I have been fighting with this silver pearl for months on customer cars. Last Tuesday at the shop I decided to slow down and really study the factory chip under different lighting before mixing. Turns out I was adding too much blue toner every single time. Man it felt good when the customer walked in, looked at the repair, and just nodded without saying a word. Anybody else have a paint code that gave them fits for way too long?
I spent $750 on a Hypertherm Powermax30 about 14 months ago thinking it would speed up my work on quarter panels. Honestly it's been sitting in the corner gathering dust because I still reach for my old sawzall for most cuts. I just don't see the value unless you're doing heavy frame stuff every day. Anyone else regret a big tool purchase like that?
Did this for years. Always filled it to the brim. Thought I was saving time on refills. Last week my buddy Dave watched me spray a bumper and said "you know that's why you're getting runs, right?" He was right. Half full gives way better control. Has anyone else had a simple habit change fix their paint work?
Some guy at the shop was watching me pull a quarter panel on a 2018 Civic and goes 'why don't you just pop it out from behind?'... I had to bite my tongue for a solid 10 seconds before explaining unibody structure and paint layers to him. How do you handle customers who think body work is as simple as fixing a fridge door?
One trip hauling a bumper across town and I finally got why the cam buckle just locks tighter without fighting the slack, has anyone else made that switch and felt stupid for waiting so long?
I was reading a trade magazine last week, and it said that 40 percent of paint failures on heavy truck panels start from filler shrinkage. That number stopped me cold because I've been using body filler on big dents for years without thinking much about it. On one side, filler is fast and cheap for a $200 job on an old F-150. But the other side says maybe we should be pushing customers toward new panels or metal work more often. How do you decide where to draw that line in your shop?
I was spraying a 2020 silver Accord hood last Thursday when my Devillbiss gun just stopped mid pass. No splutter, no nothing, just dead. Turns out the air valve stem snapped clean off inside the trigger assembly. Had to run to the nearest supplier 20 min away and grab a backup gun I barely trust. Took an extra hour to dial in the pattern and the clear flashed a bit funny in one spot. Anyone have a go-to fix for worn out air valves before they snap like that?
A painter I respect watched me shoot a hood last week and said I was laying it on like I was trying to fill a swimming pool. I cut back my fluid tip and slowed down my passes and now my orange peel is way more controlled. Anyone else have a pro drop a piece of advice that seemed small but made a big difference in their finish work?
Tried the Festool ETS EC 150 on a fender repair last week and went right back to my old Hutchins air sander because the electric one bogs down way too fast under heavy pressure.
A guy named Frank with 30 years at a shop in Columbus told me I was oversanding my primer coats. I was hitting it with 400 grit every time but he said just knock the nibs off with 600 and leave the rest alone. Tried his way on a BMW hood last week and the metallic laid down way smoother with no sand scratches showing through. Anybody else been told to ease up on the sanding between coats?
Guy rolls into my shop in Phoenix last Tuesday with a faded 1986 Monte Carlo SS and hands me a Polaroid from his glove box showing the car brand new, saying he wants it to look just like that again, and I had to explain that lacquer paint from 40 years ago just doesn't exist anymore - has anyone else had a customer bring in old photos expecting a perfect match?
Had a nasty hail ding on my old F-150 fender and remembered some guy at the shop mentioning thermal shock. Heated it up with the wife's hair dryer then blasted it with upside-down canned air and it popped right out, no filler needed. Anybody ever try this on a crease or is it strictly round dents?
I bought a no-name HVLP gun off Amazon for about $40 last spring thinking I was being smart... figured a gun is a gun right? First couple jobs it laid down okay but on this silver metallic Toyota I had to do last week it just started spitting and fisheyeing all over. I spent almost 3 hours wet sanding and rebuffing the whole driver side to get the junk out. The local paint supply guy told me the internal passages are rough on the cheap ones and they trap moisture and debris. I ended up buying a used Devilbiss from a retiring body man for $150 and the difference is night and day. Has anyone else had bad luck with the bargain bin spray guns grabbing your clear too?
I was working on a silver Honda Civic at the shop in Des Moines and ran out of my usual 3M compound halfway through. Decided to see if I could finish with some left over paste wax I had in the cab. Big mistake. The finish looked hazy and the wax just smeared around. Had to go grab compound from the parts store and redo the whole panel. Has anyone else tested alternatives when they ran out of compound mid job?
Stopped in at my buddy's shop in Phoenix last month. Some old timer was working on a Chevelle. He pulled the whole quarter with a slide hammer and torch, no body filler at all. I always used filler to smooth things out. Watched him for 20 minutes. Metal was straight when he was done. Made me rethink how much filler I've been using. Anyone else seen this done?
Bought a cheap HVLP gun off Amazon for $300 and spent half a day fighting tiger stripes and orange peel. Anyone else had better luck with a mid-range brand under $500?
I used to just use a flat board for everything, figured it was good enough. Then I picked up one of those contoured blocks from the hardware store in Cleveland last month. The before and after on a quarter panel repair was night and day, it saved me almost 20 minutes of hand finishing. Has anyone else found that a specific block shape really changed their results?
Sucked a shop rag into the vac while pulling a dent on a 2017 F-150 and the whole thing jammed up. Took me 45 minutes to dig it out and the customer was watching me the whole time. Anyone else have a simple job go sideways like that?
I did a repair on a 2018 Civic front bumper in my shop in Tulsa back in June, used a reputable brand of filler and followed the prep steps. Customer came back yesterday and the filler was lifting at the edges, showing bare plastic underneath. Did I miss something with the adhesion promoter or is this a common issue with certain bumper plastics?
This guy named Frank who's been doing body work since the 70s saw me sanding down a big glob of filler on a Dodge Ram fender last week. He said to just stop and grab a cheese grater from the hardware store to shape it before it fully hardens. I tried it on a patch job after that and it cut my sanding time by like half. Has anyone else used one of those or is it just an old school trick that fell out of style?
Man I spent years sanding back low spots after filler dried on quarter panels and roof repairs. About 6 months ago a old timer at the shop I freelance at told me to stop using the heavy stuff for thin coats. Switch to glaze for the final skim coat before primer. No more shrink back. I can spray primer the same day now. Anyone else deal with this or am I just late to the party?
He said if you get too close you'll trap solvent and get fish-eye later. I thought he was being dramatic until I buffed a panel last week that looked perfect for 2 days then erupted in tiny pits. Who else has had a veteran's weird rule turn out to be dead accurate?
I've been doing body work for about 15 years now, started at a little shop outside Phoenix. Last week a new kid came in fresh from trade school and watched me block sand a quarter panel. He asked why I was running the DA in circles instead of straight lines. I told him that's how you get a smooth finish, right? He just pulled out his phone and showed me a video from a 3M training course. I had been cross hatching the wrong way for a decade and a half, leaving micro swirls I was buffing out later. The kid showed me in 5 minutes how running the pattern in straight overlapping passes cut my finishing time by half. Now I feel like a total hack, but my paint jobs have never looked better. Has anyone else had a basic technique flip their whole process upside down this late in the game?
I always used a standard putty knife for filler work, but a buddy at the shop swore by those plastic bondo spreaders. Grabbed a pack for $4 at Napa and tried it on a 2018 Nissan Altima trunk where I had about 1/8 inch of filler to lay down. The spreader gave me way smoother coverage with less sanding after because it didn't leave those low spots I always get with the metal edge. Has anyone else made the swap and noticed a difference on panel work?
The color match on silver metallics is way better now, but our dry times are longer. Anyone else dealing with that adjustment?