Components of car, motorcycle, bicycle paints...

To discern what differentiates, but above all what car paint, motorcycle paint and bike paint is, let's take a look at the composition of paint in general. It is the result of a simple mixture, quite similar for the different preparations of varnishes or car paints.

Whether it is intended to paint an artist's painting, a frame, a Ferrari, a piece of furniture, a blender, or even an illustration, a paint ultimately always contains these same three types of ingredients ; that is to say a binder or medium, additives and pigments. These basic components of all paints are complementary and each has its role.

The composition of car paints

The resin, also called "binder" is the base of the paint, and its role is to bind together the different elements and to solidify the product once dry. The pigments represent a share of between 5 and 20% ; without them the paint would be colorless.
Pigments include color pigments such as tints and dyes and there are also synthetic mother-of-pearl or metal pigments

The composition of car paint today is essentially made with resins from the vast family of acrylics. This conception of automotive paints is hardly done with cellulosic or alkyd resins anymore. Note that there are water-based, solvent-based or even polyurethane acrylics. Each resin has different properties, gripping qualities, resistance qualities, different drying qualities. There are countless types of paints, from watercolors, fine art oils, alkyds, acrylics, polyurethanes, epoxies, polyesters.

We therefore differentiate between paint in a liquid state and paint in a dry state. Some paints use resins that dry with air by evaporation, others use resins that dry only by baking, and still others use resins that catalyze with a hardener by reaction. Drying is both a drying out and a hardening of the resin during which the cells of the resin touch and weld together. This is the phenomenon of coalescence.

The composition of solvent-based paints

There are two main families : water-based paints, and solvent-based paints. Here we will talk about the composition of solvent-based paints. The solvents are derived from hydrocarbons, and show a strong power to dilute resins and pigments.

Solvent is one of the main ingredients in paint. In solvent-based paints, the solvent dilutes and serves to lower the viscosity level of the resin and pigments. Its role is above all to keep the paint in a non-dry state. It is destined to disappear completely, by evaporation, once the paint has been applied, during the drying phase.

A solvent-based paint generally contains various solvents such as xylene, toluene, ethyl acetate, and others. These solvent-based components allow much faster evaporation than water and allow the use of professional formulation families.
Solvent-based products have two major drawbacks : environmental pollution and safety constraints for the user because they are harmful.

Water-soluble “acrylic” paints

There are countless acrylic water-soluble paints, mainly in decoration, construction, art... there is even water-based car paint. Aqueous paints have water as their main component and diluent. They have the major advantage of being harmless to health. In the world of automotive refinishing and refinishing, they were considered until recently to be less resistant, less fine, and slower drying. However, today with the arrival of new water-soluble paint technologies for bodywork, performance is achieved that equals or surpasses other paints. Water-based paints show VOC* levels below 20 g/L
* Volatile Organic Compounds

The composition of paint pigments

Let's move on to the composition of paint pigments : pigments are basically always delivered in powder form : they are differentiated from pigment pastes, which are powders of pigments dispersed in a solvent after grinding, as used in the medium body paint. Whether natural or synthetic, mother-of-pearl, metal or mineral, it is intended to color. In the world of manufacturer colors or custom paint on motorcycles, there is a very wide variety of pigments, the prices of which can range from 5 euros per kilo to several thousand euros per kilogram.

Car paint brands
History of car paint
Types of paint