One way painters can save time is by making
the next paint job cleaner. By spending time preparing to paint,
the dirt can be managed and subdued. If the painter very carefully
prepares the vehicle, himself and the booth for clean paint work,
total time to deliver the car will be less.

Many painters claim they don’t have time for
all these fussy little steps, yet these same painters spend hours
the next day sanding and polishing yesterday’s paint work. Try
the following on the next two cars, and you’ll be surprised at
how clean your work can be.

Prepare the paint:

• Match the color before the car gets near the spraybooth. Use
  test panels, mix small quantities and find a blendable match first!
• Strain the paint twice. The better job your paint mixer does
  cleaning the cans of mixing tint, the less junk you’ll find in
  your color. Strain the clearcoat twice, too. Use only fresh isocyanate
  hardener – old catalyst looks like dirt in the paint.

Prepare the vehicle:

• Wash the car with soap and a drenching water rinse. Better
  yet, wash the car with a pressure washer and shoot up under the
  wheel wells and behind the grill. Make an effort to remove all
  the dirt from the car with running water.
• Solvent wash the vehicle with clean towels and a solvent especially
  designed to float the contaminants off the surface. Wipe the surface
  dry with clean towels while it’s still wet. Don’t use lacquer
  thinner or any other solvent that might dissolve the wax and grease
  and smear it around the surface. Test for a clean surface by tossing
  a cup of water on the part; if it’s truly clean, the water will
  sheet off.
• Blow off the vehicle with compressed air outside the booth.
  Open the doors, hood and deck lid. Blow out all the seams, drip
  rails, and nooks and crannies you can find.
• Use top-quality, treated, shaved and coated masking paper.
  Tape all edges and creases flat and closed – don’t give dust or
  overspray anywhere to hide.
• Double mask the car if painting a base/clear job. All masking
  papers will shed paper fibers when the paper is wet with solvent
  and flashes dry. Paint the base color and unmask to reveal the
  new paper before clearcoating.
• Use disposable wheel maskers or at least a new-looking set
  of reusables. When the wheel maskers can stand up by themselves,
  it’s time for a new set!
• Do one last solvent wipe when the car finally gets into the
  booth; wipe dry while still wet.
• Unfold the tack rag to its full 18-inch x 36-inch size and
  crumple it into a loose ball. Not only will it pick up and hold
  more dust, but it won’t leave those mysterious streaks in the
  base color – caused by pushing the shellac off the still- folded
  tack rag onto the car.
• Tack off the masking paper, as well as the vehicle, before
  you begin and between coats. Pass the blow gun gently down the
  door, hood and trunk seams at low air pressure with the nozzle
  pointed toward the tack-rag ball.

Prepare the painter:

• Wear a nonshedding paint suit. Treated paper suits or nylon
  suits will keep the dirt on the painter and off the car. Wear
  the suit only when painting, and store it somewhere out of the
  dust when it’s not in use. Wash or replace often.
• Wear a disposable, lint-free head sock. Don’t wear the same
  head covering more than a couple of paint jobs, and wear a sweat
  band when the weather is hot. Never paint with your head uncovered.
• Allow no one but the painter access to the booth while painting,
  and enter and leave the booth as seldom as possible. Keeping the
  door closed does make a difference.
• Make sure painters wear the appropriate respirator. It may
  not make the job any cleaner, but at least the painters won’t
  fall dead across the freshly painted hood if they protect their
  lungs.
• Clean the paint gun(s) thoroughly. Don’t depend on a gun washer
  to get the spray gun spotlessly clean. Super clean spray guns
  only get that way with careful partial, disassembly and hand cleaning.

Prepare the booth:

• Look to your compressed-air system as a very likely cause
  of less-than-perfect paint work. Drain the tank daily, and dry
  the air with a refrigerated air dryer or desiccant dryer, if possible.
  If you can’t do this, at least spend a couple hundred bucks for
  some correctly done air-line piping and a new trap in the booth.
  Cool the compressor pump with a window fan on hot days to keep
  the moisture down.
• Vacuum the interior of the booth. Don’t sweep with a floor
  broom minutes before you pull the car in.
• Wash off air hoses and respirator supply lines with soap and
  water every week, and tack them off before every job. Store the
  paint-booth hose off the floor, and avoid whipping the air hose
  across the floor to clear tires. Buy the 3/8-inch ID air hose
  and make sure it’s heat resistant if you force dry your work at
  high temperatures.
• Use the correct filters. Not all booth filters are created
  equal, so speak to the booth manufacturer to get recommendations
  and follow the advice. Keep an extra set of filters on hand. When
  air balancing filters near capacity, they may ‘blind’ with the
  next particle of dust – surely just when you were about to start
  painting!
• Change the exhaust-side filters (arresters) often. They’re
  loaded with the very size dirt particle you’re trying to avoid,
  and vibration from the exhaust fan can easily kick some of them
  loose.
• Install both intake and exhaust filters carefully. Air will
  always take the path of least resistance. If your lot boy doesn’t
  seat the filters exactly into their respective holes, they’ll
  allow dirt to pass.

Mark Clark, owner of Clark Supply in Waterloo, Iowa, is a contributing
editor to BodyShop Business.