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My old boss in Toledo said I'd never need a paint thickness gauge for insurance work
He told me to just match the color and blend by eye, but last week a customer came back mad because their clear coat failed after six months. Now I'm looking at buying a gauge and wondering if anyone has a good budget model under $200 that actually works.
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luna55024d agoMost Upvoted
Yeah, that "blend by eye" advice is how you get comebacks. I got burned the same way early on. I use an Elcometer 345, but it's over your budget. For under $200, the Defelsko PosiTector 200 was my starter. It's basic but reads steel and aluminum okay, which is all you need for most insurance jobs. Just make sure you get one with separate probes.
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the_phoenix24d ago
My old boss in Akron swore by the "squint and spray" method too. He said micrometers were for engineers, not painters. Then we had a whole fleet of white work vans come back with peeling quarter panels. That guy's now selling used cars, and I've had a gauge for eight years. The PosiTector 200 is the one that got me through my first solo shop.
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