Oven Baking Cars VS. Painting Cars: Which Is Better?

There are two main methods paints are applied to the exteriors of cars. There is the oven baking method and the air drying painting method. The painting type you choose depends on the finish you are looking for. 

However, car painting experts are of the opinion that one is better than the other. Which one could it be? In this article, we take you through what to know about oven baking, car painting, and air drying paint and which is better.

What Is Oven Baking Car Painting?

Oven baking car painting system allows the paint to be sprayed in a dust-free environment. The temperature of the oven while being in use allows the paint to dry instantly, avoiding any drips which can occur when multi-coats of paint are being applied.

In the paint-baking process, an aluminium product is coated with layers of paint at an elevated temperature. The average temperature it takes to dry the paint is between 65 to 70 degrees. But, different coating paints determine their temperature usage. First, you’ll need to find out what paint coating you use because no two paint coatings are the same.

What Is Air Drying Car Painting?

As the name implies, air-drying car painting dries up the paint using air. Unlike the oven baking method that expects the car to be painted and dried by setting up the temperature of an oven, this one dries up the paint using air.

However, certain things prove a challenge to air-drying car painting. The humidity of a place, poor air movement in a place, and heat are some of the things that might affect the air drying of cars. 

Due to this challenge many people face when spraying and drying a car’s paint, many start wondering which of them is better. Oven baking, car painting, or the air drying method? Can the challenges of air-drying car painting be neglected? Or does it affect the car painting and drying method? Let’s find out below.

Oven Baking Car Painting & Air Drying Car Painting: Comparison

A good paint finish is achievable whether using a baked oven or being painted in air drying. So, since both of them are good, why do people choose the baked oven system for painting a car? Well, most paint shops use bake ovens due to their fastest. If you are not ready to wait weeks for your car paint to dry, then oven baking is a good option. A well-baked oven cures paint in under 45 minutes.

But, this painting method is forced because you force the car paint to cure almost immediately. Car paints do not dry fast, they take time to dry out. When they are under pressure to dry, they lose something in the finish. 

However, many still prefer baking oven painting because it won’t consume much time. Especially when you have hundreds of cars waiting to be painted.

For an air-drying painting, the paint takes longer to dry out. Note that the finish of the air-dried painting still looks as good as the baked oven process. The only thing is that it consumes time that would have been spent on another painting project.

Conclusion

Oven baking and air drying are good options, but the major difference is the time spent doing them. If you are painting only a few cars, you might want to stick it out with air drying because even though oven-baked finishes are good-looking, there’s still a tiny benefit that comes with the air drying method.