Buffing and Polishing
Everywhere you turn, it seems another vendor has a “new and improved” solution to the art of polishing an automotive paint finish. However, buffing and polishing are
skills that can improve dramatically with plain old practice.
Strategic Partnerships
No business exists in a vacuum, least of all a collision repair shop.
Color Matching Made Easy
One of the most troublesome painting problems for any painter is color match.
National VOC-Rule Update
The proposed National Rule governing the VOC (solvent) content of auto-refinish coatings has been postponed.
It’s All In The Mix: Do it Yourself and Save on Materials
Mixing your own paint is the single best way to save money on a shop’s material bill – in fact, no other individual change will make a shop more profit than in-house paint mixing.
Getting the Most from HVLP Spray Guns
Whether your shop is located in an area of the country that requires your painters to use HVLP spray guns or you just purchased them to save money, your painters need to
make several changes in reduction and technique to get the best job from this technology.
An Ounce of Preparation
A prevalent problem in paint shops across the country is topcoat peeling. Though there are several possible causes for this problem, the most common cause is also the most
obvious: poor preparation.
Constructing Solid Supplier Relationships
The notion of building a partnership with someone who is selling you something is foreign to a lot of people.
Restoring Corrosion Protection
I think we’re all in agreement that new-car construction techniques have given rust the old heave-ho. Used to be a new car would show signs of red rust in as little as 12 months, whereas nowadays, new cars carry 100,000-mile rust-through warranties.
Working Magic: Paintless Dent Repair (PDR)
PDR is only as good as the operator on the other end of the pry tool.
Explaining the Choices
It would be hard to name another product category in our industry that has more vendors than compounds, polishes and waxes.
The Vote is Cast: National Rule Regarding the VOC (Volatile Organic Compound)
In currently regulated areas, many shops had a learning curve with new low-VOC products that will be shortened considerably for the rest of us. What they discovered when they began using high-solids products was that their main problems were getting the finish to lie down smoothly and getting the paint work to dry in the