Paint match problems

Now that spring is upon us it’s hard to work inside. But I’m lucky enough to be able to walk out into the parking lot to look at paint codes or admire or to customers paint jobs. I always tell my customers to bring in their cars when they get them done. I like to see great looking cars and I learn a lot.

In the past week I’ve taken a close look at two cars with the same problem. One was a 2004 Buick and the other a 1934 Ford Hot Rod.

It is my understanding (and please correct me if I’m wrong) that Buick bodies are made in one plant and the doors hood and trunk are hung on at the Flint Michigan plant. The Buick was a pewter color that had a warm reddish cast to the fenders and roof and a gray green cast to the hood and doors.

The old Ford was a bright Yellow that a green cast to the body and a more orange shade on the doors. I asked the Ford owner if he had painted the doors separate from the body and he said he had.

When you have the car apart paint under the hood and do your door jams and any other parts that need to be painted but put it all together when you paint the outside. The other point I’d like to make is if you’re doing a repair and are having trouble getting the paint to match it may not be your fault.

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Abralon by Mirka polish your clear coat

When we think of sanding we usually think of cutting the finer the grind of the rock the finer the scratch. Mirka the Finnish abrasive manufacturer makes an innovative 6 in DA disk that uses knotted nylon instead of aluminum oxide or Silicon Carbide. Abrilon (no I have no idea what it means maybe it’s Finnish for something) comes in 800, 1000, 2000, and 4000 grit. I don’t know the application of the 800 grit but the 2000 and 4000 have some very enthusiastic fans for polishing clear coat. There is real attration for me to use my DA rather then hand sand. However not every one that tries it likes it. Here are Mirkas’ suggestions for use

  The following information is designed as a starting point when repairing
 clearcoat defects such as dirt, orange peel and runs. Final grit selection
 may be changed to meet specific application requirements. Abralon should be
 used wet....
 Place sander on the part before starting. Using moderate pressure, level
 sand the surface....
 2000 grit Abralon must be used wet. Place sander on the part before
 starting. Using moderate pressure, feather the leveled area to match
 the sheen of the surrounding surface. Abralon will remove the grit marks
 and bring the finish of the repair area to the desired gloss level.
         For ultimate gloss, repeat with Abralon 4000 grit.    

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New Hybrid Saab uses No Fossil Carbon

I think that there is a basic misunderstanding among many people about the global warming crisis that’s looming. The problem is not about heat production i.e. concrete gives off a lot of heat as it’s curing, it’s not about burning wood, it’s not about humans or animals breathing or farting. What it is about is pouring tons of fossil carbon in to the atmosphere. Fossil Carbon is the carbon that has been locked up as oil or coal for millions of years; we are releasing it faster than it can be locked up again.

The earth is not heated by human or animal activity it is heated by the sun. The sun warms the earth and that energy is radiated back off into space. Over the past million or so years there has been equilibrium between the amount of carbon that enters the atmosphere and the amount of carbon that is locked up again as plant and animal, biomass. Burning wood does not change this burning fossil fuels does change the balance. Pouring tons of carbon into the atmosphere changes the amount of heat that the earth radiates back into space.

The new Saab 9-3 is a hybrid that uses 100% ethanol. So here we have a technology that is carbon neutral. It is a technology that I hope General Motors, Saabs parent company, jumps all over. Read all about this new car at the auto channel

The Spray Max 2K clear has arrived and it's as good as advertised. This is the real stuff real urethane clear in a spray can. See my post about Spray Max 2K Primer

I just recived the new issue of Fender Bender Magazine (Vol. 1 No.2) and I got to say I like it. Best of luck with your new enterprise. They of have a web site that is not active yet.
They have a little story about a

man sentenced in Colorado for 15 months for failing to disclose that salvaged cars were rebuilt....The indictment charged that he falsely and fraudulently misrepresented facts concerning the extent of the repairs made to the cars.

I won't say it's a common practice but alot of cars go back on to the street that should be parts cars.



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Just for the record my bracket is totaly wrecked I had Duke going all the way and I loved Gonzaga.Villinava now got to be the strongest team but it would be great to see Wichita State in there.

Auto Blog reports that Volkswagon of Brazil will switch to 100% flex-fuel drivetrains that on ethanol, gasoline, or a mix thereof.

Spray Max Primer

I have a real excellent new product today. The German company Peter Kwansy has brought their Spray Max line of primers to the United States. The revolutionary step is Spray Max is real 2K primer in a spray can. We have been selling 1K urethane primer in a spray can for a while now and all though it is a major advance over lacquer primer it was still single component primer. With the Spray Max primer we are now able to a have real 2 component product in a spray can.
There are three different primers an epoxy, a direct to metal epoxy and urethane. The trick is in the can there is a smaller compartment in side the can and when you activate the two parts mix together.
These primers will give high build, good color hold out and great chemical resistance. Use the epoxy when you need the best adhesion, the urethane for maximum flexibility and the direct to metal when you are down to bare metal.
As you can see in the diagram the inner container is activated by taking the red plunger out of the cap and pushing on the bottom valve, this releases the second component and after shaking vigorously you have primer. The can says you have 8 hours to use it before it hardens.
They promise we will see 2K urethane clear soon. It's on the boat just over the horizon.


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I've been hearing about cars that were flooded in hurricane Katrina making there way around the country. I mean we all know this was going to happen it happens every time there is a flood. I tell people all the time that there are hidden problems in cars that were in floods increased corrosion and electrical problems.
With the cars that were in the New Orleans flood there is a new danger. These cars were in very contaminated water so contaminated that they are teaming with bacteria that can kill.

A Mississippi firefighter recently died from septic shock contracted through a slightly scratched finger suffered while extricating a victim from a crashed car.

The floodwaters that inundated The Big Easy tested at 50-times above the danger level for this type of toxin, which enters the bloodstream. Called sepsis, it spreads rapidly from just the tiniest break in the skin.

Thanks to Auto Body Repair News.

The Mississippi firefighter was Gary W. Kistler Sr., 65, a career firefighter with Saucier Fire Department

Read more about flooded cars at Auto Body Repair News and about Mr Kister at Firehouse.com



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C A Tecnologies

Yesterday I visited C A Technology in the high tech corroder between Denver and Boulder Colorado. C A Technology makes spray equipment. As a small company, put together in 1998 when guys from Binks R&D got together to start their own company, they have not concentrated on the automotive market. Very reasonably they are concentrating building spray guns for industry and woodworking applications.
That’s not to say they don’t build very fine spray guns for automotive applications. I was there to pick up one of their Techline guns. I was interested in an HVLP gravity gun with a 1.3-millimeter fluid tip and one of their 300 series air caps. The Techline is a mid range gun priced in the low $200 range.
I was taken on a tour of their facility and learned that all parts are made locally in Colorado machine shops. All fluid nozzles are then hand lapped and are custom assembled. Cliff Little assembled my gun. the body is mated with the Fluid nozzle. Then the appropriate air cap is installed and the guns are individually tested.
While I was there I also took a look at their top end gun the Jaguar SLP it is an HVLP gun machined from stainless steel then anodized. I also took a look at their newest gun the Techline Jr a mini gun that comes with both an aluminum cup and a plastic one and three needle and fluid nozzle set ups .08mm, 1.0mm and 1.2mm that will sell for $155.00



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Dura-Block the hand sand block caught on very quickly when it came out about 2 years ago.
It's no wonder they are affordable and if you have spent any time hand sanding you have thought there ought to be something like this. Dura-Block is made from EVA Rubber. The Ruey Lung Rubber Co tells us that: EVA Rubber is durable plastic foam material made of EVA (Ethylene Vinyl Acetate) resin.

There is actually no rubber in the EVA foam material. The word rubber was misused for the similarity of some characteristics of EVA foam and rubber foam materials.

The foam is fairly rigid (the technical spec is 20 PCF). It does have some give to it and will conform to say the curve of a roof. The blocks take stickit long board paper.
There are three new sizes 10 7/8" teardrop shape and two new long blocks.One of the blocks is 24 inches and the other is 30 inches. Tne best web link I could find is Trade Associates Inc. If any one has a better web site please let me know.


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Prevost a Better Coupler

I spent a little time the other day with Brad Wolford he’s the Regional Sales Manager for the Prevost Corporation. Prevost is a based in France with worldwide distribution. The North American headquarters are in South Carolina. They make really superior products for fluid delivery.

It’s their hose connectors that impress me. These people have taken one of the small but vitally important pieces of the auto body repair reworked it taken it to a new level. Their Prevo.S line of couplers are safer, stronger, more reliable, and compatible with all the standard couplers. I especially like the swivel option I tried out. Next time your fighting with the couplers your using and wondering when someone will make something better give these a try. My Daddy told me one time "It only cost ten percent more to go first class". Some times it makes all the difference.

I’m going to try out their air filtration and control unit next; I’ll let you know.


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Detroit Car Show

I’ve been looking at all the reports to come out of the North American Auto Show. The Detroit Auto Show is the biggest and most prestigious of the car shows at least on this continent and the manufactures, form all over the world, show their latest and greatest. The Mazda Kabura was probably the most exciting design. There were sub compacts from the Asian automakers including the Chinese Geely. I love the idea of the Nissan Urge. This is the car that Nissan is aiming at the Gen Yers. They have partnered with Microsoft. You drive around town and when you park you can fold down the Xbox 360 screen and play your road race game using the cars steering wheel brakes and gas pedal.

All the car companies were showing off their new technologies the new Toyota Camry will offer a hybrid. And the European carmakers are pushing their new cleaner diesel cars.

Ford has the new Super Chief that I wrote about earlier and the Reflex concept car. Ford seems desperate to show they will do something. While the cars they will be selling will be more of the same.

The bigger problem, it seems to me is General Motors. Even though their stock seemed to recover a little last week and their sales in China are good many analysts see serious and persistent problems at GM. In Detroit GM unveiled the new 400hp V8 Camero.

This is hardly innovative thinking and from what I’ve heard it was designed and built in Australia. If they decide to build it where will it be built in the Cadillac plant in Lansing they sure can’t build it in Flint.

Until American carmakers take up the challenge and start giving us smaller, safer, more fuel-efficient and more reliable cars. Things are not going to get better for them. Trouble for GM means trouble for the Midwest and for America.

Lets not forget that when GM made a deal the UAW to lower the total employment from around 600,000 to the current 150,000 or so and become more efficent the people that were let go were to keep thier health insurance and retirement bennifits. The idea was that GM would sell more cars because the cars would be better cars. It seems they just don't listen to what people want.

Ford's big truck will run on 3 fuels

Gizmag reports on a the Ford Super Chief a concept veicle based on a Ford F-250. It is a bold design that has a V-10 engine that will run on gasoline, ethonal or hydrogen.I will make a big splase at the Detriot ato show that opens to the public next week.


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Sherwin-Williams announces new stabilizer

Sherwin-Williams announced a new RHF series of integrated Basecoat Stabilizer for the Ultra 7000 basecoat system.

I love the Ultra 7000 system it is very user friendly has great color matches and the standard stabilizer has no reactive reducer so the paint I mix up today I can use a week form now or a month from now. For "“better bite"” on urethane bumpers or increased chip resistance I have recommended that my customers put a capful of hardener in their base.

Digging into MSDS I see that the RHF integrated stabilizer has two diisocyanates that are going to give great bite. The trade off is you lose the indefinite pot life (it goes down to 8 hours). But they still recommend using a little hardener to improve chip resistance.

There are two little things I am wondering about in the product data sheets; they say the recoat time is 7 days. Yikes can that be right I always figured is 4 hours was a long time.

And the other thing is when doing multiple colors "“light colors dry faster than darker colors", really?

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Digital Clothing for Your Car

Gizmag reports that an Autralian promotional company named Decently Exposed, has developed a product named Auto Skins. It is a digital skin for your car. The skin costs between $US1500 to $US3000 depending on the size of the car.
They have been used not only for artistic impression but also for advertising. McDonalds, Coca Cola, Nokia and AustraliaÂ’s largest fleet, that of AustraliaÂ’s telco giant Telstra.
The AutoSkin has the double advantage of forming a protective coating which can be stripped off to reveal the original, as-new unblemished paint the car came with.




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Nissan paint that doesn't scratch

There is a story on the Pysorg.com site that announced a new non scratch paint form Nissan.

"The Japanese automaker said the paint contains a newly developed resin that can stop scratches from marking the car's outer layer."

Now I can almost imagine a resin that would do that but there is always a trade off as Dom Palon keeps reminding me. What would a resin like this trade away, color life, fade resistance, how well would it stand up to chemicals. There is also one other little thing about the story they show a scratched hood when you photoshop a photo you can usually tell what the original photo was in this case it was a Chrysler Town and Country. We'll wait and see.

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The Worst Cars of all Time

I like lists. I came upon Dan Lienert article on the Forbes web site a list of the all time worst cars. Some of the cars on the list would be on anybodies list the Yugo is there and the Fiat Strada. Also the Ford Pinto, The Chevy Vega and the AMC Gremlin. There's also the 1983-1989 Ford Bronco II this is the one that defined "prone to rollover"and the 1979-1984 Oldsmobile Delta 88 remember that one General Motors tried to convert standard gasoline to diesel. Probably the worst car of all time was the 1957-1962 Sachsenring Trabant P50 this little gem was made in East Germany and I am told everyone of them smoked coming right out of the factory. The thing is for every bad car, and I can think of a couple that are not on the list, there is an internet tribute page or a car club that honors or collects them. To view the whole list go to the Forbes The Worst Cars Of All Time and place your vote


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The Colors of the Future

Dee-Ann Durbin of the Associated Press reported in the San Diago Union Tribune on future color trends.

"Blue will get more popular in the next four years as more dramatic shades are introduced, such as watery blue-greens and smoky lilacs. Yellows and oranges will get richer and warmer. Reds will glow in deep shades of cranberry and wine, and dark brown will make a comeback."

This year PPG is showing 130 new colors for the auto makers to consider

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The Colors We Buy Now

Worldwide new car sales
34% silver
14.4% white
12.7 blue
11% black
Red, green, beige and other shades with less than 10 %. But new colors are on the way.
More on that tommorow.



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