c/auto-body-repairers

6

the_jennifer•1d ago

The 47th Volvo I fixed this year had the exact same dent pattern

I hit 47 Volvo 240s this year with the exact same quarter panel dent on the driver side rear. Every single one had that little crease right above the wheel well from someone backing into a pole or a parking block. I started keeping a tally on my shop whiteboard back in March just to see how many would come through. It hit 47 last Tuesday and honestly I stopped being surprised somewhere around 22. Anyone else notice a specific car model that always shows up with the same damage?

11

rowan_hayes•4d ago

Battery relocation job turned into a 3 day nightmare on an S10

Customer brought in an old S10 wanting the battery moved to the bed. Figured 4 hours tops. Ended up chasing a bad ground issue for almost 3 full days because the previous owner had hacked up the harness under the dash. Anyone else run into a simple job that snowballed because of someone else's patchwork?

9

paul_lane80•5d ago

Messed up a blend on a metallic silver Civic yesterday

I was working on a 2018 Civic hatchback in that lunar silver metallic color. Everything was going fine until I laid down the clear coat and it came out looking like a patchy mess with weird tiger stripes. I think my gun pressure was too low or I wasn't keeping a consistent distance, but it dried all uneven and I knew I had to sand it back down and reshoot it. That added like 3 hours to my day and I ate the labor because I felt bad charging the customer for my mistake. Idk if anyone else has had trouble with metallic silver but it seems to show every little flaw compared to a solid color. Has anyone found a good trick for keeping metallics even when you're not in a perfect booth setup?

3

sandra_black•5d ago

Had a customer bring in a 2015 Camry with bondo falling out of a bumper crack yesterday

Someone before me filled a 6 inch crack with straight bondo, no flex agent or plastic welder behind it. Thing looked fine for maybe a month then popped right out when they hit a pothole. Took me 2 hours to grind all that junk out and plastic weld it proper with the fusion rod. Anyone else dealing with hack repairs like this lately?

18

alice445•5d ago

Stop using Bondo to fill plastic bumper cracks

I saw three cars come through my shop last month where someone globbed body filler over a cracked bumper cover. The cracks always come back after a few weeks because the filler doesn't flex with the plastic. I use a plastic welding kit with filler rods from Eastwood, costs about $80 but the repair actually holds. Has anyone else had customers come back complaining about this?

8

wyatt513•7d ago

Just had the worst week of busted paint jobs in a row

Monday a clear coat reaction on a 2018 Civic hood, Tuesday a run in the base on a Ford F-150 tailgate, Wednesday dust nibs on a whole quarter panel. Three jobs in a row, three different screw ups, all my own doing. I was rushing through prep on all of them and didn't catch the contamination or check my gun settings before spraying. Anybody else ever hit a streak where you just can't buy a clean finish?

24

rowanjenkins•7d ago

Appreciation post: Good masking tape is worth the extra few bucks

I was using cheap hardware store tape on a bumper job last Tuesday and the paint bled through at the edges on both sides. Had to stop, strip it, and start over. That cost me 2 hours and wasted about $15 in primer and paint. Switched to 3M Fine Line for the redo and the lines came out clean as glass. Anyone else learned this lesson the hard way?

11

tylermason•10d ago

Tried that cheap paint on a customer's bumper and it orange peeled like crazy

Had a guy bring in a 2010 Civic last month, wanted me to match the faded red on his rear bumper. I usually stick with PPG but he was on a budget so I grabbed a can of that Omni stuff from the local supply shop. Sprayed it on, looked fine in the booth, next morning it was all bumpy and rough. Learned my lesson - you really do get what you pay for with paint. Had to sand it down and respray with the good stuff. Has anyone else had bad luck with budget paint brands?

27

leo603•14d ago

That moment a customer's insurance denied the whole job after we already started

Had a 2018 Civic come in last Tuesday with rear end damage from a parking lot hit. We tore it down, ordered the quarter panel and bumper cover, got the old metal cut out. Then the adjuster shows up and says there's frame rail damage they didn't catch in the initial estimate. Insurance flat out denied the supplement because they said we should have caught it before cutting. Now I'm sitting on a car that's half disassembled with no authorization to finish. Took me two days on the phone to get them to send a field adjuster back out. The extra metal work added about $900 to the total. Has anyone else dealt with insurance pulling a fast one like this after work started?

13

shane_moore87•14d ago

Had a run of three total write-offs in one week last month

It was last month in Tampa... Monday came in a T-boned F-150, Wednesday a rolled-over Silverado, and Friday a front-end job on a Civic that the adjuster just totaled out. Every single one had frame damage beyond what we could pull in the shop. Made for a weird short week where I spent more time on estimates than actual repairs, but the check from the insurance work kept us afloat. Has anyone else had a week where the salvage yard basically took over your entire schedule?

22

the_evan•15d ago

A customer pointed out a tiny dent I missed, changed my whole check process

About 3 weeks ago a guy comes to pick up his Honda Accord. I had just finished a rear bumper replacement. He walks around the car, stops, and points to a dime sized ding on the quarter panel. Said 'you missed this one'. I was embarrassed. I had focused so hard on the bumper I skipped the full scan. Now I do a full walk around with a bright drop light before any job leaves. Even if it's just a quick repair. That one comment made me slow down. Has anyone else had a customer catch something small like that?

16

dakota787•17d ago

Threw $200 at a paint booth filter upgrade and it paid off in one day

Ngl I was skeptical about spending that much on those high-flow intake filters for my booth but the first clearcoat job dried way cleaner with no dust nibs. Has anyone else tried swapping out the cheap ones for the pricier brand?

30

dakota_fox•20d ago

Vent: fought a dent for 3 hours that should've taken 30 minutes

Had a 2019 Silverado door panel with a crease near the body line. Thought I could pull it with my stud welder and slide hammer quick. Ended up overworking the metal and had to skim coat it twice. Just ate up my whole afternoon on one door. Anyone else get stuck on a repair that looked simple but turned into a nightmare?

20

troy_gibson43•20d ago

Learned a trick for blending single-stage metallic today

Read on a forum that you can reduce gun pressure to 20 psi for the base coat to keep the metallic from mottling. Tried it on a Ford hood I was painting and it laid down way flatter than my usual method. Has anyone else dialed their pressure down for metallics?

4

dylan_stone33•21d ago

For 5 years I was sanding paint with the wrong grit sequence until a coworker said one thing

I always started with 80 grit on clear coat like I was taught at my first shop in Denver, but a guy named Mike saw me working on a BMW last month and pointed out I was making more work for myself by skipping 120. Has anyone else ever had a repair fail on them because of a dumb habit you picked up early?

12

dakota787•21d ago

Painted a whole quarter panel with the wrong hardener at my shop in Phoenix

last tuesday I grabbed the 16oz bottle of activator without checking the label, ended up mixing it with the wrong base color hardener. Whole job turned into a sticky mess that wouldn't cure and I had to sand it all off and start over. That was a $250 mistake between materials and my time. Anyone else ever grab the wrong bottle off the shelf in a hurry?

1

robert_jones•22d ago

Customer told me my filler work looked 'lumpy from 10 feet away' and I was mad until I felt it myself

Turned out they were right, so I started using a cheese grater style file instead of just sanding and it's way more consistent now, has anyone else had a customer call them out on something embarrassing like that?

10

claire_campbell•22d ago

Rant: I was dead wrong about those cheap 3M sanding discs on Amazon

For the longest time I thought those no-name discs from China were just as good as the name brand stuff. A guy at my shop in Phoenix swore by them, so I bought a 50-pack for around $12. First panel I tried them on, they loaded up with paint after two passes and left deep scratches I had to buff out. I went back to the regular 3M ones and finished the whole job without swapping discs once. Has anyone else had bad luck with those bulk packs, or did I just get a dud batch?

10

the_willow•22d ago

Last Wednesday was the worst day I've had in 10 years

Guy brought in a 2018 F-150 that he 'just needed the bumper replaced' on. Three hours later I found frame damage hidden behind the bumper that doubled the quote. Has anyone else had a customer completely miss obvious damage like that?

2

sean_martin44•24d ago

Found a trick for blending metallic paint that saved my bacon on a Corolla yesterday

Was working on a 2018 Corolla rear quarter panel in Chandler, and the metallic was spraying all patchy no matter what I did. Tried adjusting the gun pressure, changed the fluid tip, nothing worked. Finally called my old boss and he said to back way off on the reducer, like half what I normally use. Shot it at 28 psi with a 1.4 tip and it laid down perfect, no mottling at all. Anyone else run into this where the manufacturers recommended mix just doesn't work on certain colors?

16

hall.quinn•26d ago

Stopped by a body shop in Omaha and noticed something odd about their paint booth setup

I was picking up a part from a shop I sub for sometimes, and I saw they had their spray booth exhaust fan intake right next to the garage bay door. Every time that big door went up, dust and dirt got sucked straight into the booth. The owner told me they've been fighting contamination for two years. Has anyone else run into a dumb layout like this that just makes your job harder?

23

jordan184•27d ago

Debating a customer about blending panels versus painting the whole thing

I had this guy come in with a 2018 Civic in that dark metallic blue and he insisted I only blend the bumper instead of painting the whole panel. He said his cousin saved $200 doing it that way and it looked fine. I tried explaining how the color shifts with metallics and how blending can leave a line if the clearcoat ages differently, but he wasn't having it. Now I'm second-guessing myself, like is blending actually that good now with modern paint systems or am I overthinking it? How often do you guys see issues with blends on newer cars versus older ones?

20

wyatt513•27d ago

Got told by my shop foreman to use a heat gun on a stubborn bumper clip... ruined the whole panel

So last week I was working on a 2018 Civic rear bumper at our shop in Austin. My foreman walks over, sees me struggling with a stuck clip, and says "just hit it with the heat gun for 20 seconds, it'll pop right off." I aimed it at the clip area for maybe 45 seconds and the whole bumper cover started warping like a potato chip. Cost the shop $380 to replace that panel. Has anyone else gotten bad advice from a senior guy that backfired?

2

reese_fox•28d ago

Hit 1000 complete paint jobs this morning and it threw me off

I was just cleaning out my logbook after finishing up a 2018 F-150 door blend and realized I was at exactly 1000 jobs since I started tracking back in 2016. That number felt way bigger than I thought it would, considering I still mess up clear coat runs sometimes. Anybody else keep count or am I the only weirdo who tracks every single job?

21

stellam89•28d ago

Had a customer yell at me for painting his car the wrong shade of red

I still think about this guy from about 2 years ago in Phoenix. He brought in a 2017 Mustang and swore the factory color was Ruby Red, but his code said Race Red. I sprayed it Race Red and he came back furious, saying it was way too bright. I showed him the code on the door jamb and he just stood there quiet for a minute. Do you guys ever get customers who argue with the paint codes even after you show them proof?