Types of paint and a question about finishes.

[IT Cowboy]

I was going to put this in the paint forum but I thought it would get better visibility and responses here.

I am looking at a 72 C10 that is yellow and I spoke to the owner last evening and he told me about the truck. He was telling me that the truck was repainted at some time and they used a paint that is very hard and resistant to rock chips (urethane or acrylic? IDK). He was saying the person that sold him the truck explained that the finishes at the time were just not as deep and shiny as todays finishes and they had a slight bit of an orange peel to them. I will try to verify when it was re-painted and with what.

I know, not too much information here but my question is this an excuse for a possible dull and worn paintjob or a plausible story

[Willie Makeit]

orange peel is a result of poor settings on the gun, not the product being sprayed thru it

[72c20customcamper]

Most likely Imron paint it was an industrial type paint . And yes it would have some orange peel to it as it was sprayed on the thicker side so it was mostly used in solid colors . We used to paint cement trucks with it some real nasty paint .

You will always get orange peel in paint never seen a paint sprayed that flowed as smooth as a cut and buffed paint . Yes the gun settings may acerbate it . To get an authentic replication of our trucks original paint there will be orange peel

[1969stepside]

if it is not as deep and shinney they could have sprayed it with a single stage paint. a single stage has the paint hardner and the clear all in one. not as shiney a base clear has a base color layer and a gloss layer over it to make it shine. and yes orange peel is caused bu compresser settings and not the product

[1970cstblazer]

Modern Base/clear paints are glossier, but have that dipped in plastic appearance. I can tell the difference between them quite easily. The factory single stage paints had a slight texture, or orange peel unless color sanded and buffed smooth. Some of the best shine can come from hand rubbed acrylic lacquer, but the lacquer is not all that durable. It's fine for the pampered show queens some of these trucks have become.

[72c20customcamper]

Single stage is much thicker than B/C paints and has UV inhibitors in the paint base has no UV protection and needs to be coated with UV clear . Single stage is usually a two to three coat deal .

This is single stage with metallic Saddle Fawn poly

[HO455]

Most likely it was painted with a single stage paint. As mentioned by 72c20customcamper Imron was a popular brand of paint that has a higher chip resistance that other single stage paints. That type of paint is still in use today (Although I believe the Imron brand name is gone.) for commercial vehicles. I painted my Burban with PPG's version back in 2016.

Any orange peel is a result of how the paint was applied. Orange peel is very common in OE multiple stage paint jobs but it's not normally noticeable as it is in the base coat and not the clear coat. As long as there is sufficient paint thickness the orange peel can be buffed out. The single stage paint on my Burban was sprayed out without orange peel.

The same applies to dull paint as long as there is sufficient paint thickness it can be buffed and the shine restored.

Here's the Burban I mentioned.

[LS short box]

Best way to find out if the paint is single stage or base/clear is find a spot on the truck that won't be noticeable and hit it with a piece of fairly fine sand paper. If the sanding dust is the color of the truck it's most likely a single stage of some sort. If the sanding dust is kind of white in color its most likely base/clear.
The other thing to consider if its base/clear and you want to sand out orange peel be really careful because you don't know how much clear is on the truck. If you sand thru the clear and into the base that is bad.