Dear CC,
Over the years I've tried many paints. The best I've used are Pride Paints, Porter Paints and Sherwin Williams. While the quality of the paint counts alot, the prep work counts for half of the job. If you do the prep work well, the paint will do it's job. As the old saying goes, No matter what paint you use, if you try to paint a pig, it still looks like a pig. The pig won't like it much either.
Len

The "BEST" paint is usually a mater of opinion, you are right to stay away from the big box stores/discounters. Bend the ear of professional painters in your area, ask them what brands they use. They will all come up with a differnt brand.
Len is right prep, prep, prep, if you can see it in the primer it will be double in the top coat.

Both of the above are correct that (1) the prep work determines the quality of the final job more than the paint you use; (2)there are many top-quality paints and just as many opinions as to which are the best.

Wash the surface if it has not been painted in a long time or has residue, grease or anything else on it. Scrape all chipping paint and sand it smooth. Make sure all seams are level and even; if not, makes them even. Don't rely on masking tape, alone to create a straight line; the paint will seep. Those thing determine the quality of a paint job much more than the paint you use.

Sherwin Williams and Benjamin Moore have always been highly recommended. They are also the most popular/well-known of premium paints. There also might be local paints in your area that are just as good that I and of which most people on this list have never heard.

I have also had good luck with the ordinary (non-textured) Ralph Lauren paints available at Home Depot, although some curse them. I was able to cover a light color with a dark color and then back again from a dark color to a light color in one coat each. Nice, smooth, creamy, strong finish, as well. Rumor has it that it is manufactured by Sherwin Williams, but a Sherwin Williams rep to whom I spoke denied it, and there is nothing on the can mentioning Sherwin Williams.

There is a permanent paint that's interior and exterior with ceramic content. It's called Liquid Ceramic and can be found at www.paintonce.com it is also R-24. It's well worth the money because you just paint once not over and over. It has a written lifetime warranty for the original purchaser and is a top shelf high line product.

I can't say enough good things about Sherwin-Williams, while my handy sister can't say enough good things about Benjamin Moore. We'd highly recommend either.

The Ralph Lauren paints used to be good when they were manufactured by Sherwin-Williams. However, RL gave the license to Glidden about a year ago, and there has been a definite change in quality (I recently used an RL satin, which went on poorly and left me wishing I had stuck to my SW).

I have been in construction for 30 years and 98% of the projects I have worked on the architects have specified Sherwin-Williams paint.

I work for a company that is a pioneer in Ceramic high build paint coatings, and the Ceramic Insulcoat paint they make has just been selected by Dunn Edwards in California for distribution in their stores.

This product is a 'Best known Secret' but has had reports of 30-50% energy savings from customers in the sunbelt. It's features and benefits are many, and it is listed in the Master Painter catalogue. Master Painters is the 'bible' of the paint industry, and Envirocoatings is one of the few ceramic filled products listed.

Here is the link:

www.envirocoatings.com

Look at Dunn Edwards for store locations:

www.dunnedwards.com

Overview from ECI site:

We are the future of ENVIROsmart performance coating systems. ETI manufacturers and distributes the proprietary ceramic insulcoat R:E paint and coatings systems throughout Canada, the USA and overseas. This family of products is formulated with, a proprietary formula of precision blended high performance ingredients, and have over thirty features and benefits and provide thermal barrier, long lasting, long life, lower cost and extremely high quality as well as many more features.

Long Lasting/ Weatherproof / High Breathability/ Ceramic Thermal Barrier / Energy Saving / Environmental / Highly Flexible with Full Memory/ Goes Further-Costs Less/ Easy to Apply and Clean Up and more ...

Join us in this website to find out about all of our features and benefits and our commitment to providing you with quality products and service that are the future of ENVIROsmart performance coating systems!

For more information, check out:

www.envirocoatings.com, and for Dunn Edwards store locations fo to:

http://www.dunnedwards.com/

The product is so new, you may have to call or email the San Diego head office to get information on the product.