to use. A Fresh Coat
How Waterborne Paint Is Chang- ing the Automotive Industry Paint has long been a necessary
product in the automotive world. Customizers and aftermarket man- ufacturers are among those who require paint products to conduct business. Perhaps the most prolific painters in the automotive sector, other than OEMs, would be shops operating in the repair and refin- ish segment. These are auto-body shops that make a living on being able to paint fast, match colors per- fectly and be economical in the pro- cess.
Because volatile organic com- pounds (VOC) in paint have been recognized as bad for the environ- ment, there is change afoot that will eventually affect practically ev- eryone who paints. A number of states around the country have enacted regulations that are gradu- ally forcing shops to reduce VOC emissions. These regulations, in a nutshell, mean that American paint shops will need to use waterborne paints in order to comply.
The move to less toxic, water- based finishes is already well under way elsewhere. Waterborne paints are currently in extensive use in Eu- rope and Canada, and many OEMs now use water-based paints on their newest products. Paint manufactur- ers are also moving quickly to devel- op low-VOC primers and clear-coat products in addition to the color coats available now.
We specifically sought informa- tion about the newest technology as it stands today and what it will mean to companies that paint. The consensus among the people we talked to is that the transition to wa- terborne finish products may not be as difficult or as costly as some first supposed. In fact, the changeover may bring with it a number of ad- vantages.
Paint Formula Advancements One of the biggest areas of activi-
ty is at the paint manufacturer level, where the transition to waterborne paint has prompted paint compa- nies to develop new products from scratch. Some are now releasing second- and third-generation wa- ter-based paints.
The newest waterborne paint
from DuPont is a good example of the kinds of paints the industry will need to come up with to help shops achieve low-VOC requirements. It’s formulated with 88% less solvent but 25% more pigment. The result is a product that offers advantag- es but also requires re-educating painters. “Most other waterborne products went in the direction of trying to create a waterborne paint that was like solvent-based paint,” Christman explained. “Solvent is the old technology, and painters tend to dislike change. So many paint companies, when they cre- ated their waterborne paint, said ‘we’re going to make them like sol- vent.’ We went a different direction. “It’s a higher solids product, so it’s got more of the stuff that gets left behind when the water evaporates off. It’s a one-and-a-half coat, wet- on-wet process. Rather than hav- ing to lay down a coat of paint, let it flash, then lay down another one, let it flash—and, depending on what you’re working with, lay down four, five, six coats—with Cromax Pro, you cover in one and a half coats. And anything that doesn’t cover in one and a half coats covers in two coats.
The newest DuPont paint costs
a little more per gallon but offers the advantages of speed and bet- ter coverage, making it less costly
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“It’s much faster, which
high-volume direct repair program shops love, and you use less ma- terial,” said Harry Christman, brand manager for DuPont Refinish. “So it’s great not only for reducing the cost, but because it speeds cars through the shop, it increases the capacity of the body shop. They can sell more jobs and create more rev- enue.”
Equipment Requirements In California, most shops have
already converted to waterborne paint. In other states, many paint shops have put off the transition, in part because of cost concerns. “It’s a myth that you’ve got to buy all kinds of new equipment and put in new spray booths to convert,” Christman noted. “The truth is, they’re going to need a new gun—a stainless-steel gun, because you don’t want rust in your spray gun.”
In addition to a new paint gun,
waterborne paint does like to have large volumes of clean air to en- hance drying. “For water, the key to drying is air flow—getting air to move across the surface of the car to make it dry,” Christman said. “However, the car will also dry with- out great air flow; it just will take lon- ger. So if you’re a production shop that’s trying to move cars through, you’re going to want to put in blow- ers to get a lot of air movement to get the cars to dry super-fast. But if you’re a custom shop or a smaller shop that doesn’t have cars stacked up outside and you want to put in a small box fan to get a little air movement, that’s all it takes. The difference will be, maybe, instead of drying in 10 minutes, you’ll dry in 30 minutes. For a production shop, that’s a big deal.
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