A trip to the shops

Sometimes an innocent decision leads to heartbreak. Take this Toyota 4Runner for example. A simple trip to the shops has put the truck in the shop, damaged by an errant shopping cart.

The first two photos, taken yesterday, show the work performed to repair the dent. We sanded and filled the dent with body filler and then sanded the filler smooth. Body filler, popularly known by the trade name Bondo, is the perfect tool for repairing these small shallow dents. Properly used body filler will last the life of the car while saving the customer time and money.

Where yesterday was spent repairing the dent, today was spent hiding the repair. The third picture shows the 4Runner in the booth, masked, cleaned, and ready to spray.

The fourth photo shows the car after the sealer has been applied. The sealer is used to seal the surface and to provide the paint a surface for good adhesion. The color of the sealer is specified by the paint color and will range in color from nearly white to almost black in seven shades of gray. The color used on this 4Runner is at the darkest end of the scale.

Pictures five and six show the car after the application of the base coat, the color layer of the cars finish. The base coat dries to a near flat finish, as shown in the photos. Because of the location of the repair, this truck required blending of the paint so that the repair cannot be detected.

The human eye is very sensitive to changes in color … so long as the colors are placed next to one another with a clear and sharp line separating them. It is near impossible to mix two batches of paint and achieve an exact color match, but so long as the two colors are very close to the same color, blending the paint denies the eye that sharp and clear line and tricks the eye into seeing one color.

The last two photos, numbers seven and eight, shows what happens to the drab base coat once the clear coat is applied. The clear coat makes all the difference in the world, providing not only protection to the base coat beneath, it also provides the sizzle and pop that makes the automotive finishes some of the most beautiful paint in the world.

The paint will dry overnight in the booth, then tomorrow we will slip the door handles back on the doors and this truck will be ready for another trip to the shops. Hopefully only for purchases and not for repairs this time.

Work begins

Remember this Sentra? No? I’m not surprised … this poor little car was hammered and it has taken this long to put it right on the frame machine. But we have it back now with all the straightening work complete, so work begins on cosmetic portion of the repair.

The first picture shows Jordan grinding smooth all the welds made while putting the structure of the car back together. The welds are perfectly serviceable as they are, but grinding them smooth makes them look a bit better, more like they were when the car was built.

In the second photo I am spraying the new panels with sealer in preparation for painting. Sealer comes in seven shades of gray and each paint color specifies one of these shades. This gives the paint an evenly colored base so the paint doesn’t appear mottled from the different colors of metal. It also give the paint something to grab onto for good adhesion.

After the sealer is sprayed, I trimmed out the car. Trimming out a car is painting in all the nooks and crannies that you can’t reach once the car is put together. I wasn’t painting the entire car at this time so that is why you still see the black of the new panels in places. Later, after more of the car is assembled, these black areas will be sealed and painted … which is why the over-spray you see doesn’t matter … the panels are going to be painted that color later anyway.

Pictures four and five show some body filler in places where welds need to be smoothed away and hidden. The filler was still a bit green when these pictures were taken so it hasn’t been sanded smooth yet. We will get to that tomorrow.

Picture six shows the inside of the trunk area. This floor was completely mangled in the crash and a new one has been installed. We painted it the same color as the original floor so that after the repair it would look the same as it did before the crash.

Picture seven shows the painting process underway. This car was seriously messed up in the collision, so we are having to take extra pains to protect the interior while we paint the inside of the car. It would have been easier just to have left the factory rust preventive on the replacement panels inside the car, after all, they would be covered by the interior trim, but that isn’t how we do things at JMC AutoworX. When we repair a car we return it as near as possible to its pre-crash condition.

Picture eight shows that we also painted the underside of the car in the same factory color so that just like the inside, the repair looks as near factory as we can possibly make it.

This little car was just about as messed up as any wrecked vehicle I have repaired. But with today’s precision frame alignment machines a car can be brought back to like new operational condition. Then it is up to the paint and body men to make it look as good as it works.

Crack and dent

Like most new cars, this Scion has a graceful flowing body with very few straight lines. But that dimple just to the right of the license plate, that is a curve in the body the owner can do without.

The first two pictures show the damage … you might have to squint to see it, but its there, and more noticeable in person than in these pictures.

Picture three shows what we do more than anything else here at JMC AutoworX, what most body shops do more than anything else … sand. In the third picture the slight dent has been filled and the disembodied hand that I keep in the closet is hard at work sanding the filler smooth.

After the filler is sanded smooth and the lines of the car are restored, the repair is primed for protection. You can see the primer sprayed over the repaired area in the last picture.

After the primer dries we will run this car into the booth, get some white paint on the repairs, and it will be good to go … curves in the body where they should be … and no where else.

A little of this, a little of that

This red blooded, all American muscle car arrived at the shop today for a little TLC before the Mustangs of Burlington car show this weekend. In the first picture the car looks pretty good. But a closer look, in pictures two and three, show a few little minor dings and scrapes the owner wants to get taken care of. After all, who wants to put their car in a car show with even a small dent in the side?

Photograph number four shows the bumper removed and the small dent filled in. We’ve obviously sanded on it, but there is more sanding to go before the car will be ready to paint.

While sanding on the filler, we also sanded on the bumper to smooth out the scuff marks so the bumper will be smooth for the paint that will follow. You can see the work we did on the bumper in picture five.

While the guys were sanding away on the car, I was in the booth dressing up the taillights. We have a process where we just ever so lightly smoke the lenses of the taillights and mark lights. Not enough to reduce the effectiveness of the tail and brake lights, but the darkening adds some depth to the lights for a subtle, but noticeable, effect.

Photograph six shows the light after sanding to rough up the plastic so the tint will stick. We use a PPG tint that is sprayed on, just like paint, for durability. Like painting a car, the surface must be prepared by roughing up the surface so the paint, or in this case, tint, has something to get its teeth into for adhesion.

Picture seven shows the taillight after the tint has been applied. The difference is subtle but there. The tint is quite light from directly behind so as to not affect the light output from the assembly. But looking at if from a slight angle, as in picture eight, you can see the tint appears to darken up some, which makes the lights appear darker than they really are.

Picture nine demonstrates what happens after the lights are cleared to bring up the shine. The lights gain some depth and pizzazz that is missing from the stock taillights without affecting the performance of the lights or breaking the bank.

While I was busy in the booth, the guys finished sanding the quarter panel of the Mustang, making it ready first to prime then to paint. You can see their handy-work in picture 10. The entire quarter panel has been sanded, making the paint appear dull and lifeless. We will blend the repair across the quarter rather than painting the entire panel, then clear the whole shebang, making the repair invisible.

Blending is a technique for painting a section of the car without leaving a hard line between the old paint and the new for the eye to see. Without this blending of the paints at the edge the eye might detect any slight shift in color from the old paint to the new. It is a little bit of painters slight-of-hand, but it works. The dullness of the rest of the panel will disappear when the clear is applied, restoring the luster to the paint it had prior to sanding.

The last photo, number eleven, is a trick battery cover the owner had made. We are going to paint that to match the exterior of the car … one of these simple, but custom, touches that makes a car special.

Tinted taillights, custom battery holder … simple changes … but a dead giveaway that a true petrolhead owns this car.

Things happen in threes

This Lexus is in the shop for … wait for it … a bumper damaged in a parking lot accident. This makes three cars this week, all with damage to their rear caused in a parking lot mishap.

The first photo shows the Lexus with the rear bumper removed for repair. Not having the the bumper and taillights in a car really messes up the lines don’t you think?

The second picture is the damaged bumper. The bumper isn’t severely damaged so we will be able to repair this one. That black spot is where the paint has been chipped off.

The third photo shows the bumper after the damaged area has been sanded. The sanding process smooths out any roughness in the bumper from the collision and at the same time roughs the paint so the primers have something to cling to for good adhesion.

The fourth photo is the bumper after the primer is sprayed on. The primer will seal the repair to protect it and at the same time provide a base for the paint to stick too.

The fifth and last picture is the bumper fresh from being painted. The scuff marks and chipped and missing paint … just a memory. The paint still has to dry, but by morning the bumper will be ready to go back on the car.

Now that I have my three parking lot mishaps for the week, I don’t want or need any more this week, okay?

Showing a little skin

This Honda Accord, another victim of parking lot bumper cars, has a badly dented door. The dent is too large for me to effectively repair using a stud puller, but it isn’t damaged badly enough to warrant replacing the door. What is a body shop to do? What a body shop does is invest in some skin … a door skin that is.

The first two photos show the car as it arrived. The dent is quite large, encompassing at least a third of the door, but the dent is shallow so the fit and structure of the door is unharmed. This is where replacing just the skin, the outside of the door, is a cost effective solution.

The third photo shows the first step in re-skinning the door … removing it from the car. Unlike removing the inside of the door, taking off the skin involves more than loosening a couple of screws and popping out a few clips.

The fourth picture show Mike after he has removed the outer skin of the door. The outer skin had to be “un-pinched” from around the door frame. Now he will install the new skin, seen in the fifth picture.

The sixth photo shows the door after the skin has been attached to the door. The outer skin is held on by pinching the edge of the door skin around the edge of the door structure. Picture seven shows this pinched seam primed to protect it from rust. The seam will be painted later so it matches the rest of the car.

Photograph eight and nine are of the door remounted on the car to check for fit. If any fitment issues are encountered they can be corrected now before the door is painted. This door fit perfectly the first time so we didn’t have to adjust it.

Though the door was the most damaged, it wasn’t the only thing damaged in the dust-up. The quarter panel just in front of the rear wheel was also slightly dented. Picture ten shows the dented area filled with a layer of body filler.

Body filler has received a bad reputation from improper use. Body filler is designed to fix problems just like this one, shallow dents, and it does it very well. A thin layer of the filler is skimmed over the dent and then sanded smooth. Properly done, the repair will last the life of the car.

After the filler dries and is sanded smooth, the repaired area is primed to protect the repair from the elements. The first step in priming is masking off the areas that are not to be primed. What primer is sprayed on, primer sticks to, so you want to make sure that the area is well masked. It is always more interesting masking to protect the interior of a car, as you can see in picture eleven, because unlike the outside, you can’t just paint a little bit bigger area to cover any accidental over-spray. That is why the masking paper is creased and folded to make a near tent around the area to be primed. Photo, number twelve shows the quarter panel primed and ready for paint.

The last two photos, numbers thirteen and fourteen, show the door being prepared for paint and then hung back on the car.

Now all we have to do is get the door seam painted, get it back on the car, and get the rest of the car painted. After all, this is a “PG” rated site and it won’t do to be showing too much “naked” skin.

The hole thing

The bed of this Nissan Titan has some holes in it, drilled by the previous owner. It appears from the placement that perhaps a lift of some type had been installed. In any case, the new owner wants them repaired before they begin to rust or cause other problems.

The first three photos show the holes. You can tell from my finger in the third photo they are not large holes, but there are several to repair.

The last three photos show the holes filled and the bed masked to protect from primer over-spray. The holes were repaired by making a patch panel for the large hole and welding it in. The smaller holes were just welded up using a MIG welder. Body filler was then used to smooth the welds so after paint the repair will be undetectable.

When we get a chance, we will roll the truck into the paint booth and get these few spots primed and painted. Then the truck will be whole again.

Tired

Sometimes life just isn’t fair. Here is this brand new 2012 Nissan Sentra, and all ready it is mangled up. The first picture shows what happens when a small Nissan hits a big truck tire. In short, the Nissan loses.

The second picture shows the car after Jordan removed the front bumper assembly. Most the damage is cosmetic, but there are some broken pieces in there that are going to have to be replaced.

The bumper took the brunt of the trauma, but the fender received a little nick too. After cleanup up the wound with a little bit of sandpaper, we smoothed it over with a dab of body filler. The third photo shows the filler after it had been sanded smooth.

The last photo, number four, is the same little nicked place masked off and a squirt of primer applied to seal it up.

It has to be frustrating when your new car is banged up so early in its life. It’s nobodies fault really, but it is enough to make you tired all the same.

On the straight and narrow

On April 11^th this Camry arrived at the shop with some front end damage. After some disassembly we could see that it was, well the technical terms is messed up, behind the bumper. I sent it out to my frame guy so he could push and pull the car straight. It is back in the shop now, straight as it ever was. Now we have to repair the cosmetic damage.

The first picture shows a spot on the hood where we are straightening out a small bent place. Body filler has been applied and sanded, mostly, smooth.

Body filler has gotten a bad reputation over the years, caused by people using it for jobs it was never intended to do. Body filler is best used to fill and smooth shallow dents, not to pile on thick to fill deep dents and creases. Body filler, when used properly, can save a customer a significant amount of money by allow a shop to repair a small dent instead of replacing an entire panel.

After the dent is filled and blocked smooth, it will be primed to seal the filler and provide protection to the repair. The primer also provides a surface for the paint that follows to stick too so the repair will last the life of the car. In the second picture, the repaired area is masked off so only the area that needs it will be covered in primer.

When the replacement parts arrive this repair will be ready for paint as well. Then it is just a matter of shooting the paint and putting the car back together to make this Camry look as good as it did before the collision.

Oh! My head!

This Nissan Versa is in the shop to have its roof repaired. It is hard to see in the first couple of picture, but there are four nice dents running across the width of the car … like something fell on or crashed into the roof. You can see the worst of the four dents in the first photo. The second photo is of one of the smaller dents on the other side, opposite the dent in the first picture. There are two other dents that can be clearly seen in person, but that don’t show up in a picture, between the two dents in the photos.

The third photos shows the dents repaired. Three of the dents we were able to repair with thin skim of body filler, but the worst one required a little stud puller magic.

A stud puller works like a hammer to pull the dent out. Small metal studs are welded to the metal in the dent. The stud puller is then attached and a heavy metal weight is slid along the length of the stud puller. When the weight strikes the stop of the puller, the force of the blow is transferred to the metal of the car, pulling the sheet metal in the direction of the blow. By varying the force, and direction, of the blows, a body man can tease the metal into position.

After the dent is mostly removed, body filler is applied to further smooth the surface. Body filler, commonly known as Bondo, has received a bad reputation by people to didn’t understand its proper use or were taking short cuts. Body filler is ideally suited for filling and repairing shallow dents like on this Versa. Properly used, as in this application, the repair is undetectable and will last the life of the car.

After the body filler dried, it was blocked smooth to blend into the lines of the car. Blocking is a technique of sanding using a plastic block shaped to fit comfortably in the hand. The block holds the sandpaper even so that the block removes material only from areas that are higher than the surrounding area. Blocking allows the repaired area to be sanded dead smooth and even and to be seamlessly blended into the surrounding area so that after the area is painted, the repair completely disappears.

The last photo shows the repaired areas after the filler has been blocked smooth and sprayed with primer. The primer covers the filler and protects the repair from the elements. It also provides a surface to promote good adhesion for the paint that follows.

After the primer dries overnight we will give it a quick sand using the sanding block, to smooth out any rough areas, before it goes into the booth for paint. Then this car will no longer be a subject for Phrenological study.