Customer Pick Up

After the painting is complete the vehicle returns to the Body Shop for reassembly. We start by assorting all trim pieces and begin to install the front headlights, grilles, bumper and all trim on the drivers door. We evacuate and check the A/C system for leaks before recharging. We had a challenging job with replacing the fuse block that was destroyed, had about 50 wires to change out. After all the trim and hardware has been installed we have a 4 wheel alignment performed we then road test and off to make ready for a detail. The customer arrives to pick up her car.

No this is not a prank, this is our awesome customer of near 15 years

Carol Crawford. She is always Clowning Around. Carol is a true Clown among other characters. She owns Singing Telegrams of Dallas. Carol recently sang to President George W Bush at a Presidents Day party.

If anyone is interested in a entertainer for any occasion please give Carol a call

at 214-381-7464 (sing) or visit her website at http://www.singingtelegramsdallas.com/

She has many characters for any occasion. Thank You Carol your awesome.

Its Paint Time.

After the sealer that was applied evenly on all panels we like to allow this sealer to dry for at least 30 minutes or more and we will lightly go over the final sealer with a soft gentle tac cloth to assure there are no lingering dust particles or lint before we will apply our base coat. If we detect any dust or lint we can at this time gently sand these imperfections out with a fine 1000 grit sandpaper before we apply our base coat. We have tested our final color match and we are ready to spray. We prepare our HVLP gun and select our desired air pressure and adjust our gun to a consistent fan pattern. I like to start for just a moment in an area like the lower panel areas to assure the gun is tuned to my satisfaction before I commit to the upper areas. Its very important to be happy with the output and the fan pattern before you really go for it. Now, lets go for it. Come across your hood as steady and even as you can while paying close attention to your fan pattern, you want a even pattern and you will overlap each coat by just a small amount. Try to keep the tip of you gun at a steady distance from your panel, a all around average distance might be 6 to 10 inches ( pay attention how your fan pattern is in relations with your tip distance) Remember we want a even look. One of the most critical item is the speed of your gun, stay consistent, don't slow down or speed up use a nice steady pace. If you see it going on to heavy (speed up). If you see it going on to dry (slow down) find that steady pace.

After you have applied the desires coats for a good even coverage you are ready to apply your clear coat. Let your base coat flash and sit for maybe 20 minutes til its not sticky on the outside before applying your clear coat. You can be cleaning your base coat gun and preparing your clear coat gun while your base coat is flashing. Now lets crank it up. We have our clear coat ready and we adjust our gun again to a little different material. I like to crank the air pressure up a little and adjust my viscosity knob up and really put it on. The first coat is a even medium wet coat that we want to let it set till its pretty tacky, this is going to help hold our next coat up. We are not concerned with pretty at this point. Our second coat we want to be a little wetter than our first, again we are going to let it set for a while because our third coat we are really going to lay it on. I sometimes will adjust my gun again so I can really get it wet and shiny and I often speed up at this point to assure I don't get to heavy. What we want is a wet look not a heavy look ( remember we want to be steady and even). Now your finished with the fun stuff and your arm is about to fall off. But your happy because she looks awesome.

New Wreck Goes to Paint Dept.

After all the cut in is done and the outer sheet metal is installed its time to ship to the Paint Department. The paint shop will clean, prime and block any body repair or imperfections that require attention. After the primer dries we will hand block the areas needed with a flat hand block with a fine sandpaper 220 to 320 grit. After all the blocking is complete we will sand the complete paint areas with 320 to 600 grit and prepare for paint. We will blow with a high power blower removing any dust particles that may be lingering in and out of cracks and seams. I cannot tell you how important blowing and cleaning is before you begin the painting. We like to blow the floors, walls, car and ourselves before painting. After we have blown many times we will use a solvent called pre cleaner. This cleaner removes any hand print, wax, or oils that could cause contamination to our paint. The car is wrapped with a clear Norton plastic and tightly sealed to car. We then take a final tac cloth and gently wipe all surfaces down to remove any remaining lint or dust. We now will spray a sealer over the complete area to assure adhesion. We are getting real close to the fun stuff.

New Wreck Arrives

The tow truck slides new wreck on the lot. The insurance is dispatched for a visual inspection. After the insurance appraiser inspects we start the process. We bring our new wreck in the shop for a tear down ( removing damaged pieces to expose all the inner damage and inspect for possible hidden damage). After the tear down is complete we notify the insurance company on any hidden damage. We will set the vehicle up on the frame machine ( anchoring the vehicle level and secure) to further check for hidden damage. We examine the damage and then we create a pulling plan. Our pulling plan will consist of restoring all upper and lower structure areas to our printed factory dimension sheet. After we have made our necessary pulls the damaged sheetmetal is drilled out and removed. With the damaged sheet metal removed we now have a better visual and we inspect for more hidden damage such as motor mounts,A/C lines, and pulleys etc. Now we start the construction part of the collision repair. We fit and align our new sheetmetal parts and prepare to weld. Before welding we like to use a weld through primer consisting of zinc and copper, this primer helps eliminate corrosion from the heated areas caused from the welder. After our welding is complete we grind the welds smooth and get ready for painting the new installed sheetmetal, we call this cut in. Now we are ready to start installing our outer panels such as our fenders, hood, and any part that is to be painted. After all sheetmetal has been installed off to the paint shop it goes.

Candy Paint

An often asked question. What is Candy paint? How does it work?
I bet you have heard the word candy apple red many times. Just what does candy apple red mean? Candy painting is so sweet, if you have a hunger for the WOW factor candy might be your answer. One of the hardest to match and one of the most expensive paints on the market. I will try to make it simple.
Candy paint is a illusion created by two differant colors. #1 you have a base color like a bright gold or bright silver that is sprayed as the base coat. I like to call this the KICKER coat.#2 The actual color coat like our red is a special blend red using transparent toners and binders. The color coat, yes its red but you see right through it down to the KICKER coat. You can put 12 coats on a panel and still see through it. The transparency of the color coat in conjuction with your KICKER color creates a illusion that leaves you thinking its 6 inches thick and the color is so vivid you just stand back in the sunlight and say WOW! The final stage is of course your clear coat. The clear coat brings it all together and helps give it the glass look and helps with the reflection in the sunlight. One of my favorite candy is the Wineberry. A deep dark maroon that looks deep and rich.