Today customers get to choose between various types of paints. However, not everybody genuinely understands the difference between them until they receive the actual bill.
Indeed, for most people, color is a color, and once it is done seamlessly, fits customers` expectations, and simply looks good on the vehicle, it may seem that there is no difference whether water or solvent-based paint is used.
In this article, we decided to go over the pros and cons of waterborne paint to help our customers make an informed decision and get what truly works best for their vehicles.
What is the idea of waterborne paint?
As you might have understood from the very name, waterborne paint is the one that has water for solvent in it.
Since water is naturally more available and less environmentally hazardous, some people believe waterborne paint will soon replace solvent-based solutions.
However, this type of paint has its pros and cons one should consider carefully before making the decision. Even with all its benefits, waterborne paint may not work for your particular car or even alter its safety in certain cases.
Pros of waterborne paint
- An eco-friendly solution. Waterborne paint is the #1 choice for most people because it is considered the most sustainable and eco-friendly solution. However, once you take a closer look at the whole manufacture process, the fact that it requires a lot of energy and produces emissions in the air, waterborne paint is indeed not that “green” as you might have thought;
- Adaptability. Waterborne paint can be sprayed directly on any surface in any environment and demonstrate perfect adhesion. However, at the same time, professionals often point out that a humid climate appears pretty problematic for waterborne paint, and it will take much more time to dry;
- Easy to repair. Indeed, if there is any surface damage, the waterborne coating is the easiest one to fix. However, it also gets damaged much easier in the first place;
- Good supporting performance. Waterborne paint is easy to match with other products and can be covered with solvent-based coatings with no problem.
Cons of waterborne paint
- It is expensive. While waterborne paint technically performs and looks the same as the solvent-based one, it will cost more and have pretty specific requirements for the painting process, which will inevitably reflect in your final bill;
- Pretty demanding coverage. Even though manufacturers claim that waterborne paint works perfectly in any environment, it still requires some advanced surface cleaning and preparations;
- It won’t work on any surface. The biggest problem with waterborne products is that they will cause corrosion on most metal materials;
- Weaker water resistance. As we have already mentioned, the humidity will make your waterborne paint dry much longer. Moreover, it also has a pretty poor water-resistant quality and therefore requires some thorough solvent-based coating. Otherwise, it loses its looks pretty fast.
As you see, even though waterborne paint is becoming more and more popular today due to its eco-friendly image, it still has certain disadvantages that can make you think twice before making the final decision.
Contact OHS Body Shop today and get a comprehensive consultation about various painting options and solutions we provide. Our branches are allocated all over Montana’s flathead in Kalispell, Whitefish, Columbia Falls and Polson.
Here, our professionals will be happy to answer all your questions and find a painting option perfect for your vehicle and match your expectations and local environment.