How thin is the paint really?

[BleehbleBlahble]

I measured the paint on several areas of my car tonight out of curiosity. The fiesta paint is 2.5-3.5mils. Pretty crazy. Typically 3.5-5ish or more on other vehicles. The 10 mil was on the hood where it is 3m wrapped.

 

[BleehbleBlahble]

Questioning my gauge accuracy. Seems low not sure if anyone else has done this before.

 

[Erick_V]

Actually very curious on this as I wanted to correct my paint this winter

 

[M-Sport fan]

I am not sure about just how accurately this can be measured, even by the most high tech sophisticated equipment.

But I personally have not seen the paint actually wearing through to the bare metal anywhere on my 6.5 year old car, but I do try to take care of keeping it waxed/sealed and clean (sometimes futilely, like during the current tree pollen season when the car turns green one hour or less after washing/waxing it).

I also do not use any machines at all on it, as everything must be done by hand here, so it will not 'pop and gleam' nearly as much as those who can do all 5 (or more??) steps and use the best machines.

But there is then also NO chance to 'burn through' the clear and top coats, especially given my lack of skills with said tools.

 

[TyphoonFiST]

Do you wanna know how thin their paint is? Let me tell you... I went to tape off an area where my Exs son decided to close the passenger side rear door on the seat belt buckle to paint the chipped part. Painted the chip and removed the tape and took off more paint that was near the chip NOT a part of the chip. I was like WTF......Fuck you fomoco!

 

[esp_martin]

Questioning my gauge accuracy. Seems low not sure if anyone else has done this before.

my father was a career paint process engr for FoMoCo heavy duty trucks. he bought a last gen Focus hatch pretty early in their run and when it was delivered he had a physical reaction to how bad the hood was painted. i honestly could barely tell but to his trained eye it was a glaring issue.

i remember him saying it was also a sign of how little paint they put down because a normal layer would hide most of the issue (but still be bad). i think the NA Focus and Fiesta were made at the same Mexico plant so take that for what it's worth. edit: updated with the point they were actually made at different plants.

 

[BleehbleBlahble]

Fiestas were made at the Cuautitlán, MX plant where as the Focuses were built in Wayne, MI.

 

[Clint Beastwood]

well part of the issue is the thickness of the paint, the other part is... well... it doesnt stay on the car

 

[jmrtsus]

I think it depends on the color.....my White Platinum 2016 got a small hood chip 1/8 x 1/16 inch in 2019 on the hood. Still all I have, 70K miles. It is a tri-coat and I believe it is more resilient to chipping.

 

[rallytaff]

I have the Ingot silver paint and it has spent every day (except when it gets serviced at the dealer) outside in all kinds of weather. Can't get it in my garage becuse the ramp is so steep and the car is lowered. It has survived for over 8 yrs without a blemish apart from a Fiesta decal which left its imprint in the paint because it was on the sunny side of the car when it was parked. Other than that, NO complaints.

 

[Intuit]

Can we just take them some place to have another whatever layers of clear coat added?