Duplicolor or Summit paint?

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friesza

friesza

The Machinist
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Going to try and paint car soon...was wondering how much paint I will need to sucessfully paint my 72 dart...I like the fact of the duplicolor does not have to be mixed....but the only color I like is the Dark Emerald Green Metallic.....and the no time recoat period...the summit racing color is the Sour Apple Green Metallic and requires all the reducers etc......anyone have experience with either of these?...I really need more info an the paint shop brand from duplicolor...thanks
 
I have painted with the duplicolor stuff and I PERSONALLY did not like it...BUT some people can lay that stuff down damn near like a pro paint job.

As for the summit stuff, I have not personally used it so I cant say.

When I bought my paint I was seriously considering getting the summit brand but when I priced out paint at my local paint shop...it made more sense to go that route for a better quality product.

I ended up getting a gallon of plum crazy purple,a gallon of clear,a gallon of reducer and a quart of hardener all for under $300.00

shop around locally first and see what kind of deal you can find.
 
I know that this sounds obvious but if you do use the duplicolor make sure you clear coat it. If you get lazy and don't, the paint turn out pretty flat. As usual it looks great wet but when it dries, its not too impressive. The solution is to clear it.
 
FYI, I was told by someone that works at Summit Racing there paint is made for them by Sherwin-Williiams. Don't know if thats true or if it helps but might give you something to research. good luck
 
I have painted four or five cars with the duplicolor paint , I also thinned each quart with 4 oz. of acetone it lays on smoother. It is good bang for the buck basecoat. Stay away from there clear. IF you are looking for a nice shine on a budget use finish one clear from napa auto parts it has a hell of a shine plus its great on the wallet. It is not `the best but it is a great overall clear, and its made by sherwin williams
 
I believe the material Summit and Eastwood sells is a Kirker product - relabeled. Duplicolor is lacquer based. That's why is simple and easy to use. Of the two I'd go with the Summit/Eastwood/SmartShoppers material for shine and durability. It's a urethane. The cost is on par but still less than your PPG's, Sikkens, BASF - all of which are outrageous.
 
I spent a lot of time looking at paint options and finally decided on giving the summit paint a try. I ended up going with their single stage paints. I have no painting experience and just tried to read as much as I could in books and my collection of magazine articles. I found examples of success with pretty much every brand. The real key to me seems to be the prep more than anything.

There is lots of speculation on who makes the summit paint, and I personally think it is from two different companies one for their single stage line and one for the base-clear line since none of the components interchange. It doesn't really matter to me.
I went the single stage route since I am painting everything and thought there might be some areas I might not want to bother with clear coating, but planned on clear coating everything. I also wanted to use the epoxy primer which was not part of the base-clear system and the single stage paints are cheaper.

A couple weeks ago I painted the underside and engine compartment of my Duster using 2 coats epoxy primer, 3 coats single stage plum pearl metallic, followed by 2 coats of the high solids clear. Considering I was painting in my garage and had never painted anything before, I was very pleased with the results and found the paints easy to use. I also used a Harbor Freight gun.

The only painting I had done previously was to use some PPG DP40LF epoxy to primer panels I had stripped. I figured I would never be able to afford to paint my whole car if I had to pay the high prices of the PPG paints. I really didn't notice any anything better about the PPG epoxy than the Summit.

The real test will be when I paint the outside, but based on my results so far I think I will be very pleased.
 
Low cost paint will not hold up well over time. In my auto body class the teacher showed the class why he never uses cheap paint. He painted a fender with the low cost shopline ppg base coat clear system and another with dbc 2000 the good expesive stuff and let it cure for a week. He took a razor blade to a corner of the panel painted with the shopline brand and peeled up large strips of paint off of the fender like peeling an orange. He couldnt do it with the panel painted with dbc. I would not paint my mopar with cheap paint if i planned on keeping it. Some things are worth paying for.
 
The problem with the Duplicolor paint is its a pain to cover with it and with the cost of buying the Duplicolor(I was told for my Duster,4-5 quarts color 6 coats clear) you could easily buy a good urethane base/clear system .The Duplicolor clear isnt very durable, and if you spill gas on it,it will ruin it.It comes out dull after it dries,you can buff it,but after sitting in the elements for awhile,it will start to dull out again.
 
I have painted a couple of cars with summit urethane and love it. Great color and easy to shoot. The clear lays nice. Here is how a it looks once wet sanded, cut and buffed. It is also very durable. These were both done in my garage at home. The trick to laying down a decent paint job is prep work, not mixing brands and components, clean paint environment, good and clean ventilation and compressor with a good filter and drier. This is just summit epoxy primer, urethane surfacer, single stage urethane base and urethane clear.
 

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I think I am conviced to go with the Summit brand at the least....friend used some paint shop stuff on motorcycle and in less than a month it has started to fade....even clear coated...
 
I used Summit Malibu Sunset Metallic for this car - really liked the way the base coat laid out. Did not use their clear, however. Used Nason (Dupont) clear
 

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