Imron

Does anyone know why I hate Imron?

Don't know. I never met her....

Because she's hard to get rid of?

The paint. for me it's cracking on my front bumper? Painted 25 years ago...

Did I win a prize?

I use to spray a lot of my cars with Imron Centari back in the day, it was the "best" product then and I was always happy with the results.
I painted my 68 442 with Imron Centari code 99L black, which is the blackest black you could mix. It looked great for the few years I had it after I painted it, I can't really speak to durability, I never kept cars that long back then, my ADHD would kick in and I always wanted something new and different.

I painted my 73 Mach 1 a white Emron in the early 80's. Got free materials since the painter worked for a beer distributor repairing truck bodies.
Standing by it, it was so bright you would need to squint your eyes in the sun and was pretty durable...

Will e was right on the mark. I'm guessing my 73 was resprayed sometime in the 80's with the stuff. Took me about six hours with 60 grit on my da for just the upper quarter. Now on to the driver's side and roof. Luckily doors, fenders, deck lid and hood are new.

I remember that it was like an epoxy, it took a lot just to cut it when wet sanding as well.

I recall that Imron was designed for airplanes back in the day. The manufacturer recommended an air system respirator which most shops then didn't have. We used it on a dirt late model and even after a few years with all the mud / clay it held up well.

Back in the early 70s it was THE paint to use for anything special. Very costly. And as I recall very toxic if used without a respirator. I shot one car with it, and had another car repainted using it later on.

I had my 74 Oldsmobile convertible sprayed with it in 1987 and had the car for 22 years after that and still look good.

We used it on ice boxes you see at convenience stores. One color "white" then when one came back with damage we had to sand blast the crap off. Stopped using it and went back to Centari without hardener.

Hi there Mr. Rush,

Yes, i think i do!

My Australian experience should be very similar to the US one.

I started my four year auto spray painting apprenticeship back in 1976. Back then when it came to refinishing autos, acrylic lacquer and single stage air dry enamels were the go to products that we used. At that time acrylic lacquers had taken over the use of nitro lacquers, as the acrylics had proven to be a much more superior paint than the old nitro lacquers in every way.

In regards to 2 pack auto paints, i saw the very first introduction of them for the refinish trade, starting in 1977. At the time , Dulux was the first to introduce a clear isocyanate additive to the single stage air dry auto enamel. It was called, Enamel Add. Using this new additive, was a major breakthrough as a refinish coating, as it offered up a very durable finish compared to acrylic and air dry enamels. However, having a fairly slow flash off/setup time,the one big problem it had was, when the paint film had dried and cured properly, which took around 48 hours of air dry, not bake dry,the paint film became extremely hard, to the extent where it could not be fine sanded and cut or polished. (believe me, i went through hell with that problem, but discovered that if you moved in and denibbed and cut and polished your panels within a 12 hour period off the gun, the uncured paint film was soft enough to work on)

As paint chemistry goes, paint companies and paint chemists can fool around as to what level or degree of hardness or softness the 2 pack paint film ends up being. After this initial trial introduction period back in 1977 of Enamel Add, Dulux quickly realized that their Enamel Add product had to be upgraded to a softer cured out paint film. Thus, for the refinish trade, the age of urethanes were born. Other paint companies around the World had this teething problem with paint film hardness issues as well.

We did not get the Imron brand out here in Oz, as i recall, but it sounds very much like the situation i have described above. Once the paint companies fined tuned this hardness problem, the whole game settled down leading to today's 2pack urethanes which are quite consistent across the brand board.The hardness that Imron was, (like the first Dulux Enamel Add product) would have been more suited to industrial applications such as bus fleets etc. I suspect that brand was targeted for more of an industrial usage, not car refinish applications.

On the other hand, industrial Epoxy enamels were around back then also. Chemically, they cured out to be incredible hard paint films, which offered up fantastic chip resistance, and great all 'round durability. In this respect, they were a more durable paint coating than the urethane family of coatings.You could pound a hammer on a cured epoxy film without marking the paint. Epoxies were the darling of the industrial coatings world, but because of their incredible cured out hardness properties, they were unsuitable for the auto refinish trade.

See this link for a good history on auto paint films throughout the ages ............................................

https://www.paintandpanel.com.au/article/CC0417D0-F40F-11DD-9FB40050568C22C9

Hope that helps,

Greg. (pro auto painter)

tpj71mach said:

I use to spray a lot of my cars with Imron Centari back in the day, it was the "best" product then and I was always happy with the results.
I painted my 68 442 with Imron Centari code 99L black, which is the blackest black you could mix. It looked great for the few years I had it after I painted it, I can't really speak to durability, I never kept cars that long back then, my ADHD would kick in and I always wanted something new and different.

Click to expand...

Hi tpj,

In more detail, do you recall how the paint finish performed in regards to fine sanding plus cutting and polishing back in the day when you used that brand/ product?

EG - did you find it very hard to sand, plus machine cut and polish the paint film? Sounds like that was the case.

Greg.

Austin Vert said:

Hi tpj,

In more detail, do you recall how the paint finish performed in regards to fine sanding plus cutting and polishing back in the day when you used that brand/ product?

EG - did you find it very hard to sand, plus machine cut and polish the paint film? Sounds like that was the case.

Greg.

Click to expand...

As I recall it was hard to sand but as far as cutting and polishing they were pretty normal. I remember it just seeming the wet sanding took a lot of effort and it wasn't too long after painting where I would expect it to be so cured, my black 442 was the worst. I felt the same way with other cars I sprayed with Imron but the black car I remember how much work it was many years later. Back in the day of single stage paint, you couldn't beat the look and shine once it was done though, so I thought it was worth it. Also, that is the only paint my best friends older brother ( a professional painter) would spray in his home shop that he let my friend and I use if he didn't have a job going. It is hard to use a product other than the one the guy letting you use his stuff recommends, LOL.

The stuff is definitely tuff and last forever. I've used my da with 60 grit and an Eastwood SCT with the stripping drum. Whoever painted it last put it on thick, like a 32nd thick. Green sanding dust everywhere, good respirator is a must.

Imron was an isocyanate containing paint. The first exposure can cause untoward respiratory reactions in sensitive people and the second exposure can be exponentially worse, anaphylaxis, and possibly death. Spraying it requires an airline-suppled respirator. Sanding it requires an approved (P100 rated) respirator. Do yourself a favor and get a quality respirator rated for toxic dusts. HEPA rated, preferably.

Retired2014 said:

Imron was an isocyanate containing paint. The first exposure can cause untoward respiratory reactions in sensitive people and the second exposure can be exponentially worse, anaphylaxis, and possibly death. Spraying it requires an airline-suppled respirator. Sanding it requires an approved (P100 rated) respirator. Do yourself a favor and get a quality respirator rated for toxic dusts. HEPA rated, preferably.

Click to expand...

Hi and thanks for the feedback,

Backs up what i suspected about this paint being an industrial coatings product, and so, not really suited for the auto refinish/ oem factory auto lines.

Greg

Pics of roof and quarter panel. Everything behind the feint line on roof appears to be Imron. PO painted roof silver to look like vinyl top I'm guessing. The silver comes off pretty easy compared to the green.