Hot Rod Forum banner

TCP Global

48K views 38 replies 19 participants last post by  66 Restomod 
#1 ·
Hi folks.
I'm in the process of putting together a little bit different type of hotrod. In this case, it's a 1978 18' jetboat.

I've stripped all the layers of paint that previous owners have applied to get dow to the original gelcoat.

I then sealed it off with an epoxy primer. Did my body work with some Rage Gold followed by multiple layers of Omni 2K primer. I've guide coated it and block sanded it till I'm blue in the face and now am looking at top coats.

Wow is all I can say when I start pricing out BC/CC. I'm going with 3 colors. I've attached a concept of what I'm talking about.

In my search for other methods of cutting costs, somebody pointed me to the TCP Global site. Their service comes highly recommended. Their costs are extremely fair. I realize that the colors might not cover as well as your more typical mainstream paints (PPG..etc..) but at these prices I can get some extra paint and not worry about quantities as much.

This boat is mostly a garage queen and used maybe 4 times a year in the rainy northwest so I'm not looking for a paint job to last 10 years. If I can get 5 to 8 years out of it I'd be thrilled.

In particular, I'm looking at their UB series Basecoat and their KC-210 Clear.

Have any of you had any experience both good and bad of TCP?

Thanks a bunch
http://s63.photobucket.com/albums/h157/jrork/?action=view&current=BluewithRed.jpg
 
See less See more
#3 · (Edited)
Bee4Me said:
SOMEBODY,Please explain to me why people work their butt off doing prep work and then want to go cheap on the paint?
Thanks Bee4me but it's an easy answer. When I look at the prices of some of this stuff it's regoddamndiculas. Then you factor in the fact that I'm just shmuck that is trying to paint something that may or may not have dust/dirt/big ol giant *** bug land in the paint about the time that I'm thinking I've done something special, I'd rather be realistic. I'm painting it in a home shop without the benefit of a commercially available paint booth. I'd be bummed if that bug landed on the paint that I sprayed with $200 gallon paint, I'd be a freaking mass murderer if it was $550 gallon paint. The three colors I'm looking at are likely to add up to almost $700 with the clear. If I was to go with some of the more commercially available thru the fancy body shop store type paint, it's closer to $1500.

If I was a painter, shooting a show car then that would be a no brainer. Instead I'm a schmuck that is just trying to enjoy the hobby and keep my house and family in one piece.

I've used PPG Omni for much of the undercoats and found it was very cost effective. When I ran out of some 170, I went to the local store and picked up some DP48LF and even though the they appeared to be very similar, the price difference was dramatic.

I'm just trying to get some color on this project as affordably as possible.

In reading your response to my questions I cant help but think it's your attitude that is so similar to so many others that feeds this mindset that if it isnt been painted with, suspended with, powered by, wired with the very best that it, for some godforsaken reason it's not good enough. There are projects on this site and at every swapmeet that have been started with a dream and then someone comes along and says that isnt going to be good enough, cool enough or whatever and ultimately stiffles the owners dream.

The ratrod craze (like or not) is partly due to this mentality. Who cares if you (not meaning you specifically) likes it or not. The owner is cool with it, driving it and enjoying it so we should all support them as long as its safe.

I asked an honest question. Do you have any first hand experiance with this companys paint? If you do I would appreciate your thoughts.

If you don't, grow up, get a life and keep your opinions to yourself.....John

Hotdamn. that felt goooood

By the way, I have looked at SPI's stuff and have exchanged PMs with him (sorry, can't remember his name). I haven't ruled them out but just want to know if anybody has used TCPs stuff

PS. Looking at your photoalbum you do incredible work. Way outside of what I'm trying to accomplish but beautiful work nonetheless
 
#5 ·
A marine grade paint in some cases is what you have to use, depends on the state or waterway in some cases, require the boat to have a certified marine grade paint. because of this, the last boat my dad painted he used a basic marine grade enamel, mixed to a color that kind of matched his truck, but it wasn't show quality.
 
#6 ·
I am grown and I paint in a shop at my house,no 100K paint booth and do exceptional quality work because I WORK my butt off to make it that way,So, You can do quality work in less than pristine conditions. It's done everyday by members here.
I'm NOT of the mindset of "Bigger is Better" or such. I use ALL types of materials and thru advice of other pros and t&e use what is worth spending my valuable time with.
MY point is,WHY go to ALL the trouble stripping,blocking to make a respectable substrate and then use some low buck paint cause your afraid of a bug or something fouling up the job. Part of the game as even in a 100K booth,ship still goes wrong.Trust me,I know all about the cost of paints. It takes some balls to pull the trigger on 200 buck a qt base. :sweat:
You obviously want a respectable job and using cheap top coats will make all YOUR hard work LOOK cheap.
If you do happen to get the bug or run,whatever, A "good" paint system is MUCH easier to fix than the cheap stuff.
I mentioned SPI due to using it and having outstanding results at a low buck price and the products being as "user friendly" as you will find.The quality is on par with the BEST of Dupont or PPG. The tech support is only a phone call away even on Sunday's.
I'm extremely lousy at expressing things in type and apologize if I've offended you but I hate to see people go to such lengths only to spray some junk paint and end up with a 20' paint job when there are great products available for a reasonable price and you end up with something to be really proud of. I see these posts almost daily and I just don't understand "why" you work your arse off and go less in the end just "because".
 
#7 ·
Southern Polyurethanes

Jrork,
While Bee4me may not have said it in a politically correct way, he is speaking from experience, and he's one of the many experienced guys I talked to before using their products as well.

I, like you, am doing my project in my garage, so relying on the experience of guys like Bee4Me and reading so many of their posts where they say nothing but good about SPI, combined with the price, makes this a no brainer in my opinion.

You're absolutely right about ridiculous prices from some of the big boys. And spending a lot to get their economy products didn't give me a warm fuzzy either. Add to that the lack of service and a feeling like my local supply shop was treating me like a nuisance rather than a customer, AND being able to talk to Barry on the phone ...and I did a couple of times, made this an even easier choice.

So while Bee may not say it in a way you take as advice, he is speaking from experience and I have seen and heard the same from many others. Enough to trust my project of 5 years and many thousands of dollars and hours to SPI's paints.

Now I don't know about the marine paint stuff, and I haven't finished painting my car yet, so I don't feel qualified to speak from experience, other than epoxy and turbo 2k primer. My pro body man I had work for me for a while thought the epoxy was good.

Good luck with your project!

Steve
 
#8 ·
Bee4Me said:
I'm extremely lousy at expressing things in type and apologize if I've offended you but I hate to see people go to such lengths only to spray some junk paint and end up with a 20' paint job when there are great products available for a reasonable price and you end up with something to be really proud of. I see these posts almost daily and I just don't understand "why" you work your arse off and go less in the end just "because".
No worries "B". I was probably a bit (okay, maybe alot testy :D ). While the internet/texting world is wonderful, it is extremely easy to misinterpret what you are reading and I took it wrong.

Bee4Me said:
I mentioned SPI due to using it and having outstanding results at a low buck price and the products being as "user friendly" as you will find.The quality is on par with the BEST of Dupont or PPG. The tech support is only a phone call away even on Sunday's.
I havent ruled out SPI. As I mentioned I exchanged PMs with Barry a few times and he was extremely helpful with my bottom paint application (Singlestage instead of BC/CC). It's just now that I'm pricing all this Clear and Top Coats, Reducers & Hardeners I'm getting sticker shock.

Scrimshawy, I did look at Awgrip and also talked to folks about that material. Everyone says it's about as durable as you get. I just really want to go with BC/CC for this.

Matt, thanks for the tip. While they certainly are regulating everything else on the water, I don't beleive that's hit here yet.

Anyhow, thanks again for the tips guys and keep em coming......john
 
#10 ·
your right, awlgrip isnt the type of paint you should be using for a job like this. while it is durable as hell, it is tough to work with and not user friendly. its intended more as an industrial coating and works great for bilge or engine rooms. works on yacht hulls, things like that but one color. if you look at all those go fast boats with the crazy graphics on them, its al bc/cc...every one of them. as for matt167, someone was b/s ing your dad probably just to break his balls or somehow information was misinterpreted and passed on as being "law". every boat hull out there is either gelcoat or some type of automotive paint be it awlgrip, imron or some other type of urethane/polyurethane.
 
#11 ·
Bee4Me said:
SOMEBODY,Please explain to me why people work their butt off doing prep work and then want to go cheap on the paint?
I'd be looking at some Southern Polyurethanes for you bc/cc.
MUCH better product and it WILL last a LOT longer than you are wanting AND not break the bank.
www.southernpolyurethanes.com.
:welcome:
I'm an SPI fan too, mostly because of the buzz online about how good it is. My own re-paint will use SPI clear for sure.
I'm sure you were talking about 'quality' when you said 'they want to go cheap on the paint', you may have meant 'reputation'. SPI's clears are about $100 each for MS and HS, and their Universal, a bit less since you get 2-gallons sprayable for approximately $160... TCP Globals clear they sell in that kit is $99.90 by itself... Pretty comparable prices.
I'm with you though, SPI's clears are probably as good as PPG's $300 clears while I'm guessing Global's is not.
 
#12 ·
Yes. Quality is a relative term. SPI is about the ONLY exception to the rule of "You get what you pay for". We constantly accuse Barry of being crazy for selling his products at such low prices but I for one am NOT complaining.
I tend to be straight forward about things and if SPI was a cheap or low end product,I'd say so and not be representing it. All I had to do was spray the Universial Clear 1 time and I KNEW most of what I had been reading was WORD. Then,I used the epoxy.........
:pimp:
 
#15 ·
Do a search of this site using the input "tcp global", "tcpglobal" and "tcpglobal.com". Not a huge amount of info but you'll find a few folks who have used their products. Interestingly, in all the searches I've done for TCP, not one actual USER has reported a bad experience. But a number of non-users don't have much good to say about it.

Keep in mind that tcpglobal is a "store of stores". That is, they carry many different items from many different manufacturers and from many different suppliers. Their paints include House of Kolor, Kustom Shop, Restoration Shop and I believe a couple of others. My understanding (from post #18 in this thead http://www.hotrodders.com/forum/opinions-paint-website-115476.html?highlight=tcpglobal ) is that tcp global was the premier internet provider of PPG paints...until PPG pulled the plug on ALL of their internet sales. So TCP hardly has a history of peddling total junk.

On a personal note, I've ordered a variety of products from TCP to try out, including some HOK, some Restoration brand and some Kustom Shop brand. And I won't feel a bit bad if any or all of these products are a total bust because the prices at TCP allow you to experiment without breaking the bank. I would never buy a $600 or $800 gallon of paint to try the things I am going to try. It just doesn't make economic sense to me.
 
#16 ·
On the same basis as you are, I ordered a gallon of their urathane jet black SS just to try out. I'll experiment on some non critical pieces and post the results. But at the rate I'm going on my current project it may be awhile so there will be plenty of time to see. I can see why people are ruluctant to try it. Most things that seem too good to be true end up being less than hoped for. It is always much safer to go with tried and proven but a lot of good stuff never would have happened without someone sticking their neck out.
Bob
 
#19 ·
kaw550 said:
... I had to much trouble trying to figure out what the colors actually looked like.
In my limited experience, that's a problem on ALL internet color charts or color representations. The only good way to see these colors is up close and personal or the painted shapes ppg and others bring around to the various goodguys, nsra and larger car shows. But I'm a bit in barthmonster's corner...relative to the other color charts on the web I thought TCP's was right up there among the best.
 
#20 ·
I guess it all depends on what the color actually is.


At first I thought it was great.
I had narrowed my choices down to two then I ordered their chart just to be safe. They turned out to be different than what was online.

The chart was printed so there is still the chance that the color could be off.


Maybe I was being too fussy, the paint is not expensive but I would like to know the color, not have an idea of what the color will be.

I later found the gallery and that did help but they only had a few examples.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top