Harley paint is simply PPG relabeled and marked up 100 percent.While there are many paint lines out there, for the most part they're all pretty much the same.
PPG,Dupont,Sikkens,Sherwin Williams,Diamont,Glasurette,RM,Speeze Hecker,Omni,House of Color and on and on will all tell you they are the best.When you consider there are roughly 5 plants in the world producing the chemical ingrediants needed to make up the modern clearcoat they all use,you have to question why one company charges twice as much as the other.
If your friend has a shop Im sure he's using a quality product.As such his supplier should offer a warrenty for that product in the event of any problems down the road.The red's you see on many Harleys {Red Hot/Crimson Sunglow}are actualy 3 stage paint schemes.Red hot is achieved with a gold base followed by the red flake top coat.Most of the truely dazzling reds are 3 stages.Unfortunatly red is also the most expensive color due to the rarity of the pigment required to make it.Also unfortunate that 1 quart will not do the job on a 3 stage paint job as you'll need 2 colors to produce it.
Most suppliers offer there own custom paint lines.Ask your friend to contact his rep and see about a custom color chip book.By sticking with his paint line you'll get the warrenty at a cheeper price and he'll have the ability to reproduce your color perfectly in the event of an unfortunate mishap.He also wont be able to complain about the product the hole time he's using it.