I referred to your magazine and ConsumerReports.org when shopping for exterior paint, but at my local Walmart I can't find the Kilz Exterior Semigloss paint from your June 2009 ratings. What happened to it, and do you recommend the Kilz Casual Colors I saw at Walmart?

Manufacturers frequently change the formulation of their paints and stains for a number of reasons, including to improve performance, lower production costs, or meet updated environmental standards, as we covered in our March 2009 report on interior paints.

The Kilz Exterior Semigloss paint we tested is no longer available at Walmart, exclusive retailer of the brand, because Kilz recently discontinued the satin and semigloss versions of its interior and exterior products. The company has replaced those paints with the multipurpose interior/exterior Kilz Casual Colors paints you saw in the store. For more information, read our June 2009 report on exterior paints and stains and see our ratings of exterior paints and stains (available to subscribers).

Although Kilz products have generally performed well in our past tests, we can't predict the performance of these new finishes. We plan to test the interior- and exterior-use versions of the new Kilz Casual Colors this year. Given our test cycle, we won't have initial results on the performance of the exterior paint until 2011 but should have initial results for interior paint by March 2010.

Among alternatives to the Kilz semigloss paint to consider for exterior application are the Kelly-Moore Acry-Shield Semigloss ($37 per gallon), available in the Southwest, and the Valspar Ultra Premium Semigloss ($26), sold at Lowe's nationwide. And while testing is not complete, the Behr Premium Plus Semigloss ($26), sold at Home Depot, and the Ace Royal Shield Semigloss ($25) look very promising after the equivalent of six years of use.—Ed Perratore | e-mail | Twitter | Forums | Facebook

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