My car is the victim of a paking lot hit & run so I need to have some repairs doen. Since the front facia & rear bumper were fading a bit I decided I should probably repaint the whole car.

However, with that said, I would like a really nice paint job. I would like to know how to 'interview' a paint shop to understand their facilities, equipment, & talent.

I would like to avoid 'orange peel' as much as possible and I don't want ANY overspray!!! That'll irritate the heck outta me. Also, what's a good quality paint to use. Thanks.

 

What's orange peel?

 

Orange Peel, is the rippling & dimples you see on some paint jobs. It has more to do with a less quality paint job.

But I don't quite know the body shop lingo to interview properly to build my confidence to accept a body shop.

 

I'm no expert but when I got into an accident last fall I stopped by the body shop (unannounced) and asked to have one of the managers walk me thru the facility.

I asked him to walk me thru the process and asked about specific things that were important to me like percentage chance of success of a frame pull, paint process (how many coats, what brand paint, wet sand, mobile spray booth vs. permanent, etc.) and what parts of the entire repair would be done in-house (frame/paint) and what would be out-sourced (upholstery/electrical, etc.).

Also look around at the other cars in the shop. I specifically asked about the make/model/year of my car and see if they have had prior experience so they know exactly how everything comes off and how everything goes back on. If you've got a new Lexus and all they have in the shop are 1980s cars then maybe you're in the wrong place. I tried to find a place that had cars in the same class as mine... also ask what dealer they work with, this may make a big difference if you need parts.

 

Ask about warranty and how they stand by their work.

Find out how/where they get parts. Ask to see your replaced parts when it is done.

Let them know your excpectations up front and get it in writing.

Also, computer-ized paint matching is a must with a dustless permanent paint booth.

Good luck.

Ryan

Best thing is to get recommendations. Try a post on some boards. Also, you may ask where dealers take their cars that don't have local facility.

 

Honestly, look at any Blue Saturn Ion... they have the worst paintjobs I've seen in a while (factory, even!)

 

Orange peel was not an issue with laquer paint. The newer more environmentally safer junk is terrible for it.

You can find orange peel on about any car, BMW to Kia.

If your reflection in the paint (if clean) isn't like a mirror...it has orange peel, assuming a late model car.

R

 

Well my mother's 04 Honda CRV has none at all and neither does my sister's 04 Hyundai Sante Fe nor her husbands 03 Honda Civic 4door....

I had a bodyshop manager tell me that its almost impossible to get away from orange peel. Then I talked to a GOOD shop in town and one of my friends is an employee and told me the first shop is FULL OF IT. It comes down to a quality paint job he says and if you make the excuses like that then you just suck and thats the bottom line

 

Lately many OEM paint jobs have orange peel in them. My 04 RX330 has it as well. IN fact, when I had to get repair done to my car my body shop actually had to somewhat replicate the OEM orange peel otherwise the repaired section would look too smooth. When it came out it looks like factory. When I took my car to him that was one of the things I mentioned to him if he could replicate the OEM orange peel. He paints a lot of the local show cars so I've sen him to smooth as glass paint as well. I see almost all late model cars nowdays with orange peel including Lexus.

 

true... a lot of the new cars have bad orange peel. I saw an older model toyota next to a new Nissan altima... the altima was very blurry...shiny.. but blurry. the worst oem orange peel i've seen was on a hyundai santa fe.
BMW i think has one of the nicest paints though.

 

Ok, I just learned about a new feature/term to inquire about, and it's whether the shop has a "down draft" paint booth. Hmmm, sounds interesting.

 

It would surprise me if they didn't... it's important when painting your car that there are no dust particles floating around and getting into your paint. Spray booths can be cross-draft or down-draft, describing the airflow. Cross-draft booths pull air across the booth from wall to wall (or door to wall) and downdraft booths pull air from ceiling to floor.

 

D&V autobody in chantilly is the shop i go to.. top notch work there and FULL warranty. might be a little distance from you depending on where in MD you live. good luck

T

 

Every paint job is destine to have some amount of orange peel, but if you are a good painter and use good materials you should be able to wet sand all that orange peel out, once the car is outta the paint booth. Many shops these days skip the final wet sand process and just try to pass off the orange peel as something u have to deal with, but if u guys get some really really fine grit sand paper (ie 2000) and carefully wet sand the areas, or if u have an older car and u know what ur doing you could wet sand ur whole car. I wet sanded my car when I got the rear bumper and left fender painted and I got rid of that yellowish/gold tone the pearl gets as he car ages. The car looked like the day it rolled off the lot, no orange peel on the newly painted panels and none on the rest of the car. oh yea btw u have to use rubbing compound to get those fine scratches outta ur paint, or else you’ll just have a dull finish, one more thing if u have a dark color I'd suggest using a industrial strength buffer, for it generates the amount of heat you’ll need to bring back the shine.

Tommy