Any of you paint contractors have experience with either of these exterior paints? I’m a paint contractor here in Seattle. Have mostly used BM Moorgard over the years. Recently, I’ve used a fair amount of C2 interior paint. The intensity of their colors is unparalleled. I’d like to paint my own house with C2 exterior paints, but, at least out here, they’ve only been around for five years or so. I’m a bit reluctant to spend the extra money on a product that hasn’t been out long enough to judge it’s longevity and durability. I believe C2 has had a longer track record on the East Coast. Can someone give me some feedback on the C2 exterior paint?
BM’s Aura line is incredibly pricey and it, too, is a fairly new product with a lack of history. I think it’s unlikely I can afford to paint my house with this stuff even with my contractor’s discount. For the few clients I’ve had who have gone with Aura, it seems like a pretty durable product and it definitely covers well.
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I had never heard of them so I had to do some googling.
"http://www.c2color.com/our-products/index.php"
"
Handcrafted by an alliance of passionate small business owners across the U.S. and Canada, C2 Paint is the first paint company to employ a 16-colorant European tinting system rather than the 12-colorant systems known in North America today.
C2 Paint’s European colorants are made of finely ground artist-grade pigments that create an unmatchable luminosity and depth. These tiny particles of pigment are suspended in superior paint, which results in higher solid content when applied on the wall, thereby creating richer, deeper colors. In addition, the four extra pigments are high-strength and not available in typical color systems, which gives C2 Paint more "tools in the toolbox" to achieve greater color vibrancy and superior hiding."
And they have limited distribution.
http://www.c2color.com/store-locator/index.php
Not a regional thing, but looks like where there are independent stores that will handle them.
http://www.c2color.com/C2-CoBackground.html
"The Coatings Alliance Story
The Coatings Alliance introduces European
tinting system to North America
The Coatings Alliance was founded in 1998 to create a new collection of ultra-premium paints that combined the winning attributes of the major brands into a single line. For years, supplies of superior paint products had been compromised by an alarming trend: the rapid consolidation of paint manufacturers and suppliers. Once a major brand would buy out smaller, localized paint suppliers, to economize, it would change the paint formulas. Since the brand name might not change, customers would be left to discover negative changes in coverage, durability and application only after they had opened the can and started a project.
Independent retailers were hearing mounting complaints. Their business was suffering from declining product quality as well as outright losing suppliers. Sources for the kind of unique, high quality products were scarce. When Greg Stebbe, owner of Walls Alive in Calgary, Alberta, lost yet another supplier to consolidation, he contacted Tom Hill, industry expert and former chief chemist for Pratt & Lambert. "I called Tom to see if he knew of another good supplier. When he asked if I had ever thought of making my own paint, I first thought he was crazy. But then it got me thinking that it might be possible," said Stebbe.
Over the next months, Stebbe and Hill met with other retailers* to consider the launch of a new line of premium paints. In October 1998, they established The Coatings Alliance.
The Coatings Alliance comprised a winning combination, Hill's wealth of coatings industry experience-from formulations to distribution to manufacturing, and the retailers frontline contact with designers, contractors and other customers. Based on market research, an understanding of the industry and the capabilities of the retailers, they created a unique business model and plan that made every retailer-member a part owner of the company with a significant role in determining the direction for the new paint, C2 Collections of Color.
European Tinting System
The top priority was to create a better paint formulation. Hill and the retailers decided on a sophisticated European tinting system, which contained more colorants and pigments than any other tinting system used in North America. With colorants high in strength, saturation and opacity, C2 would deliver the best hiding power in the industry. This meant less painting to achieve deep tones. The many colorants made C2 exceptionally light fast and fade-resistant, so the paint would look better longer. Resins and other highly refined compounds provided for a harder finish and added to C2's washability and scrub resistance. Certain C2 shades were formulated using 7 or 8 different pigments. The result-complex hues that change under different lighting conditions, colors imbued with subtle undertones that would change in daylight, shadow and evening lighting.
"
Interesting that you don't have them in Missouri yet. I know they're in Canada. It is absolutely true that their luminosity and depth blow everything else out of the water. I think part of it is also their European tinting system. But 10 years total is not sufficient time to judge how well their exterior paint holds up.BTW, even though my local BM (Benjamin Moore) store told me they could custom match C2's color, they only came remotely close. BM's color looked flat (lacked depth) by comparison, not to mention being unable to equal the dark value of the C2 paint. Even the color was off. And this after taking it back to try and get it closer. Big disappointment.
Edited 11/9/2008 4:31 pm by redoak
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