When you’re prepared to paint your vehicle or motorcycle you will find their are lots of options available for paint. In order to make an educated decision you need to know a little background to choose the best kind of color for the situation. Auto paint colors can generally be classified as either custom paint or OEM (original equipment manufacturer) and each type has its own pros and cons which we I’ll discuss once we proceed.
O.E.M. (OEM) Auto Paint
OEM auto paint is definitely an industry expression used basically to describe the paint that comes standard on a vehicle when it’s purchased new. By definition, this is actually the paint that the auto manufacturers (ie Ford, Chrysler, GM etc) apply on their manufacturing lines as the car is made. As the chemistry from the paint may not be the same as an amount be accessible to repaint your car (OEM paint is generally baked on at relatively high temperatures while repair paints must be made to cure/dry at ambient temperatures), the color availability is actually exactly the same since palettes often have to be repainted to repair damage. There are literally more than 75,000 OEM colors in the market most of which were developed a lot more than 100 years ago as the automotive industry was born. However, while there are plenty of color possibilities the overall appeal or “uniqueness” of those colors is somewhat limited.
When designing, selecting, and applying paint schemes auto manufacturers are limited within the application processes you can use to color vehicles about the assembly lines which limits them to more traditional solid, metallic, and pearlescent colors. Typically assembly line is not conducive to multiple passes of color painting effectively limiting their application to more opaque basecoat/clearcoat finishes that can be applied in one pass then stoved as they roll on the assembly line. Many of these colors are very nice colors without doubt but don’t offer the looks of cutting edge custom paints. Furthermore, as you may love the colour of your vehicle, it is likely that a large number of other people are driving a vehicle painted exactly the same as yours which leaves less room for individuality.
Custom Paint
You may realise of custom paints as essentially all auto paint colors that are not available as an OEM color. Since custom paints aren’t applied as part of an assembly line operation, they often can take benefit of unique processes and also the latest in raw materials to create colors which are more attractive and inspiring than automotive OEM colors. In fact, throughout the evolution of auto paint colors OEM auto manufacturers have invested a large amount of cash in the research of products and techniques that will permit these phones achieve custom like effects on the fixed assembly line operations.