BASF Coatings' Paint Brand Is Worldwide The Number 1 Among The Waterborne Automotive Refinish Paints

MUNSTER, Germany - 14 August: : He who builds on water need not always sink. Quite the contrary is true; he might become leader of the world market. The makers of Glasurit paints by BASF Coatings placed their bet on water and with 90 Line they introduced a waterborne basecoat on the market. This happened in 1992. Glasurit made its debut at the Automechanika Trade Fair in Frankfurt, Germany. Today, the automotive refinish sector is not imaginable without it.

The paints from Münster are being used all over the world; i.e. the career has become international. Looking at today’s discussions on environment, one must say that BASF Coatings and Glasurit set the correct course at an early stage, i.e. more than 16 years ago.

Fact is that some visitors to the Automechanika Trade Fair were obviously skeptic. The waterborne paint has "insufficient" hiding power, dries "too slowly" and in any case is "too expensive", those were statements Glasurit had to face. David Brueggen, Product Management Waterborne Topcoats comments: "Despite all skepticism, Glasurit® 90 Line has made an international career."

Triumph of the all-around talent
Glasurit 90 Line is so successful because it is the all-rounder among the automotive paints. "The coating has an excellent hiding power, it is environmentally compatible and saves our customers time and material", states Brueggen. "Additionally, it is easy to use and this is the reason why an increasing number of bodyshops switches over to waterborne basecoats", Brueggen continues. And indeed it is a fact that the number of convinced users of 90 Line grows worldwide year by year. In Germany, all bodyshops using Glasurit products have changed to waterborne basecoats.

The secret of the success: good, reliable and economic
Waterborne basecoats contain very few solvents which makes them environmentally compatible. In this way they help bodyshops to comply with all current VOC regulations (Volatile Organic Compounds). David Brueggen emphasizes: "This environmental compatibility is not detrimental to the product quality. Quite the contrary is true. 90 Line paints convince with high mechanic, chemical and physical resistance." Damages in the entire field of passenger car refinishing can be remedied without any problem whatsoever; this applies to metallic, special effect or solid colors alike. Bodyshops even save cash when they use waterborne basecoats. Short application times, flash-off times and booth times considerably speed up the painting process. The great hiding power of the Glasurit paints and the low contents of mixing base in the ready-for-use mixture help the user to save material.

Changing as easy as that
Changing is made easy for all who want to switch to the Glasurit waterborne basecoat system. The application technique is standard procedure. No changes need to be made in the bodyshops. The training required for working with Glasurit products is negligible. One of the advantages is a remarkable service given that 90 Line is continually being developed and improved in order to enable bodyshops to continuously optimize their workflows. Matching the 90 Line paints, Glasurit offers the COLOR-PROFI System (CPS), a practical tool used for color identification. CPS consists of thousands of color chips which are sorted by color groups and coated with original paint.

The worldwide expansion continues
Courage and hard work pay off: 16 years ago, the idea of Glasurit 90 Line was looked at with skepticism; in the meantime, however, the waterborne basecoats by Glasurit have become solidly established world market leaders. Additionally, according to David Brueggen waterborne paint systems will be increasingly successful, the future is with them. 90 Line no longer is used exclusively for passenger cars but also for commercial vehicles. Despite the fact that the surfaces to be coated are extremely large, results show that Glasurit paints are highly suitable for this sector, too; and thus have additional growth potential.