What are the differences in these paint types? Pros/Cons

Question

Acrylic Enamel, Urethane, Acrylic Lacquer, Base coat/Clear coat, Water-based, any others I missed.....

Answer 1

The differences are entirely chemical.  Urethane is the paint of choice for the most part these days in the automotive world, it is durable, shiny and has good UV protection.  Lacquer is very hard and brittle, it is prone to cracking/checking and fading in short time.  Enamel is primarily used on tractors, dumpsters, industrial uses where cost and ease of application are of high importance.  Basecoat/clear coat is typically urethane, its just the 2 step process used by the urethane system.  Waterbourne paints are a newer technology and are getting better all the time, they are environmentally the friendliest of the refinishing systems, it is not as widely used as urethane but with the EPA regulations becoming stricter all the time it will evolve more into the mainstream.  Epoxy is another paint, very hard, very durable... not so shiny, mainly again for industrial applications in place of enamel because it is harder and more durable than enamel.  It is primarily used on buildings, steel framework and the like.

Hope this helps.