c/auto-body-repairers

Used to hate plastic filler. Changed my mind last month.

Always swore by metal glaze for everything. Then a 2018 Accord came in with weird low spots on the quarter panel. Tried Rage Gold on a whim. Cut way better than I expected and saved me an hour of sanding. Anyone else switch fillers and stick with it?

Just found out my paint booth filters are way dirtier than I thought

I was reading through the OSHA guidelines last night for something else, and I stumbled on a stat that said most body shops don't change their intake filters often enough leading to a 30% drop in airflow. I mean, I thought I was on top of it changing them every 3 months, but now I'm wondering if that's even close. I checked my booth this morning and the pre-filters were caked with dust I hadn't noticed before. Has anyone else checked their filter schedule recently or am I overthinking this?

Hot take: you don't need a $5,000 paint booth to do quality work. Last month I finished a full respray on a 2018 Ford F-150 out of my buddy's garage in Phoenix with a $300 setup and it came out smooth as glass.

Picked a used Eastwood welder over a new Harbor Freight one and it worked out way better

Back in 2019 I had about $400 to spend on a MIG welder for my home garage. I could either get a brand new Titanium 125 from Harbor Freight or hunt down a used Eastwood MIG 135 on Craigslist. I went with the Eastwood for $350 and it came with a half full spool of wire and a spare tip kit. That thing has welded up four quarter panel patches on my old F150 and a full floor pan on a buddy's Civic without a single hiccup. The old timer who sold it to me even threw in his old auto darkening hood for free. Has anyone else had better luck buying used gear from private sellers than new stuff from the big stores?

Debate: should you fix a dent yourself or leave it to the paintless guys? Here's what happened to me.

I had a situation last month where a customer's truck got a nasty door ding from a shopping cart at the Home Depot lot. I was standing there looking at it, like maybe I could pop it out with a heat gun and some dry ice. I've seen guys do that on YouTube and it looks easy, right? So I tried it on my own car first, a 2015 Silverado, and I actually made the dent way worse. The paint started cracking and I had to call a PDR pro to come fix it, cost me $75 instead of the $20 I thought I'd save. On the other hand, my buddy at the shop swears by DIY dent kits and says he's never had an issue. Has anyone else tried the heat and cold method and had it backfire like that, or am I just unlucky?

TIL this morning at the shop that a guy I've worked with for 8 months didn't know you can fix small dents with a heat gun and compressed air

He was about to skim coat a half-inch ding on a Chevy door and I stopped him. Showed him the trick in 3 minutes. Has anyone else run into seasoned mechanics missing basic body repair methods?

Got overspray on a customer's windshield and didn't catch it until they pointed it out

Was in the middle of a rush job on a black F-150 last Tuesday, some guy needed it done by noon. I masked everything I thought needed it but I guess I got sloppy around the windshield trim. Customer comes back at 3pm and shows me a little haze in the corner. Had to spend 20 minutes with a razor blade and some compound rubbing it off while he stands there watching. Felt like an idiot. Anyone else had a customer spot something you missed right after they drove off?

Hit my 500th bumper repair today and I finally learned to stop overthinking plastic welds

I've been doing this for about 6 years now, and 500 bumpers is a weird milestone to keep track of but I started counting when I was bored one day. The big surprise was realizing that my first 200 or so bumpers I was way too careful with the plastic welding - trying to make every crack look perfect from the back side. Somewhere around bumper 300 I stopped caring as much about the back and focused on getting the front smooth. My redo rate actually went down after that. Anyone else find that you get worse at something before you get better?

Went old school on a dent pull today and the glue let go at the worst moment

I decided to try a cheap Harbor Freight glue puller on a 2012 F-150 door ding instead of my usual stud welder. The glue popped off and sent the tab flying right into my coffee mug, shattered it all over the floor. Took me two hours to clean up and I still had to weld the dent out anyway. Has anyone else had bad luck with those cheaper glue kits on thicker gauge metal?

Tried to fix a hail dent on my own truck and made it 10x worse

Last Saturday I got a bright idea to save some cash and tackle a quarter-sized hail dent on the hood of my 2012 Ram. Used a heat gun and a can of compressed air like I saw on YouTube. Ended up popping the paint clean off in a three-inch circle. Now I gotta respray the whole hood. Anyone else ever turn a ten-minute job into a week-long project?

Overheard a customer say my paint match was off by a hair on his '05 Ford Mustang

He was right about the door edge, the metallic flake was tilting just slightly under the light, so now I'm wondering if I need to revisit my mixing ratio for that silver code, has anyone else had trouble with Ford's G1 paint code acting different on vertical panels?

Wasted $200 on a cheap paint gun before learning my lesson

I bought one of those $60 Amazon HVLP spray guns thinking I was being smart. It sputtered and dripped on a 2018 Ford F-150 fender and I had to sand it all off and start over. After buying a Satajet 5000 for $200 more I finished the job in half the time. Has anyone else lost money trying to save money on spray equipment?

Spent $200 on a new spray gun and the clearcoat fish-eyed on me Tuesday

I picked up a new Devilbiss gun last week, figured I'd treat myself. Got it all dialed in, mixed my clear just right, and BAM - fish eyes all over the hood of a 2017 Civic. Turns out I didn't degrease the gun from the factory oil. Had to sand the whole thing down and start over. That was a fun 3 hours. Anyone else ever forget the simple stuff like that and pay for it?

I went back to a shop I worked at 6 years ago and the difference in their paint work was shocking

Stopped by my old shop in Phoenix last week to grab a tool from a buddy. The orange peel on their jobs now is almost non existent compared to when I was there spraying. They switched over to a higher end Sata gun setup and started using a different clear coat from Axalta. Has anyone else gone back to a place they used to work and noticed a huge jump in quality?

My uncle swore by Bondo for everything - he was dead wrong

My uncle Frank used to say you can fix any dent with Bondo and a prayer. He ran a shop out of his garage back in the 80s and never used a stud welder once in his life. Last year I took his advice on a 2010 Civic quarter panel that had a deep crease. I laid that Bondo on thick, sanded it down, and it looked great for about two months. Then the temp started changing where I live in Phoenix and that whole patch cracked right down the middle. I had to strip it all off and do it right with a slide hammer and some panel adhesive. Cost me an extra $40 and three more hours of labor. Has anyone else learned the hard way that some old school methods just don't hold up anymore?

I finally got a shop vac setup that doesn't clog every 5 minutes

After years of fighting with my old vacuum getting jammed on drywall dust and small debris, I picked up a new system last month from a buddy's recommendation out of a shop in Phoenix. He showed me how he rigged a separator bucket using a $20 Home Depot lid kit and a 5 gallon bucket, and hooked it to a Rigid 12 gallon vac. First time I tested it on a full day of sanding and cleanup, not a single clog. The bucket caught probably 90% of the dust before it even hit the vac filter. I was shocked how much time it saved me from having to stop and unclog every 15 minutes. Anyone else ever try a dust separator setup like that or do you just stick with the factory bags?

Had the worst Monday of my career last week with a bumper repair

A customer dropped off a 2019 Civic with a cracked rear bumper around 9 AM. I started sanding and prepping it, but the filler I used just wouldn't cure right in the cold shop air. Then my paint gun clogged halfway through the primer coat, and I had to stop and clean it twice. By 4 PM I was still behind and the customer was calling asking when it'd be done. Has anyone else had a day where every little thing went sideways like that?

Threw $300 at a cheap paint booth filter kit and instantly regretted it

I was trying to save some cash on a weekend respray job for a customer's Civic and bought a no-name filter set off Amazon. The intake filter started sagging after just two hours of drying time and let dust all over the fresh clear coat. Ended up having to sand it back down and re-spray the whole hood, which cost me an extra 4 hours of labor. Anyone else get burned by cutting corners on booth supplies?

I Finally Picked Between a Stud Welder and a Clip Gun for Dent Repair

Been doing body work for about 7 years now and I always used a stud welder for pulling dents. Last month I borrowed a buddy's clip gun for a door ding on a 2018 Civic and honestly it was way faster. The clip gun saved me maybe 20 minutes on that one panel alone. No more grinding down studs or worrying about warping the metal. I still kept the stud welder for bigger jobs like quarter panels but for daily stuff the clip gun is my go to now. Any of you guys made the switch and regretted it?

Wasted $400 on a cheap paint booth filter setup

Bought one of those bargain booth filters from a online surplus place and it clogged up after 3 cars, now my paint has dust nibs all over. Anyone else get burned by cheap filters and have a brand that actually lasts?

Appreciation post: That old timer who showed me why aluminum should never touch steel on a repair

Old timer chewed me out for sanding bare metal wrong back in 2015

He said I was leaving too deep of scratches with 80 grit before primer. Made me redo a quarter panel on a '72 Chevelle. Took an extra 2 hours on that job but man the finish came out way flatter. Have you ever had someone older call you out on something you thought was working fine?

Found out the hard way that most filler brands have a 2mm max build limit, not the 4mm I was using

Was reading the fine print on a fresh can of Rage Gold after a repair on a '94 F-150 started cracking in the sun, and sure enough, the spec sheet says 2mm is the safe zone - wish I'd known that before I laid it on thick on a quarter panel last spring, anyone else ever get burned by ignored manufacturer specs?

Debate with myself over plastic filler vs metal on a classic car repair

So I'm working on a 1970 Chevelle that came in with a rusted out quarter panel, right near the wheel arch. Part of me thinks I should patch it with new metal, weld it in proper, spend the extra 10 hours of labor. But the other half of my brain is like, just use quality plastic filler and move on, the customer won't notice under the paint and it saves them $600. I went with the metal route this time, spent last Thursday cutting and shaping a replacement panel from a donor car. But now I'm second guessing - what if it warps under heat from the welds? What if the guy just wanted a cheap fix and I'm pricing him out of the job? Anyone else struggle with this choice on older cars? What do you usually pick when the budget is tight but the car deserves respect?

My first attempt at using a stud welder ended with a dent the size of a dinner plate

Honestly, I figured I'd save some time on a door ding repair on my buddy's '04 Camry. I watched maybe two YouTube videos and thought I had it down. Nope. The first tab welded on perfect but when I pulled it, the whole dent got way worse because my slide hammer angle was totally off. Ended up with a crater that took me 45 minutes of hammer and dolly work to fix. Lesson learned: practice on a junk panel first, not someone's daily driver. Has anyone else had a straight forward tool backfire like that?