Transtar vs Omni base

[Phoenix]

First off im a complete noob when it comes to painting and I plan on doing my car.

Im currently making some subwoofer boxes colored to match the car color. I got spi universal clear , and for color I went for cheap stuff (Omni).

First , I didnt know I had to reduce the paint , So I sprayed pure paint (gun: Devilbiss starter line) and it was thick and dark. Then I called the guys who sold me that , and said I had to thin it. I said I had lacquer thinner , he said it was fine.

So I resprayed , but I thought the color was so-so.

So I removed all the paint , went to a real place that sells ONLY car paints and spoke to a real former bodyman. He prepped me a ready to paint can (reduced and all) of transtar. I had doupts because Ive never heard of it.

Sprayed that and it looked gorgeous , then went in with 2 coats of spi clear. Its just wow now.

Is it me or that transtar stuff looks to be a great product?

Oh and the moral is , speak to someone that knows his crap before attempting anything like this.

 

[crashtech]

You need to use the correct reducer with any product you use. Hardware store lacquer thinner is only for cleaning equipment, so it was a mistake for the first jobber to tell you that. Omni and Transtar are both second tier products, but both are fine for what you wanted to do. The only reason for the Omni to look bad was if it was mixed wrong, sprayed wrong, or the store made a mistake on the formula.

 

[Barry]

I have some transtar low VOC base in the plant I bought about a year ago, interesting stuff, it is made by a paint company in Australia, What I found is it was of good quality but needed over reduced to spray right.

 

[Phoenix]

Thanks