Paint-Free Gel Coat

[adesilva]

Hello Everyone,

I am new here but fascinated by the 818 but the only thing which I am really interested in is the claim of the paint free gel coat which would allow us to save a lot of money not needing to paint the car.

My first question was in relation to colors, Dave was nice enough to say that it would be possible but they may need to limit the number of colors due to needing multiple molds.

In all honesty I have never heard of this before and I am wondering if it will actually be able to hold up with regular use. They are releasing a commuter model which I would imagine they expect to get some good mileage on it so will that gel coat be able to hold up well enough without starting to look badly compared to a prepped and painted model?

Is it something that is meant to be temporary to simply delay painting the car for a year or so (allowing the owner to still drive while saving to paint) or designed as a true alternative that you could own this for years and never paint the car.

Also does anyone happen to have any pictures of cars (or any item) created with this method? or should I expect it to look sort of like the gtm when someone receives that? I just personally wouldn't want to put hundreds of hours into a vehicle and complete it only to have it look unfinished. We all know that if paint is involved the 15k completion price would be far gone.

Thanks a lot everyone, I am sorry for not knowing much, I have been looking at FF's for years (I live in MA) and always wanted to build one (or have a pro build one for me if i could afford it). I am on the lower scale of the builders knowledge scale so I will be one of the better tests to if someone without a lot of experience can build this thing :)

[Oppenheimer]

The gel-coat would presumably look a lot like that being delivered with the current Mk4 Roadster bodies. This is a new technology, using the gel-coat as a finish coat.FFR is paving new ground here. So some of your questions don't have answers yet. But yes, as I understand it, the intention is the gel-coat should hold up to regular use as well as paint. Its not meant to be temporary.

How long will it last? Well if it lasts as long as paint would have, in my view, mission accomplished. If you got 10 years out of a paint job (just pulling a number out of air), then had to incur the cost of repaint (or live with fading paint, etc), and equally got 10 years out of gel-coat, at the end of the 10 years, either way the cost to renew is the same. Paint it.

But you can still paint the car is you want. With much less bodywork needed, since the gel-coat body is already so straight & smooth. So if the colors aren't what you want, or doesn't look 'finished' enough to you, you may want to paint it. If paint puts your budget out of reach, well its not like there are lots of other kits out there that don't need paint.

Just an FYI, those that attended the open house, and saw the finished gel-coat examples on display, said it looked pretty amazing.

[Rockraven]

Gel coat is extremely durable... go check out some 20-30 year old fiberglass boats. It does fade over time, but as long as you store your car out of the sun it should last almost forever. There are gelcoat kits available to fix any repairs you might need.

[D2W]

FFR isn't exactly inventing the wheel with paint free gel coat. Boats have been that way for years, smooth, easy to maintain (lots of products available to maintain a nice surface). Though they do have the advantage of sitting in cool water so air pockets aren't that big of a deal. Some brands of kit cars also come with a gel coat body ready to drive. I've personally seen a 356 speedster that was black gel coat from the 90's that wasn't perfectly smooth but it was a good 10 foot driver. The best I've seen was an Ultima GTR. Incredible for only gel coat.

One thing I don't know is can gel coat be color sanded and buffed if it's not smooth?

[adesilva]

Thanks for all the quick responses everyone!

I think what will most likely end up happening is I will stick with the paint free gel coat for awhile but eventually switch to painting it... either way gives me time to think of a good color to go with :)

[jontallon]

The paint-free gel coat is a big positive in my book. The Westfield (Lotus 7 style) cars have done this for a while. As an example, look at the build blogs here to see how it looks in yellow:

http://www.flyinmiata.com/westfield/

Seems like a pretty nice finish...

[kitcarj]

In the past (15-20yrs ago) I was checking into a kitcar that used this process. I don't remember which one but they put on a thick layer of clear coat before putting the color coat on.

[Twinspool]

Buell motorcycles have been using this for years.

http://www2.dupont.com/Surlyn/en_US/uses_apps/buell_motorcycles.html

[mekeys]

Go look at some fiberglass boats..

[adesilva]

You guys might want to take a look at this too.

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150237591757336.326600.169610262335

"Gel-coat vs. paint job. #51 is paint and #85 is sanded/polished gel coat body"

[jimgood]

I think it really comes down to whether you want a specific color or not and how much perfection you're looking for in the finish. I don't know if you can get gel coat to look as good as paint, but if your intent is to win car shows...

For a daily driver and/or track car, I think the gel coat is the best thing since sliced bread, as long as I can get white. I hate red and black. The former is too attention grabbing and the latter shows every flaw and spec of dirt.

[Niburu]

I think having something close to Subaru's WRX Blue would be a no brainer.
http://www.autoparts101.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/2002-Subaru-WRX-Blue-Front-Left-View.jpg

[riptide motorsport]

My mind is still seeing yelllow a la GTM gen II

[crackedcornish]

I think having something close to Subaru's WRX Blue would be a no brainer.
http://www.autoparts101.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/2002-Subaru-WRX-Blue-Front-Left-View.jpg

+1 ;)
http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s147/crackedcornish/01ad1714.jpg

[2KWIK4U]

My mind is still seeing yelllow a la GTM gen II


You were talking about yellow in another thread, you must really like it. Trying to send brain wave messages? :)

[Cooluser23]

Aren't boats using paint free gel coat?

I've washed my friends boat before, feels similar to the touch as paint, and is just as easy to clean after it gets dirty.

I assume one would just be stuck with solid colors, as opposed to metallic, but I'm sure boat owners could chime in and clarify.

[305mouse]

You could always vinyl wrap the car too. A lot cheaper than paint and it'll help protect the gel coat

[Cooluser23]

You could always vinyl wrap the car too. A lot cheaper than paint and it'll help protect the gel coat And it would allow for custom designs. If you look at the Local Motors Rally Fighter (http://www.local-motors.com/rallyFighter.php?p=techSpecs), you'll notice that it can be wrapped to a customer's individual tastes. The LM community even helps design the wraps in competitions:

http://www.local-motors.com/competition.php?c=41

http://www.local-motors.com/assets/CCS_39_D002.jpg
http://www.local-motors.com/competition.php?c=39

http://www.local-motors.com/competition.php?c=38

Custom car skins competition (http://www.local-motors.com/competition.php?c=17)

http://www.local-motors.com/assets/mood.jpg
http://www.local-motors.com/competition.php?c=13

etc... You get the idea.

[crackedcornish]

And it would allow for custom designs. If you look at the Local Motors Rally Fighter (http://www.local-motors.com/rallyFighter.php?p=techSpecs), you'll notice that it can be wrapped to a customer's individual tastes. The LM community even helps design the wraps in competitions:

http://www.local-motors.com/competition.php?c=41

http://www.local-motors.com/assets/CCS_39_D002.jpg
http://www.local-motors.com/competition.php?c=39

http://www.local-motors.com/competition.php?c=38

Custom car skins competition (http://www.local-motors.com/competition.php?c=17)

http://www.local-motors.com/assets/mood.jpg
http://www.local-motors.com/competition.php?c=13

etc... You get the idea.

I seem to recall this idea being discussed before...it was shot down for being to expensive and heavy if I remember correctly

[305mouse]

I could get my Saab 92x wrapped in a solid color locally with a premium product for $1k. A lot less than a great paint job. Just an option for anyone who doesn't like the color or two that the gel coat comes in. Probably won't be a big selection due to the whole seperate mold issue.

[Cooluser23]

The vinyl wrap "sticker" being heavy? Seriously, how much weight would a wrap add? Besides, no one is forcing people to wrap it. One can have the car in bare gel coated panels. I rather have some protection of the fiberglass. I also have screen protectors on my smart phones. I rather scratch something cheap and removable, than the actual item, but that's just me.

[crackedcornish]

The vinyl wrap "sticker" being heavy? Seriously, how much weight would a wrap add? Besides, no one is forcing people to wrap it. One can have the car in bare gel coated panels. I rather have some protection of the fiberglass. I also have screen protectors on my smart phones. I rather scratch something cheap and removable, than the actual item, but that's just me.

I'm not saying it was a good, or bad idea...I'm just saying it had already been discussed and if you're interested in what was said, you'll have to dig around for it;)