Understanding Your Car's Paint

When buying, metallic paint costs more than solid, which raises the question: are there different kinds of paint, and how do they differ? Most drivers know far less about paint than they think.

Car paint divides into solid, metallic and pearlescent. Besides appearance, paint protects against corrosion, rust, temperature extremes, soiling and impact. It is not a single coat like furniture lacquer: it is built up from a phosphate layer, an electrocoat layer, a primer surfacer, a colour coat and a clear coat. The phosphate and electrocoat layers form the primer; the colour and clear coats form the topcoat.

Solid paint is single-colour pigment in the colour coat with no metallic flake. It is the most economical and easiest to repair, but shows scratches and swirls most readily.

Metallic paint adds aluminium flakes to the colour coat, which reflect light and give depth. It hides fine scratches better and looks richer, at a higher price and with slightly harder colour matching.

Pearlescent paint uses mica flakes coated with metal oxide, producing a colour shift depending on the angle and light. It is the most expensive and the hardest to match in repair.