Urathane clear over acrylic enamel?

A friend of my came by the shop for me to look at his little Kia sportage he wants to sell (its red too), he also mentioned Home depo, I guess the lure of super cheap paint is hard to resist . I called around for prices on catalyzed, single stage urethane. Nason/ Azalta 230.00 two qts ,Cromax 320 for two qts, Omini 130.00 two qts. that includes activator but still, the cheap paints are not so cheap, the last time I got a gallon of Nason ful-thane it was black and around 100.00 a GALLON that's 25.00 a qt. this crap is getting way out of hand. I bought SPI's red for 350.00 a gallon a few years ago I wonder how much that is now, knowing them it hasn't gone up that much. I don't like Omini much but it looks like my only choice if I cant talk my friend into spending a little more on SPI, I don't blame anyone for wanting to save money, lots of money but I cant waste my time money with some cheap crap when I can go to the econo paint shop and get them to do it for 230.00 for the whole job and I never touch it. I just cant have my work falling apart or turning pink in a year it wont save me money in the long run but DAM I hate the way these paint companies are raping us.
I guess that says something about SPI, they give you a high solid urethane top shelf paint cheaper than you can get cheap crap that's not even true urethane. No I don't blame you guys for trying to save some money but I've learned it almost always costs you more in the end.
So That's it. I think I just talked myself into following my own advise and telling my friend to go with SPI or take it to econo paint.

I ordered a gallon of SPI red from southern polyurethane at a cost of 313.00 it was at my door the next day (22 hrs) so the 2 qts I needed cost 156.50 a little more than the Omini (130.00) that I didn't really want to use. but a lot less than the Dupont /( Axalta) ful-thane (230.00) and its a REAL urethane not a modified enamel. I also have the new price sheet, compared to my old one 2013-14 the SPI prices for the urethane SS paints are actually about 14.00 dollars higher.
I feel like I got a great deal on some great paint. instead of getting ripped on some crap that has a big name like PPG and Dupont/Axalta.
I've sprayed all three of these all of them looked good out of the booth but the Omini took a little extra effort to get there, the ful-thane went on well with 2 wet coats and a third just to make sure no light spots were hiding somewhere. The SPI I sprayed was black and 2 coat only that got cleared after sanding the next day with 600 (show paint) after painting the SS it looked so good I shot some pics and thought clearing it couldn't make it any better but it did I was pretty impressed with both SS and the clear (universal clear) Im glad I called SPI this time and got a price, I almost didn't and would have been using the Omini.
I guess after all this I'll have to post pics of the little POS 01 Kia sportage. To be honest its a fun car to drive and gets about 45 miles to the gallon I actually thought the gas gauge was broke too. This car is more frugal than John Long.:mwink:

I worked in, managed, and owned shops for some 40 years. In the beginning I worked up to being able to use top of the line paint systems. Dupont until chroma base came out then I switched to ppg when Deltron was really hot. After 35 years of it and piddling at home I have tried many different scenarios and wish I knew then what I know now. I could have retired wealthy 10 years earlier from the money I was wasting on expensive paints! I was in the collision business and did custom work thinking it was good advertisement. And it is if you want to attract people that want you subsidizing their projects and keep you tied up where you can't get to you mainstream work. But since those days and I don't know how much rattle can tech has come, but it must have some because back then if you tried to use it with Dupont or PPG it was not forgiving. Unless it's in the Clear Coats I use today because I can use krylon , rustoleum, and even dollar general paint under a $145 off brand acrylic urethane and never have a problem. Even duplicolor and I suspicion most of it is laquer. nd the high price thinners and reducers was really a rip off. I started substituting laquer thinner for them 20 years ago and only when it gets really hot is it necessary too add anything. Then I would retard it. Now I use rustolium specialty reducer which is a urethane reducer and seems to work in anything and only costs $20 a gallon. It works about like acrylic enamel reducer did in the 90's. 30 years ago I would have laughed at anyone making such remarks and had I not proved it to myself I wouldn't believe it today! I have won top honers at the largest car show in my state which was a three state invitation only event. Not one but three first place finishes. And had cars on new car show room floors before I was 21 that were either custom painted new vehicles or restorations on much older as in a 58 Mercedes 300 sl convertible in Dallas Tx. in about 1981. I was working in a shop that turned me loose on it doing all of the body work and finishing it in black acrylic lacquer. Before that I was doing custom painting for a van conversion business that also did custom paint on pickups and sporty compacts and most of the time when the dealerships got a vehicle done it would go on their show room floor. So I had several on showroom floors before I was 21. And many after including a Black 56 Tbird and a 51 Packard 110. Today I wouldn't be afraid too do a multi color rattle can paint job and cover it in acrylic urethane even if I were entering it in competition. I have a 92 Miate I custom painted several years ago and it has hallogram flake and ghost pearl flames that is a mixture of finishes that I did in that manner and even setting outside looks like it was just painted last week. The only problems in it are accident related. I use the advantage cc these days and it is really easy to work with. Omni has a really good cc as well.