I finally broke down and bought a Devilbiss GTI last week, figured I'd try it on a fender that had a nasty scrape. The metallic laid down so even I didn't even have to blend the next panel over, saved me about an hour of sanding and a full pint of base. Has anyone else noticed certain guns just click with specific colors or is it all in my head?
I was visiting family and stopped by a place called Music City Auto Body. The owner was pulling rusted quarter panels and brazing in copper sheets instead of welding steel patch panels. Said it flows way better on thin metal and never warps. Has anyone else seen this done or is it just a southern thing?
The suction cup ripped off after 30 seconds and just left a bigger mess. What do you guys actually use for the small dings that don't justify a full shop visit?
Had to finish the weld with a borrowed gun from the guy two bays over and it took twice as long because his settings were all off, anyone else have a tool fail at the worst possible time?
A big hailstorm rolled through downtown Denver and suddenly I had 12 cars lined up outside my shop by Wednesday morning, so I pulled two all-nighters to keep up and somehow that 50th door panel came out perfectly straight, has anyone else ever had a week that wild?
Went with the stud welder cause I already had the slide hammer. The hood had this weird crease right over the reinforcement bar so glue tabs wouldn't grab good. Took about 20 minutes of pulling and shrinking but got it 98% flat. Still had to skim a tiny bit of filler though. Anyone else run into trouble with glue pulling on reinforced panels?
He pulled me aside and showed me how the cheap stuff lifts at the edges over curved panels, and I can't believe I never noticed it before since I've been doing this for 3 years now, has anyone else had a shop pro call them out on a habit they thought was fine?
My shop in Nashville finally caved and got a SpeedTech unit for $2,200 after I kept fighting with dirt nibs and dust settling on wet clear. The guy who sold it to me said it'd cut my drying time by 70% and I figured he was just blowing smoke. First test was a rear quarter on a silver Mustang. 10 minutes at 140 degrees and I could sand and buff without any of that wavy orange peel nonsense. Has anyone else found these things actually work better on metallics than plain single-stage?
I was wasting half a day on every job doing that old school buildup method, but a guy at the NAPA counter talked me into trying epoxy and I haven't looked back. Has anyone else made that switch and noticed way less shrinkage down the road?
Was fighting tiger striping for weeks before I realized the 40 minute wait between coats was the magic number, not the 20 the can says - anyone else find the printed directions are always off on the high-end clears?
I spent all Saturday afternoon tearing apart a 2014 F-150 dash because the AC only blew cold on the passenger side. Had my multimeter out, checked every ground and power wire twice, drove myself nuts. Turns out the blend door actuator gear was stripped internally even though the motor still hummed. $35 part from the local auto parts store and 20 minutes to swap it in fixed everything. Now I'm wondering how often you guys just swap the actuator first before diving into electrical diagnosis. Has anyone else been burned by that on these newer Fords?
I was working on a 2022 Ford F-150 in my shop last week, the one with the aluminum body. I had to do a blend panel on the driver's door and figured I'd just shoot it like any other job. But I got curious and checked the Ford repair manual online. Turns out they spec the primer thickness down to 0.3 mils for aluminum, which is way thinner than what I usually do on steel. If you go over that, the paint can actually crack around the rivets later on. I never thought a few extra passes with the gun could cause real failures like that. Has anyone else run into issues with aluminum panel paint jobs cracking down the road?
She backed into one of those concrete bollards at the grocery store parking lot on a Saturday. The chain shop quoted me $340 and said they needed it for three days. I watched them use one of those slide hammer dent pullers and it left these tiny stress marks all over the paint. You know how those pullers can dimple the metal if you don't heat the panel enough first. So I brought it home, grabbed my glue puller kit from the tool box, some body filler, and a can of her factory color (it's that metallic gray, GM code G7T). Spent about four hours on Sunday with the glue tabs and a heat gun then another hour with filler and sanding. Total cost was maybe $28 for the paint and clear coat. The chain shop left those dimples but my job came out smooth as glass. Has anyone else had better luck with glue pulling versus those old slide hammers on modern thin gauge steel?
I was mixing my clear coat by feel until a sherwin williams rep watched me and said "that's double what you need." My orange peel finally flattened out and I wasted so much material over the years - anyone else had a dumb mix ratio habit they finally broke?
I put a universal in a 2002 F-150 last month because it was $80 cheaper, but after three hours of fabricating brackets and trimming hoses I'm wondering if that direct-fit at $220 would have saved me more time than money, what's your experience been?
I used to always grab bondo for everything, even tiny dings that just needed a little skim coat. Read a post on here about water-based polyester filler and figured I'd try it on a 2018 Civic door last week. Stuff goes on super thin and dries in like 10 minutes without that hard shell. Cut my sanding from 40 minutes down to 15 because I wasn't fighting with high spots. Anyone else made the switch and found a brand that doesn't shrink after a few days?
Always thought it would just warp the plastic worse, but after watching a guy at the local shop fix a crack on a 2017 Civic bumper in under 10 minutes with controlled heat, I bought a $40 Wagner from Home Depot and it's been a game changer for softening the plastic before welding. Has anyone else found a specific temperature range that works best for TPO vs polypropylene?
Honestly, I had a day last month that still bugs me when I think about it. First customer comes in at 8am with a 2015 Ford F-150 that had a simple dent on the rear quarter panel, but when I pulled off the tail light I found a ton of hidden rust underneath. Then a lady showed up for a bumper replacement on her Honda Civic and her insurance company hadn't even approved the claim yet. By 2pm, my paint gun clogged on a metallic blue coat and I had to strip it down and start over. Has anyone else had a day where three things just stacked up like that?
I spent three hours trying to pull that same damage on a Ford F-150 and he had it smooth in less time than it takes me to drink my morning coffee, so what techniques do you guys use to speed up metal finishing without losing quality?
I spent 5 years freehanding paint lines on every job I did at my shop in Phoenix. Thought I was fast and it looked good enough. Then I had a customer point out a wavy edge on a 2018 Civic door last month. Made me tape off that same door and redo it to show them the difference. Now I'm torn because taping takes twice as long but the lines are cleaner. Other repairers in here, do you tape everything or just certain panels?
I bought a cheap spot welder off Amazon for $300 thinking I'd save money on panel repairs... it couldn't even fuse 18-gauge steel without leaving craters. Spent 2 hours adjusting the pressure and timing, still got junk results. Ended up taking the car to a shop that charged me $150 to fix what I messed up. Has anyone found a budget welder that actually holds up for quarter panels or is it all a waste?
I was using my DA sander on the highest orbit setting for everything, wondering why I kept burning through clear coat. A guy at a shop in Portland watched me for like 30 seconds and asked if I knew the knob on top did something. Anyone else have a tool they used wrong for way too long?
I used to just grab any cheap dust mask off the shelf for sanding. Last month I had this nasty cough that wouldn't quit after a big job. Turned out my N95 wasn't even sealed right around my beard. Spent $60 on a half-face respirator with proper cartridges and now I actually check the fit every time. Anyone else had trouble getting masks to seal right?