PPG Automotive Refinish has received approval of its new matte clearcoats D8115 Matte and D8117 Semi-Gloss by Daimler AG for use on all Daimler matte-finished passenger cars worldwide. The new clearcoats use the unique PPG dual-clear repair process recently validated by Mercedes-Benz.

According to PPG, full-body matte clears have increased in popularity in recent years and have continually proven technically complex to repair in order to achieve the perfect level of matte effect, especially with black and other very dark colors. Minor damage has often had to be repaired by painting full panels in basecoat and clearcoat or by painting the entire side of the vehicle. PPG’s dual-clear process allows the basecoat to be blended, significantly reducing the repair area and bringing the process back into more conventional dimensions.

Demonstrated to Daimler on a matte black bodyshell in Hilden, Germany, the dual-clear process uses a glossy clearcoat as the first coat, followed immediately by a second coat based on a blend of the two new clearcoats, D8115 and D8117. This process provides a match to the original color while maintaining an even level of matte finish across the repair area. The two new matte clearcoats were specially developed to provide the end user with the flexibility to blend the clearcoats together to achieve a perfect match to original matte finishes. This approach can be used on all colors to attain an effective repair and is a key step in the efficient repair process for darker colors such as Mercedes-Benz’s Nachtschwarz black. PPG is first to market to recommend this process together with its market-leading matte clearcoats for repairing a wide range of gloss levels on matte and semimatte full-body colors.

“Matte finishes have increased in popularity with an increasing number of OEMs over the past few years, and it became clear to us that a special process would be needed to replicate the factory finish accurately,” explained Ron Thomas, product platforms manager, EMEA. “The two new clearcoats were developed to provide the basis for the concept, and then in collaboration with Mercedes-Benz, the process was further developed to create a perfect result on darker colors and matte blacks. Renato Liano, front end evaluation manager at PPG, originally developed the dual-clear concept and followed up in close collaboration with Daimler AG to validate the overall process. This ultimately led to the approval from Mercedes-Benz, which is extremely pleased with the technical results.”

Body shops will benefit greatly since the application and blending of the basecoat can still be carried out using existing processes, saving time and increasing efficiency over earlier methods. The process provides an accurate match on the most difficult full-body matte colors and creates an easier, more effective and efficient process for matching the original finish and bringing overall repair time in line with conventional repairs. It should also be noted that in North America D8115 and D8117 are national rule-compliant. For VOC containment areas, use a recommended PPG 2.1 VOC clearcoat with SLV4985 flattener.