So what is the best paint meter on the market today? I've used an elcometer 311 for years and it works great, with the limitation that it doesn't measure aluminum or fiberglass. Can anyone recommend the best gauge made today that measures all surfaces?

I'm aware of the following brands currently available:
Elcometer
Defelsko
FenderSplendor
Quanix
Ultrasonic

Thanks,
Daniel

 

we carry the Defelsko and its a very easy clean unit to use.

http://detailersdomain.com/index.asp...ROD&ProdID=116

Use the promo code and get 10% off

 

Thanks, but that thing is about double the cost of the others--what does it do the others don't?

 

dvh, I'm just offering it out. We sell a good amount its got a great warrantly and its one of the more popular units out there.

Does your meter read mils and microns as well?

 

Phil -
Maybe you can help out with this question...
Why would the average enthusiast detailer need a paint thickness gauge, how does it benefit you?
Thanks,
Ben

 

if you are using a rotary or if you are wetsanding it can help you a great deal.

you can measure how much paint/clear you are taking off to correct your paint, I guess this would be the extreme enthusiast

 

The average DIY detailer isn't going to need a paint gauge. The gauge is handy for body shop guys and professional detailers. Most DIY detailer shouldn't be using a rotary in my opinion. I use the PosiTest DFT and like the conversion between mils and microns. It also flips the number reading around for easier legibility on verticle surfaces. It measures both ferrious and non ferrious metals. The DFT Combo automatically detects the surface. If it's carbon fiber or fiberglass, it will register nothing. It's lightweight and handy in size. Another perk is it comes with swatches of different thicknesses to show clients when explaining how much paint is on the car.

 

That still doesn't explain how it's any better. Perhaps you can elaborate...

 

Thanks MoeMistry for the explanation. It sounds like it is a tool for the professionals.

 

most others only measure steel, this one measure steel and aluminium. It also reads in mils/microns (most others do to) It uses the same softwar/design as teh 1500 dollar model. It simply has a .03 accracy versus .01 accuracry. That equates to needing to measureover something 50 mils to get it off .1 mil.

It is quick easy and zero's out very well. You can see mine any time you want DVH you know where to find me. a gauge that measures all 3 will be 3k plus. the hardware to measure plastic is a bit different. buy a specific plastic meter it will be far cheaper. also many of the "chinese" made meters are not as accurate as they claim. ETG-II and delfesco are about the only two i would trust

 

Thanks, I appreciate it. So there are none that measure on fiberglass for the $500k range?

 

Delfesko makes the 200, which is a fiberglass non metal PDM for 1700 or so, then you will need the one phil linked above.

http://www.autopaintgage.com/auto-paint-measurement.htm

talk to phil he actually gets a pretty decent price on them from what i remember. I ordered mine about 2 months before he started carring them. FWIW i did a PPI on a 355f1 today for a guy wanting to know the condition of the paint.

 

I find it very useful for detailing because I work on a lot of black single stage (early to mid '90's era vehicles) and it lets me confirm whether there is any paint work and if so the depth of paint on repainted areas. On single stage it also allows me to verify how much exits when I start and how much paint I've removed when I'm wet sanding. I don't like to go below 3 mils when wet or color sanding.

I had another detailer over just the other day and were were about to touch up and wet sand a couple spots on a very high end vehicle, and I pulled out the meter and showed him that someone had previously cut or wet-sanded the spot because the meter was reading very low thickness in the spot. You would have never known this without using a meter!!

I also own a car dealership, which the meter comes in very valuable for! I buy most of my cars from private parties and many are original owners. If they say the car is all original paint work, and I discover it is not, the meter proves to the owner beyond an arguable doubt that the car has paint work and even shows right where any bondo spots exist. This has come in very useful many, many times!

 

so how does the meter tell you how much clear is on the car? doesnt it just give you the total thickness of the paint + clear?

 

it does only give you the total thickness. But with exp you begin to understand how much paint to expect on each brand through the model years. With that ifo you can make an educated guess as to how much clear you have to work with.

most cars have 1.5-2.0 mils of clear. Some have less some have more. Most clears also contain uv inhibitors in the top .5 mils. So you are really limited to the top .5 mils on many cars.