Anyone use paint from Ace?

[Robert Adams]

So I needed two more gallons of paint to finish the trim around the house... I had been using behr marquee which is a very easy to apply paint and has been quite durable. It flows out very well when brushed. 

       Had an email coupon for Ace for paint so I decided to be nice and try to give them some of my business and it's really close... Took in the pigment codes from the behr paint along with a sample piece ttat I had painted so they could use their color matcher. 
         Well they can't use the pigment codes because they use valspar tints but was worth a try. They scan the sample and right off there is a problem. Two of them are looking at the screen and they are talking about it. He decides to pick one of the options and give it a try. It comes out pinkish. He decides to try another and it comes out way too dark. Not even close on either. 
         So I tell him not to waste any more paint on trying again. I go to depot and they pull up the Anderson code in the computer and it's perfect as usual... 


        So while in ace I also wanted some interior semigloss. Had a sample and it was way off as well so I picked a sample off the board and let me tell you there is little to choose from in off white there... The paint was their Aura line.
     
           Now I head home again... I just went out and tested the paint on a few scrap pieces of trim and a base coat on a ac return vent that I built. 
          The color is fine but the paint goes on awfully. It does not flow out well at all.  Looks like I'm going to have to spray everything to get a decent finish. 

             Am I the only one to notice that their paint is crap? I thought I'd give it a chance since the ratings on their paint are usually good and to support a local store. I guess I should have known better  when the color match for the first paint was so far off.. 

              I'll try working with the trim paint I got but if it gets too bad I'll just toss it and go back to behr. I hate working with latex paint to start and I really hate crappy latex paint.

[Cooler]

Lately Consumers Union has been giving all the best ratings to the paints from Home Depot, so that is all I have been buying lately.  Very good paint and much cheaper than the lower rated Sherwin Williams stuff.

[Robert Adams]

I quit using sherwin Williams when I had two houses turn from brown to pink. Both were for friends. SW didn't want to do anything claiming their paint was fine. Unfortunately SW now owns valspar which makes most of lowes paint and ace.

      No matter what I learned my lesson again.... Stick with Behr. All the painters I work with doing commercial work use behr as well. None of them use SW anymore. 


         Oh i ended up spraying the soffits using a wagner turbine I bought cheap as a friend has my airless. I have to say it works very well but is very heavy to use as you are holding up the paint in the cup. I prefer to spray when I can as it uses less paint and leaves a much better finish than brushing or rolling. I'll gladly spend an hour cleaning up spray equipment to avoid any use of a brush or roller.

       Course next I have to paint the brick as its ugly brick... When she picks a color... Hopefully it will look ok as I can't pick colors...

[pdb]

My wife has a very exacting (and... uh... not at all fickle, honey) taste in color. As a result, I paint interior walls often. Sometimes thrice in a row. With different colors. Until it's right. For now.

I've tried all the brands, and I'm generally happiest with the Behr as well. So just a +1 here.

Now if I could find a decent paint brush, I'd be much happier. I've bounced around from brand to brand, and never found one that I really thought did the trick. Either the handle's not quite right, or, more likely, they shed bristles like crazy. Many of them don't load up well or clean easily.

[FS7]

So I needed two more gallons of paint to finish the trim around the house... I had been using behr marquee which is a very easy to apply paint and has been quite durable. It flows out very well when brushed. 

       Had an email coupon for Ace for paint so I decided to be nice and try to give them some of my business and it's really close... Took in the pigment codes from the behr paint along with a sample piece ttat I had painted so they could use their color matcher. 
         Well they can't use the pigment codes because they use valspar tints but was worth a try. They scan the sample and right off there is a problem. Two of them are looking at the screen and they are talking about it. He decides to pick one of the options and give it a try. It comes out pinkish. He decides to try another and it comes out way too dark. Not even close on either. 
         So I tell him not to waste any more paint on trying again. I go to depot and they pull up the Anderson code in the computer and it's perfect as usual... 


        So while in ace I also wanted some interior semigloss. Had a sample and it was way off as well so I picked a sample off the board and let me tell you there is little to choose from in off white there... The paint was their Aura line.
     
           Now I head home again... I just went out and tested the paint on a few scrap pieces of trim and a base coat on a ac return vent that I built. 
          The color is fine but the paint goes on awfully. It does not flow out well at all.  Looks like I'm going to have to spray everything to get a decent finish. 

             Am I the only one to notice that their paint is crap? I thought I'd give it a chance since the ratings on their paint are usually good and to support a local store. I guess I should have known better  when the color match for the first paint was so far off.. 

              I'll try working with the trim paint I got but if it gets too bad I'll just toss it and go back to behr. I hate working with latex paint to start and I really hate crappy latex paint.

I have used all types of paints. Years ago I got plenty of Olympic paints from Lowe's and it worked out well. I've used Behr many times, both standard colors and tinted, with decent success. Recently, we started using the local Ace selection (Valspar) and it is excellent paint. The only problems I have had with them is red coverage (a problem with any paint) and a lack of mixing (my "helpers" rushed badly). The paint itself has been great. Even their low-end brand (Royal) was good.


Then again, they have about a dozen other brands that I haven't tried, so I'm not sure.

[AUswimKC]

I put 25 gallons of paint on the walls in my house recently after moving. All 25 were BM UltraSpec 3000. Best paint, hands down, I have ever used. Amazing coverage and it just looks amazing. And zero VOC. Used about five gallons of behr and Valspar on the old place. Absolutely terrible in every respect in comparison. Plus I literally had to leave all of the windows open with fans blowing for a week to air the place out before it hit the market.

[Mags®]

Wow,... where do I begin.  


First, your expectations are a bit misguided if you believe that you can bring in a label from another line of paint and match it based off the pigment codes.  Every manufacture uses different pigment lines proprietary to their paint line.  The only thing useful off that piece of information is the color and sheen that you choose from the behr line.  Anytime you mix and match colors from different lines and different paints expect there to be discrepancies.  It's like asking a ford service dept for a trim piece to a chevy.  Typically speaking, the colors from other vendors can  be pulled up and mixed however the caveat we preach is we cannot guarantee color accuracy between lines simply for the fact that it is not our line of colors.  Stating that HD can perfectly match their own color is not exactly rocket science, its their own formula....  


Now for Aura...  That isnt even a Ace Paint,...  That is Benjamin Moore paint, which some Ace's do carry, but it isn't a Ace line.  Not to mention, Aura is actually one of the best paints on the market, tested and proven in countless studies.  I have painted with every line of paint out there and to state that Aura paints like mud makes me wonder if you actually got Aura?  It is an exceptional covering paint that flows very easily and coverage is darn near complete in one coat in most cases.  The only thing I can phatom is that you are used to HD water down paint and not used to an actual high build paint?!  
  Seriously I deal with pro painters every single day, and I haven't had one come to me yet and state they like any HD Behr paint.   It's too hit or miss for their taste, sometimes good, sometimes crap.  They will use Benmo and SW all day long but won't touch the HD crap.  

As for specs, Ace's line of Clark and Kensington has been rated tops for value and quality by almost every single rating agency that test it.  I'm too partial to Benmo to use it, but its a great paint.

[Robert Adams]

Wow,... where do I begin.  


First, your expectations are a bit misguided if you believe that you can bring in a label from another line of paint and match it based off the pigment codes.  Every manufacture uses different pigment lines proprietary to their paint line.  The only thing useful off that piece of information is the color and sheen that you choose from the behr line.  Anytime you mix and match colors from different lines and different paints expect there to be discrepancies.  It's like asking a ford service dept for a trim piece to a chevy.  Typically speaking, the colors from other vendors can  be pulled up and mixed however the caveat we preach is we cannot guarantee color accuracy between lines simply for the fact that it is not our line of colors.  Stating that HD can perfectly match their own color is not exactly rocket science, its their own formula....  


Now for Aura...  That isnt even a Ace Paint,...  That is Benjamin Moore paint, which some Ace's do carry, but it isn't a Ace line.  Not to mention, Aura is actually one of the best paints on the market, tested and proven in countless studies.  I have painted with every line of paint out there and to state that Aura paints like mud makes me wonder if you actually got Aura?  It is an exceptional covering paint that flows very easily and coverage is darn near complete in one coat in most cases.  The only thing I can phatom is that you are used to HD water down paint and not used to an actual high build paint?!  
  Seriously I deal with pro painters every single day, and I haven't had one come to me yet and state they like any HD Behr paint.   It's too hit or miss for their taste, sometimes good, sometimes crap.  They will use Benmo and SW all day long but won't touch the HD crap.  

As for specs, Ace's line of Clark and Kensington has been rated tops for value and quality by almost every single rating agency that test it.  I'm too partial to Benmo to use it, but its a great paint.

  

         As for matching their computer match isn't even close. I have had depot color match a few times using their computer and it's spot on. I did notice that the tint colors in the machine at ace were quite different from the hd machine not to mention less tint colors in it. I tend to inspect machines... The sign saying no VOC etc in their pigments should have been a red flag... Usually those type statements mean an inferior product at the expense of tree hugging.

         The paint I bought is Aspire (not Aura had it on the mind as some ace used to sell it)  is made by Valspar  which is now owned by SW. There isn't Ben Moore paint available locally as SW has the market here. There is one supplier I know of but it's an hour drive. Ace only carries Valspar here.

         

           The painters I work with all do commercial no residential and they have all switched to behr from SW.  I know I like my paint to stay the color I painted it so I quit buying SW. 

     I have used the behr marquee in light tan and covered a chocolate brown and looked great in one coat. Did spot where I primed before and no difference. It flows out almost like an oil.

       This Aura paint is thicker and just doesn't flow out well. After reading some reviews and other stuff on the net it's a common complaint and most end up adding some floetrol which I don't like to do but this stuff really needs it.

        I had bought some paint in Detroit in the 90s repainting my grandmother's house which was still in the family. It was ffrom a local paint Store with their name and that stuff was very nice and the marine primer was great. Wish I could buy that today.

[Admiral]

Apparently Valspar makes all of Ace's proprietary paint lines now.....

http://www.valsparglobal.com/news/view_n...wsid=83401

[Kansas City Fireslayer]

I think the biggest take away--for everyone--from this thread and experience is to stick with the same manufacturer if you need more paint for a project that's already started.  There are many driving forces why the pros or contractors use brand X paint.  It will usually include price, performance, customer service, and availability.  Time is money and if there's an HD 2 miles from where I live and the closest SW is 30 minutes away, then Behr is what I'm pushing, slinging and selling as the best paint to any potential customer.  For what it's worth, I'm not saying Behr is bad paint. I actually think it's a good paint and a good value.

For what it's worth, Wal-Mart's "Color place" line was made by SW.  It is one of the cheapest priced paints you can buy off the shelf.  Granted, it's most likely SW's bottom of the barrel paint but it still sticks.  I painted a 100+ year old brick apartment building with it in downtown KC about 12 years ago.  I still occasionally drive by it when in the area.  After all these years, that deep brick red paint color still looks pretty darn good and it's not peeling either.  Mind you, my first shot from the airless sprayer removed any loose lime mortar and the second shot covered the rest of the brick joint.  It was a "blow and go" paint job to say the least but it's what they wanted despite all of my warnings.

The best paint brushes you can buy are Corona's.  I will take one over a Purdy or Wooster every time.