Paint Supplier

Hi How do you choose your paint supplier because everyone claims they are selling the best paint? I am located in Washington and am trying to choose between Ennis Paints, TMT-Pathway, and Colombia paints. Colombia Paints is cheaper by about .25 per gallon, and they are willing to deliver to my shop. My only concern with them is that their quality may not be as good as Ennis or TMT. Has anyone here tried Colombia Paints? What do you think of TMT and Ennis? Thanks

Those are the three main paint MFG's we use. We use solvent based paint and CR if available. I really like the Columbia fast dry, that stuff dries so fast it's amazing, the con to it is, the yellow can fade with in a year almost to a white, and for us Columbia is very expensive. So if you could get it cheap go for it, the color issues are minor, you will like the dry time. As far as Ennis, good stuff, expensive to ship from Texas. TMT good stuff but EXPENSIVE , we were hit with a 40% increase this year from them, also the rumors are that Ennis may buy Jackson Products the parent of TMT in the next year..

If you are in the Seattle area check into Farwest paints. They have treated me well and I have never had a problem with there paint.

Do you have any contact info for them ?, I am not in Seattle, but looking for options since everyone thinks there is gold in the paint this year....LOL

http://www.farwestpaint.com/ I don't know there pricing yet this year but there service has been real good for me. They deliver to the barge in Seattle anytime I call even if it is only 5 gal.

Sounds good, I'll check with them, Thanks for the info.

Kurbmarks - We have always used TMT fast dry oil paints over the years. The paint never has to be mixed, thinned or strained. I have tried a few others but return to TMT. I wouldn't be too concerned about spending a little more for a paint that provides trouble free service. That $.50 a gallon savings will quickly turn into major liability when the paint causes you downtime or having to clean out your unit.

Thanks for all the advise. Kurbmarks

Hey Dwan thanks for the info on Farwest, I called them today and they seem really nice, but we will see when the quote arrives (maybe they are like most other suppliers this year and think there is gold mixed in)..... What product of theirs do you use, and do you like it ? Thanks

I have only used there oil based trafic paint. Never had a requirement for anything else. They will mix any color trafic paint you need. I have them double the blue tint in my HC so it is a little darker, otherwise it is babby $hitt blue. They also have mixed up a real good looking red in fast dry for me. Keep us informed if there pricing is competive. I personaly wouldn't know as I have never used any other brand.

Thanks for your suggestion, however we already have many $3k machines as do most commercial stripers. The aerosol striper from Home Depot will not meet our commercial demands, also and actually when you look at the cost of spray paint v.s real traffic paint it is way more expensive and the spray paint will not last as long guaranteed. They might be great for an owner of a 4-plex that needs to paint a few lines every year but not for commercial applications.

Quoting JCasphalt, March 10, 2005 (that post is not in this thread):

go to home depo, they will sell you a machene for 80 dollars. then you can buy the paint their to for 5 dollars per can. the paint will spray propirly upsidedown when you tilt in the machine your spraying with to spray the lines over sealer or anything. put 2 cotes on the sealer to tho so that you do not make it bleed into the paint that you are usingh. sonestimes it turnes yellow if its white or white if its yellow. thats because the solivient paint. its better than spening 3 grand on a fancie seal master paint sprayer for the money you cantbeat it any time of day or week. it gets the job done well to. Perception of Quality is sometimes an issue here. For instance, I personally would not accept the "rattle can" quality, and many others here would not accept an "airsprays quality". Here is a comparison photo, can and airspray, IMO the can is unacceptable.

Got the quote back from Farwest and they want $13.95 a gal for yellow oUcH I even offered to buy in truckloads, I 'll call them Monday, but in the mean time that sucks...Oh Well

I would want to try some of there paint before paying that kind of a price. I have tried it and to me it is worth it as paint price is just passed on to the customer. You have an option of finding a different paint supplier every week as pricing goes up, to me it isn't worth the time to haggle over it unless it gets way out of hand the difference between $12.00 and $13.00 a gal is about 1/3 of a cent per foot. For me that doesn't add up to much but some of you it can be several thousand dollars a year.

I agree, they are supposed to have sent a few gallons, so we can see.. As far as the price, most big players in our market were in the lower $7.00 range last year, now this year it is in the mid $8.00 and rising...so far that $13.95 has been the highest. Ill keep you posted what Farwests paint is like. thanks