Paint thickness

What’s a good paint meter to buy

 

Hello,

I recently purchased a CAYSYS DPM-816 Pro coating thickness gauge meter from Amazon to check the paint film thickness on my 458. It’s a small handheld unit that will work on ferrous and non-ferrous surfaces. (If you buy a meter, make sure it will work on non-ferrous surfaces like on your 458, as some will not read aluminum).

I have used it only once so far on my 458. The front clip and some other surfaces have PPF on them which will affect the reading since this unit measures total thickness, not the individual layers on top of the substrate.

I am planning to get a high end pro unit that will read each layer over the substrate, such as primer, base coat and clear coat. These units cost several thousand dollars each, so you have to *really* want to know more detailed information about your paint to justify the expense.

The readings will vary based on the place you measure on the car, as the paint may vary at different locations on the car from the factory. These small units are great for a quick check on a possible new/used car purchase to check if areas have been repaired/repainted.

My 458 checked out and appeared to have all factory original paint surfaces, which verified what I was told when I bought it. The areas with the PPF were also measured and when the thickness of the PPF was discounted, the paint was in line with the rest of the uncovered part of the car.

I will find my paint thickness log and post what my readings were, I did them several months ago... Cheers! Image Unavailable, Please Login


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Got to get my hands in one of those!

Kind regards,

Nuno.

 

Hello again,

I checked my thickness log and the readings measured 5.9mils to 6.5mils on average. I tested about fifty areas... There were a couple of areas where it was 5.6mils and a couple where it was 6.8mils and others in between. So they varied a bit, but this is typical for factory paint jobs I have been told.

The PPF areas were of course much thicker but if you know your PPF thickness, you can just subtract it and get a more accurate reading. I hope this helps.

P.S. The manufacturer is CAR-SYS, not CAY-SYS... Fat fingers and tiny keyboards, blimey! BTW, this unit is not manufactured in China, it’s made in Russia. Cheers!


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Hello,

Did your meter come with thickness gauges to check the units calibration? My model has three different materials of verified thickness (I double checked with a Mitutoyo micrometer) and the unit is accurate.

There may be a way to recalibrate your unit or check it on a material of verified thickness like a piece of thin material over a flat piece of steel or aluminum, or something similar. Just thinking out loud here, as I’m not familiar with your unit.

Also, I have no affiliation to the CAR-SYS folks... Cheers!


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