What drew me to body and paint I guess is, when a mechanic screws up no one see's it. He yanks the hood and pulls the engine,....while he's scratching the fender I just hand rubbed, And fixes it. If we screw up a paintjob, we are SCREWED out of a lot of money and work like the mechanic, but the TIME is so different. Plus he just screwed up my fender!! In other words, people drive a car with a knock, as long as it runs. But a car with great paint doesn't have to run. It can just sit in the driveway and look great!! Hey did you see my car ? Yeah it looks great! Doesn't run, but looks great!! I know, goes both ways. Lippy
Intresting post. I shoot for a perfect job every time I paint a car. My problem is I will destroy a really great panel in the persuit of it. I just spent two days in the booth on a vibrance with mid coat job that came out damn nice, but not without a fight! Some of you have listed a few things that have gone wrong (brain farts), I too have had my share of these. A gallon of K36 makes one hell of a mess on the floor when thrown out of the shaker. Don't pour wax and grease remover in your clear coat (thought it was dt 885, grabbed wrong can) Don't hit the plastic inline filter on the floor and break the airhose off of the gun. Always lock your doors and leave your phone's off when your are working on a big one. (had a customer walk in the booth one day in the middle of shooting candy) Look one more time for flys that you may have missed, they are sneaky little bastards!) Clean your gun really clean, and then clean it again. Make sure your air is clean. ( had a compressor lose a ring and start spewing more oil than the filters could handle 70 Camaro on the roof) If you knock that one nib off the base, remember to dust some base on. This goes back to the leave the phones off rule. Don't yank on the air hose, it will flip right into the bottom of the rear qt every time. I could go on and on but then you would all know why my guys at the shop think I am crazy for every rule I spout off. The perfect (not just something that came out nice) paint job is possible, but it won't let you have it quick and easy.
That's the definition of a painter who gets it & one I'd hire. I like your attitude! I/m not a shopper- Mick Jenkins @ So-Cal Speed Shop shot my last 3 jobs.
As a guy with little experience with bodywork and less with painting I can definately appreciate the work that goes into a paint job just from watching buddies over the years. I used to think I wanted a car with perfect paint. As I've gotten older I think the cars with what I'd now consider perfect paint are just too nice to drive and the car ends up owning you, versus you owning the car. Also I think a lot of the the high end cars today are just too shiny. (If that makes any sense?) They kinda look like they were dipped in plastic and that ain't how I remember even the show cars looking when I was growing up. While I sure wouldn't want a paint job today that looks like it was done by GM at 3:30 on a friday afternoon complete with orange peel & runs, I no longer want perfection either. I just want nice bodywork and a shiny paint job that you don't have to make excuses for. At the other end of the spectrum I know guys that couldn't tell the difference between an Earl Sheib $29.95 job and something that cost 20 grand. I've gone to look at cars for friends where I'm being told on the ride over "the car is perfect". They were mostly junk. I almost envy the guys that see a gooey (enamel?) paintjob complete with poor bodywork and see perfection just because it shines.
The Jalopy Journal
