Guy drops off his 2022 Ford Explorer with rear quarter damage. Says to my coworker "it's just a dent, you guys just bang it out right?" I had to step away before I said something I'd regret. Like sure pal, let me just grab my magic hammer and make your $8k repair disappear in 5 minutes. Anyone else get customers who think we're just cavemen with hammers?
Last week I had to pull 12 dents on a 2017 silverado door and my matco stud welder kept tripping the breaker. Swapped to the cheap harbor freight one I keep as backup and finished the whole job in 45 minutes without a single issue. Has anyone else had a pricey tool just fail on them when it mattered most?
I thought i could pop these out in 20 minutes but those Subaru clips were rusted solid and i ended up drilling every single one. Anyone else spend way too long on something that should've been quick?
I was at a shop in Detroit last month helping a buddy out, and this new kid kept laying down primer over primer without even hitting it with 400 grit. The paint started lifting after two weeks on a Chevy Silverado hood. Anyone else noticing more short cuts like this on the floor?
Paid $200 for a used Positector that turned out to be a fancy paperweight. Anyone else get burned buying tools from random guys at supply shops?
I was at Finish Line Collision in Phoenix last week picking up some supplies and got into a convo with one of their old school painters. He told me he never blends a panel unless he absolutely has to, and that most color matches fail because people don't account for how the paint lays down over time. Said he's done over 300 cars with spot repairs only and had less than 5 callbacks. Got me thinking, am I overcomplicating my whole process by blending everything?
I stopped by two different body shops in Nashville on Friday and one had their cars curing in a heated bay while the other just had them sitting in the open air. Does that really make a big difference on the final finish or am I overthinking it?
Guy had 30 years in the trade and told me to stick with Bondo for everything including some pretty deep rust holes on a 2005 F-150 I was patching up. I followed his advice for about two years until a panel I did started cracking in the middle of a Cleveland winter last January. Now I'm wondering if he was just stuck in his ways or if I was doing something wrong. Any of you guys run into a similar situation where someone's old-school advice backfired on you?
Watched a guy at a shop in Phoenix use wet sandpaper on filler and it came out glass smooth in half the time. Has anyone else been doing this wrong the whole time?
This 22 year old kid on my crew was talking about how he likes using those color matching cameras for blending. I told him I still mix everything by eye like I learned 15 years ago and he just laughed and said why not use both. He showed me his process writing down the camera numbers but then tweaking the formula himself. It kinda hit me that I've been avoiding that tech for no good reason. Has anyone else had a moment where the new guys taught you something?
I've been doing body work out of my garage near Greenville for about 3 years now, mostly small dents and scratches. Last month I counted my repair tickets and hit 500, which seemed crazy high to me for a one-man operation. Has anyone else been surprised by their volume numbers after trying a new system or tool?
I was working at a shop in Denver last fall and we got into a huge debate about waterborne vs. solvent-based paint. One old-timer swore solvent was faster and more forgiving, but the younger guys said waterborne was cleaner and matched better on modern cars. After watching a $400 Mercedes bumper get a fish-eye nightmare with waterborne, I'm not so sure. What do you all use for tricky metallic flake jobs?
Last spring I had a 1965 Mustang come into my shop for a full repaint in grabber blue. I was deciding between my old trusty Satajet 5000 and a newer Iwata LPH400 that I had just picked up from a trade show. I went with the Iwata because it promised better atomization and less overspray, but I did not take the time to dial in the pressure and fluid settings properly. First coat went on nice, but by the third coat I had orange peel and a few runs that ruined the finish. I had to sand it all down and start over, which cost me about 12 hours of labor and $150 in extra paint materials. Turns out the Iwata needed a much thinner mix than I was used to with the Sata. Has anyone else had a similar issue switching between gun brands and found a trick to get the settings right faster?
I was grabbing coffee by the counter at a shop on Route 9 last Tuesday and overheard this old estimator tell a junior guy to never trust a used blend door actuator off a salvage car. He said he had a $4,000 comeback because the actuator failed after three months and fried the whole HVAC module. Has anyone else had a bad run with used electronics like that or is it just the cheap guys pushing them?
I picked bondo (like a fool) on a 1992 Civic in Denver last Tuesday and now I'm looking at a crack already. Has anyone else gambled on filler and regretted it immediately?
I was working on an old Jeep Cherokee from the late 90s, trying to smooth out a patch weld on the quarter panel near the wheel well. Brought both files to the job, figured I'd save time with the pneumatic one. But the angle was too tight, the air hose kept snagging on the bumper, and I ended up switching to the hand file after 10 minutes of frustration. It took twice as long but the control was way better. Anyone else find that old school tools still win out on tight spots like that?
Hit 900 last Friday. A 2015 Camry rear end. Didn't even feel it coming. Now I can't lift my arm above my shoulder without pain shooting down. Anyone else hit a number like this and have their body just give out on them?
I tested 4 different budget gauges against a $600 Elcometer at a shop in Denver last Tuesday and the cheap ones were off by up to 30 microns on bare metal. Makes me wonder how many re-dos happen because people trust those $50 Amazon specials. Anybody got a gauge under $200 that actually reads consistently?
Was working on a 2017 Civic quarter panel last month, got halfway through blocking down some 80 grit and the thing just stopped spinning. Smelled like burnt motor. Had to run out and grab a Dewalt for $400 to finish the job same day. That $200 lesson taught me to stop being cheap on tools I use daily. Anyone else get burned by a budget tool at the worst time?
I was stuck in the shop on a Friday night trying to finish up a 2015 Camry rear bumper for a customer who needed it by Saturday morning. Laid down the base and clear, let it flash like normal, but I guess humidity was way higher than I thought cause I didn't check the temp gauge. Monday rolls around and the customer's back yelling that the clear is flaking off in sheets. Had to strip the whole thing down to bare plastic and start over, cost me 4 hours and a whole can of clear. Turned out my booth's dehumidifier filter was clogged, nobody told me it needed cleaning. Any of you guys had paint lift because of something stupid like moisture?
My buddy swore it'd save me $80 on a 2015 F-150 in Des Moines, but after two applications and a ruined trim piece, I'm asking: has anyone else had that trick backfire, or did I just mess up the process?
Ngl, a guy at the parts counter told me I could save time by skipping the adhesion promoter on urethane bumpers. Tried it on a 2018 Civic last week and the paint started peeling within 3 days. Anyone else get bad advice from someone who seemed like they knew what they were talking about?
I was at a shop in Portland last summer and this guy in his 60s just starts yelling at me across the floor about how I was sanding too fast on a door panel. I almost got pissed off at first. But then he walked over and showed me how my grit sequence was skipping too many steps and how I was going to burn through the clear on the edges. He said 'you can't rush the paper, kid, the metal ain't going anywhere.' I stood there for 20 minutes watching him do a quarter panel. Dude was slow as hell but the finish was like glass. I took his advice and honestly my work got way cleaner after that. Has anyone else had some grumpy old painter drop knowledge on them that actually stuck?