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Is the GM white on the first-gens single stage?


digitaloutsider
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Like the title says. I'm going to be heavily detailing the Lumina this spring and I'm curious as to whether or not the paint is SS or BC/CC. I know Ford and Toyota were really good for using SS paint back in the late 80's/early 90's and I wondered if GM did the same. Does anyone have any idea?

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Like the title says. I'm going to be heavily detailing the Lumina this spring and I'm curious as to whether or not the paint is SS or BC/CC. I know Ford and Toyota were really good for using SS paint back in the late 80's/early 90's and I wondered if GM did the same. Does anyone have any idea?

 

i have no idea.

 

but whats the difference/whats better?

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It will make a difference on what he can do with the paint...if it's not clearcoat, he can be a bit more agressive in polishing, since he won't be destroying the clearcoat. Basecoat/clearcoat looks great, but once you remove the clearcoat, the paint will self-destruct in short order, as the basecoat is water based, and acids in the air will etch and destroy it in short order without the protection of the clearcoat.

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Like the title says. I'm going to be heavily detailing the Lumina this spring and I'm curious as to whether or not the paint is SS or BC/CC. I know Ford and Toyota were really good for using SS paint back in the late 80's/early 90's and I wondered if GM did the same. Does anyone have any idea?

 

 

My dads 1994 Supreme is BC CC

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It will make a difference on what he can do with the paint...if it's not clearcoat, he can be a bit more agressive in polishing, since he won't be destroying the clearcoat. Basecoat/clearcoat looks great, but once you remove the clearcoat, the paint will self-destruct in short order, as the basecoat is water based, and acids in the air will etch and destroy it in short order without the protection of the clearcoat.

 

SS is single stage right? and are you saying that SS doesnt have any clear coat on it?

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Try rubbing a little bit of rubbing compound in an inconspicuous location and see if there is any colour that comes up on your cloth. If yes...then it is SS. If no, then it would be BC/CC

 

Just for reference though....my white 88 was BC/CC and so was my white 89 (repainted with SS though)

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I am pretty sure your rpo decal that says your paint code will indicate this:

 

SS or BC/CC that may appear before the paint code

 

check there Shaun tell us your findings if not there compnine may help you on this.

 

 

 

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I thought gm painted all w-body cars with base/clear. just not a very good coat of clear. tgps have factory 2 stage for sure, I know mine is peeling.

 

the white cars I have seen peel look gray underneath so I would guess that is the primer under some single stage, or some white base coat that oxidized to gray. I painted my hood with 2 stage though and it looks close.

 

My 88 is not peeling anywhere I have seen so I cant tell you.

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Yeah, I don't know if GM has every had single stage paint...at least for a very long time. My '94 Cutlass had clear cuz it was peeling off the hood in the corner.

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  • 6 years later...

The cut off for single stage paint must have been around the mid eighties as in that time frame some colours were available in single stage and base clear for the same carlines from the factory I suspect 87 was the phase in year but I may be off a year .All w cars were base clear from the factory

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All I know is that whatever it is it's total crap if it was shot by a machine in the early '90's. I see plenty of GM's of that vintage with white paint flaking off. Mine unfortunately is one of those cars that fell victim to being sprayed by the new high tech machines of the era.

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All I know is that whatever it is it's total crap if it was shot by a machine in the early '90's. I see plenty of GM's of that vintage with white paint flaking off. Mine unfortunately is one of those cars that fell victim to being sprayed by the new high tech machines of the era.

 

Machine sprayed or not, the bad primer that was used is what causes paint to flake off badly on them. Besides, most 1993's that started with good paint usually are suffering from clearcoat failure anyway at this point unless they were garage kept.

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Machine sprayed or not, the bad primer that was used is what causes paint to flake off badly on them. Besides, most 1993's that started with good paint usually are suffering from clearcoat failure anyway at this point unless they were garage kept.

 

So the primer was the weak point in the whole process...

It sucks that the white vehicles have to go through this at all. If better materials/techniques were used it every white vehcile would have been better off and it would save me the heartache of seeing my car look so obscenely weathered.

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GM actually collects samples and studies them to see how they held up over the years. My Brother in law was one of the people who supplied them about 10 years ago. He used to scrap a lot of cars and he would cut a section out of the roof and write the vehicle info on the back.

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GM actually collects samples and studies them to see how they held up over the years. My Brother in law was one of the people who supplied them about 10 years ago. He used to scrap a lot of cars and he would cut a section out of the roof and write the vehicle info on the back.

 

That's actually interesting to know. Never would have figured that any car company would be interested in paint samples off their older cars. Guess it's all part of improving the process.

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