that they do not follow Australian OEM recommendations, that’s an instant red flag and you are investing your money into work that cannot be warranted and most likely will be paying someone unqualified to undertake work on your pride and joy for it to fail in a couple years. Like every trade, you have the dodgy tradies and then you have the professionals! be careful who you use, you wouldn’t use a unqualified electrician to work on your meter box so avoid using unqualified automotive repairers
We proudly follow Australian OEM recommended processes and procedures that meet the required standards of insurance, warranty and the manufacturer. We do this to provide the highest possible quality work that has the lowest possible chance of failure and we work closely with paint manufactures to make sure our training, processes and methods meet their requirements
The most common cause for paint failure from shop work is a lack of knowledge which usually results in clear being under or over applied and leading to product failure. We frequently measure jobs for our customers with a tool designed to gauge paint thickness called a micrometer. This tool allows us to see if the vehicle has had previous work done, whether it has low readings or whether it has too much. We use this tool primarily to guarantee the work we do meets industry standard to deliver good results and prevent ourselves being liable for painting over poor quality previous work. All cars must fall below 500 microns and above 100 as an example. If we paint over a panel that exceeds 500 microns of paint, we cannot provide warranty due to a most likely costly future failure. We also use it to fine tune our results to meet industry standards
Paint systems used in Australia have technical data sheets for a reason and much smarter people than a painter wrote them haha any painter who says he knows better than a chemist who formulates these products should 100% not be trusted! All the information about the Australian recommendations and cause and effects are readily available on Google for anyone to see. By no means is this post intended to give the impression we are the best haha quite the opposite really, we strive to be average and consistent to provide reasonable work for the money we are paid and we work with our customers to the standard they expect
