What's the Highest Quality Automotive Paint?

When you repaint your car, you want the best quality of paint. But which paint is the best depends on who you talk to and their experience with the paint products.

Many experts will tell you the the best automotive paint results depend on the prep work and clear coat. Others swear by the technology and materials that exist in particular paint brands.

The bottom line: there are good car paint brands for every price point. Read our guide to learn about the best paint brands and their various products, focusing on solvent-based paint.

Comparing Automotive Paint Brands

You can't compare premium products to economy products. After all, you wouldn’t put a Rolls Royce in the same category as a Honda, so you shouldn’t be comparing premium paint to economical paint either. We've split automotive paint brands into premium, mid-tier, and economy.

Premium Automotive Paint Brands

When it comes to choosing the perfect paint for your vehicle, any product from the premium automotive paints section will do, regardless of the brand. It really comes down to what you or the painter is comfortable with using. It's rare that you'll find bad reviews for premium automotive paint products, so it's safe to say that you can use any of them for your everyday vehicle.

On the other hand, if you’re looking for showroom quality paint, then you may want to conduct further research to see which brands offer absolute perfection and finish. Pricing differences will come into play as Glasurit is much more expensive than Ultra 7000. While they are both considered premium according to their makers, we wouldn’t call them equal.

Mid-Tier Automotive Paint Brands

When price becomes an issue, many car repair shops and painters will look at more economical paint options. Here, you’ll find several brand options with the best bang for your buck.

Lesonal, Chromabase and Diamont seem to be on the same playing field. These paint products offer superior paint coverage and will usually do the job with three coats of paint. They offer perfect color matching and are more affordable than most premium brands.

Omni and Dimension are also two great products, but it seems to depend on the painter you ask. While the other mid-tier brands don’t have strong opinions against them, you’ll find some painters who dislike Omni and Dimension. Many painters claim Omni and Dimension need more coats than usual and are harder to use without getting streaks or other paint issues. Still, there are painters who swear by these two brands and have not had any issues.

Economy Automotive Paint Brands

For price conscious consumers, there are value paint options. They’re the cheapest paint offered by paint manufacturers and are ideal for full body refinishes.

Although Wanda is a fairly new paint product in the North American market, it seems to surpass all other economy brands. Many people consider it a mid-tier brand, but without the paint warranties or support. Since entering the market, most people who have switched over to this paint line have continued to use it. However, since it’s new on the market, there is uncertainty about the duration of the paint since it hasn’t been out long enough to compare to others.

Nason and Shop-Line are two very popular economy brands, but also the two that have the most controversy over quality and ease of use. There are several experienced painters who have had no issues and had their cars with this paint last at least 10 years, while other painters have expressed their concern about its longevity.

The Verdict

There is no clear winner in the automotive paint discussion. However, after extensive research paired with our own personal experience, these leading automotive paint brands generally offer positive reviews:

Premium: Sikkens, Deltron, Spies Hecker, Standox, Ultra 7000, Glasurit

Mid-tier: Lesonal, Chromabase, Diamont

Economy: Wanda

Seasoned and novice painters alike choose these automotive paint brands for their ease of use, color-matching, and number of coats needed to completely cover a panel. These paint products also have reliable clearcoats that seem to give your vehicle proper protection and shine.

Use our list as a starting point to research which automotive paint product is the best for your needs. It’s always best to test out these different brands for yourself and see which ones you like best before committing to a paint system.