That $50 paint thickness gauge from eBay, complete garbage

Picked up a cheap paint thickness gauge off eBay last month to check some used cars before quoting refinish work. Told myself it was a bargain at $50 versus the $300 ones the guys at the shop next door use. First job it read 8 mils on a panel I knew was bare metal, so I recalibrated three times and got three different numbers. I wasted a whole afternoon and nearly quoted a fender job on bad data. Lesson learned, you cant trust cheap tools when your name is on the final paint match. Has anyone else been burned by a budget gauge or do you all stick to the pricey brands?

1 comments

1 Comment

piper_burns14d ago

and honestly that reminds me of the time I grabbed a cheap digital thermometer for my classroom aquarium and it said the water was 95 degrees when it was room temp, so I spent a whole weekend convinced my fish were boiling. point is, sometimes the budget gear does more harm than good cause you end up second guessing everything instead of just trusting the reading. I still have that thermometer in a drawer somewhere, but I never use it now, just like that gauge probably sits in a box too.