Working with Tailor-Welded Blanks
It’s important to identify the unique repair-and-replace considerations these new components create to avoid causing additional damage to a component when pulling it.
May the Best Parts Supplier Win: “Aftermarket” Parts
As I continue my “learning” curve in this industry, one of the most intriguing debates I’ve heard is the one involving “aftermarket” parts. On the mechanical repair side of the automotive aftermarket, the term “aftermarket” has nowhere near the stigma it does across the collision repair industry. Often, I’ve wondered, “Why?” There was a time
Perplexed by Paint
Turns out this topic is much like the famous Bill Clinton quote: “It depends on what the meaning of is, is.” Paint brand popularity and exact market share are touchy subjects among the refinish paint companies. No one wants to be quoted in print as having less market share than the next guy, and there’s
Repairing Hybrid Electric Vehicles
Question answered by: Mike West Recently, the Sierra Club — the environmental organization that acts as the world’s conscience when it comes to issues like protecting the spotted owl, old growth forests and, of course, global warming — weighed in with a press release titled, “The Next Big Thing From Detroit.” No, it wasn’t about
Show Me the Savings!
Insurers are writing for partial paint times on repaired panels, claiming it doesn’t take as long to apply color to part of a panel as it does to the whole panel. We all know this is bogus.
Matching Tricoat Pearls: Think Groundcoat
Making a let-down panel doesn’t solve the problem of matching tricoat pearl color. There’s got to be a better way – and there is: an invisible foundation-coat repair. If an automotive painter were asked what he did for a living, it would be fair for him to say that he’s a master illusionist. Citizen Jane
Heat Shrinking Metal
Lots of controversy surrounds heat shrinking, yet I’ve successfully used this process for 40+ years. It not only makes a damaged panel repairable (and can save a job from totaling out), but it’s also a less invasive repair.
Quality Is Not Subjective
So what if the guy down the road will do the repair the wrong
way for less money? Don’t fall into the “locally acceptable quality” trap.
Success with Single-Sided Resistance Spot Welding
Despite having tried twice, experiencing failed welds both times, I knew I could save myself time installing a floor pan by using single-sided spot welding — if I could just get it right. by March Taylor I, like most in the industry, believe that squeeze-type resistance spot welding (STRSW) aftermarket technology has finally caught up
The Heat Is on: Buying My Heat Inductor
I’ve made a lot of misguided tool purlchases through the years, but buying my heat inductor wasn’t one of them.
Life in The Fast Lane: Shop Manager Devised Method to Take Back What Was Rightfully His
Fed up with losing work to faster competitors, this shop manager devised a new method to take back what was rightfully his.
Prime, Featheredge, Fill…The Lost Steps
It takes 12 steps to prepare a repaired panel for paint prep. If you’re not vigilant, you won’t get paid for seven of them – costing you hundreds of dollars per repair.
