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MG TD TF 1500 - Best Paint for TD (US)

Getting ready to strip off the 40 year old paint from the TD. It was painted in Dupont Imeron and has cracked significantly over the last few years.

Want to try and get the TD back to close to what it was when it left the factory. With that thought in mind, are there any paints in the US that would be similar to the paints used in the 1950's?

Would rather not use a two step with clear as I find these a bit to shiny for my liking.
Bruce Cunha

Single stage urethanes will likely be the way to go. I chose to go with a two stage because I wanted added protection of the base color. Lacquers do not hold up well and will begin to fail after a few years. Urethanes or imrons are more pliable and will take some abuse without chipping or cracking after the lacquer is falling apart. IMHO
W. A. Chasser Jr

Since my TF is being painted XKE Jaguar Regency Red, I chose 2 stage urethane paint. Even thought it will be mechanically correct, the color scheme is not. MG Red is original. PJ
Paul S Jennings

Isn't the shine dependent on the final polishing. I have had one of my doors trial sprayed with water based paint and then two stage lacquer to check the colour. After wet sanding with 1200 grit paper and then machine polishing with a compound call Faracella the finish looks superb - nice and smooth but not with a wet look gloss. I hope that when finished I will be able to work on the engine without putting scratches in the paint on the wings. I have found that with cellulose even coarse weave overalls with scratch the surface quite badly.


Jan T
J Targosz

Bruce,
To answer your question, yes. The cars were painted with straight enamel and lacquer paints. Lacquer is hard to find, but straight enamel is still avalable, and cheap.
Most paint suppliers have enamel and acrylic enamel in their inexpensive fleet work lines of paint.
If you have to go through the time and expense of painting your car, I would recomend using a single stage urethane paint. The paint is far more durable, stable and easier to paint.
Enamel or acrylic enamel will fade, color shift, scratch and age.
Just my $.02.
David
D. Sander

To take the mystery out of this:

* Single stage means the color and its sheen come in one step.

* Two stage means that first the color coat is applied, cured and then the shine is applied via a top clear coat.

No MG left the factory with two stage paint. This was done prior to 1980 only for certain metallic paints (what we called metalflake), and then later for just about everything. A few people dabbled in clear coats early to try to get a deep look to the paint, but I generally thought it looked like plastic.

You cannot color sand and polish a two stage paint easily and I would not try, because ultimately you could find yourself removing or thinning the gloss coat, while in a single stage paint job you are just lessening the amount of paint on the car.

The amount of paint is regulated by how many times the spray gun went over the panel, not by the number of stages. So when you know you are going to remove paint, you put a lot on before. Some lacquers can have twenty or more 'coats' of paint, generally applied at one or perhaps two times at most. The second because they are color sanded with 800-1000 grit to find any blemishes. You can do this with single stage paints too.

Another thing about two stage is the look. It has a wet look (notice I did not say shiny per say) that looks like it has water over color. Single stage looks more solid and you cannot see a 'coating' when glanced at an angle.

If you are going to go the route that Jan mentioned, where you use 1200 or 1500 grit paper and then polish to make your finish absolutely perfect, get ready to spend a lot of money. That is a very laborious task and will result in an amazing looking finish, but it will actually ruin the durability of the paint.

Modern paints are generally assumed to be applied and then not touched afterwards. They form a skin on top and that actually helps protect the paint. Using fine grit polish and sandpaper destroys that skin. But who needs that protection on a TD/TF? We don't allow our cars outside for very long at a time. :-)

So to net it out: If you want an original look, with some orange peel and small texture without the wet look, go with a single stage paint and don't polish it afterwards.

To be honest my car is acrylic lacquer, block color sanded with 1500 grit and polished. Some of the paint has been on the car for 40+ years and looks like it was painted yesterday. But its a garage queen and has not seen the light of day for much of that time wrapped up in its bubble. If I was driving the car regularly it would be painted in one of the urethane single stages.
Christopher Couper

Bruce: I painted my first car 30 yrs. ago with acylric enamel and it still looks new,but been inside most of the time. I did the TD with PPG concept. it came out very good, but you have to have a fresh air breather or the stuff will kill you. By the way, I just bought an MGA from a friend estate. It was restored and then put in storage for 12 yrs. Redoing the brakes now. You will miss our beautiful winters back here.
Dave Rezin
DL Rezin

Christopher--

Thanks much for the "street wisdom" about this. I have always had the dilemma about painting--I am usually interested in using single-stage paints, but not sure what to do about finishing them--wet sanding, buffing, whatever. It seems that many of the single-stage urethanes are OK with some final sanding or buffing. I can't imagine that I would be able to paint without leaving some flaws that I'd like to sand or buff out. What would you suggest in that case?
S Maas

Have some states outlawed certain types of paints?
John Quilter (TD8986)

John

The EPA has cracked down on Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC's) for body shops and most are now using water based paints. This switch may require a different spray booth and this may also be why paint and painting prices have risen so much.

It appears you can still use most paints but buying them may be difficult. For instance, we painted my MGB in Dupont Centari. To buy the paint we had to tell the paint shop we were painting an aircraft. They are not supposed to sell it for automotive use, but that is California.

Dave. After that last winter, here is hoping yours is a bit milder this year. My brother and I have done a number of cars and have airline respirators in our paint booth so we can paint pretty much any paint. Acrylic lacquer is still available and that is an option we are exploring.

I have 40 years on the current TD paint job. The Dupont Imiron held up well for many years, but in the last 3 or 4, has started to crack badly. Unsure exactly why.

Bruce Cunha

S Maas: This is one reason, the environmental being the other major one, that you should probably have a professional shop do the painting (says me who paints in his driveway).

It's near impossible to not only paint without some dust etc. of getting in the paint but technique is a lot of that. You cannot learn that overnight.

Then there is the 'skin' discussion above.

But having said that if you do want to go the route of sanding/polishing you will find a lot of great articles on the internet with a bit of searching. Basically you need to wet sand the final finish with a flat or rubber block with 1500 paper until it is completely flat and no defects or shiny bits are left. Then you polish it with a progressive set of polishes to get it to shine. See your local paint store for the set (usually 3 to four stages were the 4th stage is really not a polish per say).
Christopher Couper

This thread was discussed between 26/10/2014 and 27/10/2014

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