What color is your truck? If it's black, white or red, there are good odds that you have a single stage paint job from the factory. The clear coat should be more durable than that even after 12 years of life. I have an '02 as well and I've repaired a couple things, there is a clear coat on my vehicle. By the way, a single stage paint job just means there is no clear coat. The gloss and pigments are in the same coat. So if you have that it will cut through really quick, as you found out. When a friend wants me to buff out a scratch on an older vehicle, I give them warning of this issue.
Hey weedahoe, very pretty color. I absolutely love House of Kolor products.

 

No single stage ever came from the factory. You will not find any single stage on any new car lot.

 

Whoa.

 

Sure it did, still does from some manufacturers, ie: Nissan. I was a bit surprised by that one myself. I was prepping a black Frontier(code KH3) on a non-repaired panel, dust was black. I had thought they were done with single stage due to durability issues, go figure. Maybe because it was a work truck, roll up windows etc... It was brand spanking new too, 1200 miles.

 

That's new to me. But then, I don't come across Nissans

 

I worked at a dealership for about ten years and then landed this job at what was a privately owned body shop about 12 years ago. Life was so much easier when I only had to know about 10-15 different colors. We have become insurance company ho's. Oh well, got to keep working for the man. My brother got me started in this line of work back in '77, I was wet sanding new dodge vans every day with 600 grit. Built up some mean calluses. He was doing all the painting at the time. I used to love watching him do wood grain. He'd put a glove on his hand and spray with the other and wipe his hand across the freshly laid top layer. He was always better at it than me. He went to the dark side and became a body man.

 

Nope. Not ONE vehicle past mid 90's had Single stage paint from the factory.
Two-stage was used prior and phased in in the late 80's. Mid-90's+ factory painted cars were all base-clear pants. It was cost effective, lasts longer and the EPA was causing a stur about the single staged Laquer paints used prior that was porous and oxidized like crazy.
Also, base-clear from the factory... One coat of base and one coat of clear unless you get into luxury/performance cars. Then you will get 2+ coats of each and a specific thickness or it will fail QC.
If you really want to read your paint thickness, find someone with a paint gauge because they are expensive.

Your KH3 olor code is a base-clear paint. Just take a look at the Nissan brand touchup pen...
http://www.courtesyparts.com/touch-p...Path=5906_5906
Dust can be black. Have you ever worked in a warehouse? Black dust on pretty much every box in there. Diesel exhaust has soot that creates a black dust as well, so maybe a diesel was parked next to it running?

 

Hey, I'm not trying to irritate you guys. I've just been painting cars for over thirty years, I do know the difference between single stage and a base/clear paint job. I have a clue to the black dust that the job was creating. Clear coat produces a white dust unless of course for some red three stage paint jobs from the factory(not so much a three stage as it is a two stage, a base metallic or pearl coat with a tinted clear coat, so two stage would be a better description) that will have a reddish dust. So, no, it wasn't soot or something else on top of the paint job. I will clean a panel prior to any work on it just to avoid color contamination into an area that will be blended across, dirt will imbed into the scratches at times and can leave a discoloration if it isn't covered with the base coat. Then if you clear over the top of it, you're stuck. For what it matters, most body shops, including the one I work in have the ability to mix single stage paint, though this doesn't have much to do with the manufacturers. I know you fellas have been doing this Forumn thing for quite a while and I didn't and don't want to step on your toes at all. In fact I have benefitted from the knowledge that you share in here and I am grateful for it. Painting is what I do and have done for all of these years. I learned with lacquer and progressed through the different systems until now, except for a stint in the army, this is what I've done. I'll step out of this whole thread and reserve myself from commenting in the future on other posts. There already is enough people with wisdom beyond mine here, I wanted to give back for all the years of help this Forumn has provided me. Be cool guys, btw, House of Kolor still is awesome paint and the bike parts looked really trick.

 

I havent seen a single stage on anything from a dealer but like I said, I dont go to dealer lots either....LOL.

Dave, you are totally cool. You havent stepped on anyones toes. We dont know everything. I certainly dont. I just pretend to be smart.

 

Not irritated. Just trying to be like weed and try to sound smart.