As reported in the January 2021 Aviation Consumer, I had my AA5B Grumman painted in a high-end automotive-style basecoat-clearcoat finish. Then, once the paint was cured, I had a professional aircraft detailer apply the System X Element 119 Diamond ceramic coating.
Five years later—with one or two washes along the way—the finish looks like the day it rolled out of the paint shop, except for some ugly peeling on the leading edges where surface areas were filled with body filler. The takeaway is you’ll pay a hefty premium, but in the end I think it’s well worth it.
Why basecoat/clearcoat
Painting airplanes has gotten exponentially more expensive over the past two decades and that is not going to change going forward. In 1997 I had my Grumman painted for $7000 at Jim Alpine’s in Hagerstown, Maryland. In 2025 dollars that is $14,000. That same good Maryland paint shop—under new management—quoted me $23,000 in 2020. The reality is you can’t get close to a $13,000 paint job in a quality shop following EPA regulations in 2025.
I wanted both a longer-lasting, mostly maintenance-free paint job, plus a look that you can’t get with single stage. The problem with single- stage paints is that they oxidize very easily, and in the real world the noticeable problem with oxidation is dullness and fading. Metallic paint is rarely seen on airplanes because of the difficulty of spraying the metallic flakes evenly with a single-stage urethane. My Dodge Delmonico Red metallic and Lexus Atomic Silver metallic color scheme really stands out on the ramp. On a sunny day, it is intoxicatingly beautiful. The photo at the bottom of the page is the aircraft just days after Circle W Restorations in East Berlin, Pennsylvania, finished the $20,000 job.
My Tiger was sporting a brand- new JetGlo paint job in 2000 when I bought it. Every spring for 20 consecutive years we would get together to wash and then polish the finish to remove the oxidation and finally apply wax, or later polymer sealants, to protect the paint. It would take no fewer than five people nearly six hours to finish the task. Even with all that effort, the sealants rarely lasted a year.
The use of clearcoats in the automotive industry became widespread in the 1980s. Prior to that, vehicles were typically finished with a single layer of paint that provided both color and protection. However, with advancements in paint technology and a growing demand for more durable, long-lasting finishes, the clearcoat was developed as a way to add an extra layer of protection to the paint job.
Clearcoats, rarely seen in aviation, are a standard feature in the automotive industry, providing vehicles with a high-gloss, durable finish that helps to protect the paint job for years to come. Generally speaking, most single-stage paints are softer than modern clearcoat paints.
During the preparation for painting, you’ll likely have generous amounts of body filler scattered over the airframe. Proper preparation requires sanding the aluminum with 180- to 220-grit sandpaper to provide a grip for the filler.
Leaning on or pushing against areas of body filler can cause the filler to flex and fracture, leading to adhesion problems. I learned this expensive lesson that required a repair and repainting.
Ceramic magic
While clearcoats provide extra protection above a single-stage paint, a ceramic coating can help protect a clearcoat by providing an additional layer of extremely hard protection (9H on the Pencil Hardness Scale—10H is the maximum) against the elements and other environmental factors that can damage the paint. Ceramic coatings are made from a mixture of ceramic particles, resins and other chemical ingredients that form a harder durable layer over the surface of the paint. Some of the key benefits of using a ceramic coating to protect a clearcoat include:
- UV protection: Ceramic coatings help to block UV radiation from the sun, which can cause the paint to fade and discolor over time.
- Scratch resistance: Ceramic coatings create a hard, scratch-resistant layer over the paint that can help to minimize the effects of everyday wear and tear.
- Hydrophobic properties: Ceramic coatings can make the paint surface more hydrophobic, meaning that it will repel water, dirt and other contaminants, making it easier to clean and maintain the plane’s appearance.
- Chemical resistance: Ceramic coatings can help to protect the paint against chemical damage, such as damage caused by exposure to bird droppings, tree sap and other environmental pollutants.
Overall, a ceramic coating can provide a harder valuable additional layer of protection to a clearcoat, helping to keep the paint looking newer for longer and minimizing the effects of environmental factors that can cause damage over time.
A tangible benefit to modern basecoat/clearcoat paint technology is that due to the harder resulting finishes and the improved resin technology, modern clearcoat finishes will tend to last longer over the service life of a plane as compared to the time a single-stage paint would last.
At the three-year assessment, professional detailer Dan Lightner asked me when was the last time I washed the Tiger. I jokingly replied, “The last time I flew through a rainstorm.” Seriously, the plane has only been washed once in five years, but still has a showroom-new appearance—a welcome change from years gone by.
At year five, the $1300 ceramic coating is still fully intact, but showing some wear in the high-airflow areas like leading edges and front of the cowl. It wasn’t required, but I had Dan reapply ceramic to those high-wear areas.
Worth the cost
And it’s eye-watering, but my plane flies a lot—on the order of 300 hours per year. For me, a durable maintenance-free finish is a must. You will pay more up front for premium paint and ceramic protection, but the results I am seeing after five years mean my paint will outlast a typical single stage by perhaps a decade. And with prices on the rise exponentially, that will matter over time.
The paint finish and protection timeline that stretches back almost 100 years has been paved with chemical advancements and ever better chemistry today that allows a true modern basecoat/clearcoat with ceramic protection to last decades.