Can someone briefly explain to me what clear coat does? I was lead to believe that clear coating began around 1986 or so. Someone told me that ALL cars had a clear coat on them. I'm told now that that's not true, that only metallic paint colors have a clear coat and that the solid, non-metallic colors (reds, whites, blacks etc.) have no clear coat. Is that still true today?

Clearcoat is a coating without any pigment in it. Clearcoat improves the durability of paint--especially metallic paints. There are many reasons why clearcoat improves the durability of paint finishes. The main reason why is that the clearcoat places a protective layer between the pigments and the environment. Clearcoat helps limit exposure to UV, water, and oxygen. It is really more complex than this, but these are the basics.

Clearcoat was available on German cars in the '70s. High end metallic colored cars like Mercedes had clearcoats. You could even order a "Sun Bug" clearcoat option for the Beetle in the '70's.

The first US car to have a clearcoat option was the 1980 Lincoln Versailles. The first US car to have clearcoat as standard was the 1981 Corvette.

It is true that some solid colors were not clearcoated even when clearcoat became the standard finish. But there was no reason other than cost (usually cycle time in the plant or cost to convert the plant to two stage application, not the cost of the actual coating drove this) that a car was not clearcoated.

Clearcoat is always preferable, but some single stage (non clearcoated) factory systems are quite good, especially the Japanese systems.

Very few cars today would be single stage. Some of the Japanese solid colors are still single stage, but I do not know of another in 1st world production.

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2010 Toyota matrix

'93 500 SEL
A bad addiction. Takes all of my cash.

'12 Volvo S80 T6
Needed something that wasn't as hard to deal with as my bad addiction

'18 Mazda Miata
No more boring cars for everyday transport!

Thanks, that was pretty clear. But is it true that all metallics are clear coated and solids today are not? I have a fire engine red E320, is that clearcoated?

All MB colors are clearcoated today.

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Prost!

"Today" meaning 2009 and forward or from the '70s or 1985 forward?

Anything from about 1976 on was clear coated at the factory. So, yes, your E-series was clear coated.

I've seen some factory finishes from the '80s w/o clearcoat--mainly solid white, whereas yours is post '93; it is probably clearcoated.

Call the dealer and ask. They would be able to tell from the VIN number.

__________________
___________________________________________
2010 Toyota matrix

'93 500 SEL
A bad addiction. Takes all of my cash.

'12 Volvo S80 T6
Needed something that wasn't as hard to deal with as my bad addiction

'18 Mazda Miata
No more boring cars for everyday transport!