It has been six months since our 4WD received its biggest overhaul yet – raptor paint on the whole car. During this time, the Amarok has been bush bashing and been through some decent river crossings in Victoria’s High Country.
And our 4WD has had a ridiculous amount of compliments.
People stop us in shopping centre carparks and they also tell us how much they admire the look while we’re stopped at traffic lights. We’ve also seemed to have nailed the 8-10 year old boy demographic – we overhear lots of “Look at that car Dad, it looks awesome!” So, we are pretty chuffed about that.
If you’re planning on raptor painting your entire vehicle, have a read of “Raptor Coat a whole 4WD – Everything you need to know” here on this blog. This article features everything involved with our first attempt.
I did touch base at the end of the previous blog post about some issues with the result. So now I’m going to get straight to the point of this six month review.
There has been some triumph and failure with the raptor paint.
In this raptor paint review, you’ll find more updated in-depth information on four key points:
- What’s happened to the raptor paint?
- Why did the raptor paint fail?
- What we plan to do about it?
- How you can prevent your raptor paint from failing?
- Do we still recommend raptor paint?
What’s happened to the raptor paint?
Initial durability concerns
After 30 days, we began to question the scratch resistance claim and the porosity of the paint.
Our paint job was full of scratches and was so porous that we were unable to clean off spilt car polish from the bull bar. Adam had used a foam polishing disc with a plastic polish to tidy up our head lights. A little polish spilled onto the raptor coated bull bar and it was like the polish had absorbed into the paintwork. It couldn’t be sufficiently cleaned and ended up staining the bull bar permanently.
Reaching out for advice
So we reached out to U-Pol (the owner of Raptor Coatings Australia) to get some advice. U-Pol went above and beyond with their customer service. A technician came out to us to inspect the car in person. We were not expecting that at all. Adam and the Raptor Coat technician had a good chat about the possibilities of what has happened with our paint job.
So, what went right?
After spending 50+ hours repairing all the damaged panel work on the car, it was time to begin the next stage of preparation. It took an agonising long time, we were really excited to get to the fun part – the spray job. We mixed the tintable raptor coat, automotive tint and hardener together and cleaned the spray gun between each bottle. This was all executed perfectly.
The Raptor Paint Technician confirmed we took all the correct steps with our preparations.
What went wrong?
We wanted a really fine sandpaper look and it turns out, it was probably too fine. Raptor paint is meant to flog out of the gun, but in our case, it didn’t spray out of the gun the way that it is designed to.
Why did the raptor paint fail?
- Sprayed too finely
The air pressure was set at 55psi. The professional spray gun has an adjustable nozzle which enables complete control over the volume of paint flow. This was probably set too fine.
Unfortunately, Adam can’t exactly recall how many turns of the nozzle, but it might not have been enough.
2. Product shelf life
There is no way of knowing if the products we purchased had been stored correctly or had expired. The hardener seems like the most likely culprit if this was the case. But we will never know, because the packaging and leftovers have been disposed of already.
What we plan to do about it?
We have to prepare and respray the entire 4WD.
It sucks big time. We are so bloody disappointed and to be honest, very deflated. Although the car looks amazing, it’s way too hard to keep clean and will end up looking pretty trashed very quickly – especially after hitting some more tracks in the Australian bush.
At the time of writing this, the respray process has already started. The bullbar, wheel flares, custom side steps, ute tub and the bonnet have all been resprayed in black.
Next step is mentally preparing ourselves for the fact that the rest of the vehicle needs to be resprayed. This will involve:
Having the time – it will take a full day of preparation and another day for the respray. Plus, being without the vehicle for a minimum of five days – including drying time.
Finding the space – we don’t have our own garage and air compressor, so we need to borrow the space again.
Finding the cash – while the respray will most likely cost no more than $1000. It’s still $1000 which will need to come from our savings.
How you can prevent your spray job from failing?
- Pay close attention to the instructions
- Read and watch all of the professional guides and videos on the u-pol website
- Always prepare the surface correctly.
- Always clean your gun in-between each bottle of paint.
- Don’t spray your entire 4WD in raptor coat too finely or too thickly.
OR
Pay a professional automotive shop to do the job for you.
Do we still recommend Raptor paint?
If you’re wondering if we would still recommend raptor coating a whole car, we would say… YES.
Even though it needs a respray, it still a far less expensive option to paint and protect your vehicle from the elements. And when done right, it looks amazing. It’s also a pretty awesome achievement to do it yourself.
If you’re ready to find out more, head over to raptorcoatings.com and study, study, study!
You should also subscribe to our YouTube Channel. Our raptor coat experiences will be documented for our viewers. Then you can learn about how not to do it. And then how to do it right…
If you’re planning to do your whole car, lets us know in the comments.
We’d also like your thoughts on the black bonnet, should it stay or should it go?
You’ll only find genuine reviews here on the lappingoz.com.au website. If you liked this one, here are some of our other reviews…
Hi. In the process of planning to paint my entire Nissan patrol in raptor paint I found your blog. And has been great to read. Was never planning on doing it myself , and have an experienced , professional painter I will use. However he has never done a raptor paint job before. What’s your thoughts. I know his great with standard paints. Should I look elsewhere ? Or will the instructions be enough for him. Plus your tips and advice in the blog ?
Would of a 3rd Coate on yours stopped the problems you had . ? My brother did 4 Coates on his Bull Bar. I too want a light sandpaper look ??
Hey,
Thanks for your comment. I am sure your painter will find the instructions are enough for him. A third coat would not have prevented our problem. We’ve just done it way too fine. I’ve watched some you tubers who do 2 coats normal, then finish off with a light spray from a greater distance. We’ve since resprayed our flares and bullbar and it’s a much better job. Not as fine, but the result is glossy and you can run your fingers over the job without losing skin lol. Cheers, Mia
How did you go with the spray job Leigh? If you don’t mind me asking, what is the approximate cost to have a professional spray the car, I have a GU Patrol.
Thanks for the honest review,what colour did you use? Just planning to do our sprinter.
Hey mate, We used tintable raptor, colour is VW Starlight Blue, paint code LT5U. Its actually a great colour choice and a nice difference from the standard paint colours on offer. I think thats why we get so many nice comments about it when people see it on the road. Good luck with the sprinter!
I had my toyota hiace fully painted by a so called professional. I wouldnt waste my money again. It marks far too easy. Thought it was meant to be tough. Also had a repair and he said oh its great to fix cos you just need to blend it into a panel. My repair is awful.
Now i have a stone chip on the bonnet which is practically lifting the entire painted section off.
Not sure if i just got ripped off badly or if this paint is not all its cracked up to be.
Hey, sorry to hear about your raptor paint job. To me it seems that some of surface may not have been prepared correctly and/or sprayed correctly. We’ve resprayed parts of our car and it has come up awesome. The parts we have redone are like a satin gloss finish, hardened well and less prone to permanent scratches. You could reach out to Raptor and they can possible advise on what may have happened and how to fix. Raptor were really helpful when we needed some advice.
i have always loved the way that paint looks. thinking about painting my entire RV…thoughts? colors?
Go for it, choose any colour you like. I’d probably go for a lighter colour for an RV to help keep the inside temperature down. Cheers
I have spent thousands on raptor underneath my cab when it was off and what an absolute waste of time and money, I sanded it back with 120 grit sand paper so there was plenty to grab onto. Used the raptor epoxy etch primer, left the appropriate time to cure then sprayed with black raptor to the correct ratio and thickness and it looks great, however if you scratch at it what seems fine on top will tear a large piece of paint off, and is way too brittle but not properly stuck. I have used it before with super etch primer and had a lot better results than using the Raptor primer. But it is still way too brittle and chips off in large chunks.
Raptor is the most over rated paint on the market. It is so temperamental which defeats the purpose of it, spraying a proper brand two pack system is more straight forward and lasts better. I have done a full spray with de beers two pack system with clear over the top and it was less work.
If you want this look just use a good name flat enamel with enamel hardener in it at least it doesn’t chip off in huge pieces and is easily touched up… which raptor is not, as it doesn’t stick to itself unless you sand the ass out of it before you respray any areas first then it still doesn’t stick properly.
Temperamental rubbish paint that has been marketed by the big names in 4WDing making huge money to say it’s any good. Save your money and find another option
I sprayed my Dodge with Mipa Protector which is a German sibling to Raptor. It was easy to spray
and the result was nice for a while. The car was undergoing a resto so it stayed in the garage. Then
I spilled some vinyl cleaner and wax and underbody compounds here and there. That always happens tru resto
work. Usually it is very easy to clean up with solvents like alcohol or 2k thinner. Not on this paint!
So the truth is these products are best used under the car and on bed liners as was intended first place.
Don`t get fooled , your car is going to be ugly ,in my case before it ever got out of the garage.
Ihave 45 years experience from car painting so please don`t say I did wrong!!
Hi there, thanks for sharing your experience. I’m sorry to hear that all your hard work has disappointed you.
We have resprayed parts of our Amarok with black raptor paint and it is still looking great. We will eventually redo the the blue parts but even the blue is still intact and is showing no signs of chipping or coming off and the polish we spilled has completely disappeared now. Hopefully it stays that way for a while yet.
Hey this is an amazing article and what a beautiful color!! Where did you buy the LT5U tint? I have found paint but not tint!
Hey. What is the colour code for the colour you used on this pick up?
hi guys about to do a suzuki sierra, in raptor, we are in love with the blue color you did this in, can you help us and tell us the code for the color?
Hey mate, the paint code is LT5U Volkswagen Amarok Starlight Blue. Cheers!