Well Lance it just depends really, on what you want to paint. See the problem with the lil 5hp ones is the reservior tanks are too small and you end up running out of pressure, then the motor kicks on and stirs dust up as it tries to catch up. You would get a fender and MAYBE a door shot with only a few coats of base before you lose pressure then your gun doesnt spray right and it can cause issues with a sudden loss of PSI(hmm kinda fitting cause we all drive evo's and they suffer from the same kind of thing LOL). As far as what compressor I would recommend??? Depends on how big you want to go cause there are so many of them at home depot or lowe's, just a nice stand up one prolly a solid 20hp and a nice big reservior, once again prolly anywhere from 60 to 80 gallon, and even then that would take some time to shoot a complete car, but could do the job. Just go to home depot and shop around and keep in mind the bigger tanks means more spray time and less time to "catch up". I think my home compressor was under 300 and I got it at Home Depot ands its almost as tall as I am and rolls around on wheels. Thats what I meant by a "stand up" compressor. Just go shop around and do not be afraid to look at pawn shops too for a nice one. Later man

Josh

 

Yeah, the ones i have been looking at are all the 60-80 gallon one, but they are only 5.5 to 7.5 hp for the price range i would like to stay in. The ones in the higher 10-20 HP are just more than I want to spend right now. I have a general idea, just wanted some additional advice, thanks Josh!

 

Yeah we have twin Behemoths at the shop, one for the paint shop and one for the body shop, I have no idea how big they are, but you can only imagine. Something else keep in mind when looking at pawn shop or at a used one, that water and oil in the air is BAD THING. You can use bulb filters that go on the end of your gun to stop any contaminets from getting to your job and those are usually a good idea. A newer compressor is not going to have as much build up as an older one, so keep that in mind too, and if you need to save for a nice one, DO IT. Never settle IMO. Good things come to those who wait.

Josh

 

Question: Is there a simple way to undo this solvent popping situation? I just got my other car painted white and I now notice these little, hard to see bubble things under the clear. Man am I pissed.

 

Unfortunately no. Needs to be repainted. But just in case its not solvent popping, go ahead and take a clay bar to it and see if it goes away. It could be acid rain. The way to tell for sure is hit it with a clay bar, clay bars are used to remove over spray, gunk, and acid rain. Acid rain is notoriosly noticable on whites. Also acid rain would look like lil bubbles with rust in the center. I am not trying to insult your intelligence as I am sure you can tell the difference, I am just trying to explore other possibilities of what it could be. And also how long ago did you get it painted??? I know my shop offers at the very least a 5 year STANDARD warrenty on anything we paint or repair, and it can be upgraded to a lifetime as well. So my friend if its definately solvent popping take that puppy back and have it redone at no cost to you. If they refuse you, take it up a notch. Find out what paint line they are using(brand) and go above their head, I almost promise you the shop will take care of it, but if they do not, the manufacture will. And good eye on spotting those, they really are hard to see. Oh yeah, if they do refuse you, and you get the manufacture, you will need to find out which paint store they go through, which one is the dealer of that brand, and then the paint store will be the one will contact the manufacture, and get the ball rolling. Good luck and if you need any more advice if they give you a hard time feel free to PM anytime. Later bro

Josh

 

I got the car back about two weeks ago and it hasn't rained once. There is definitely no rust color in the "bubbles" so I guess I'm screwed. The other part of all this is the fiberglass fenders that were painted are now turning yellow on the flat areas. If my body shop did such a bad time the first time it's strange to me to have them do it again. Anyway, I'll see what I can do, but if it goes past the shop on to the paint company maybe you know of a good painter in L.A.

Thanks

 

If you have lost faith in the shop, give them one more shot to get it right. This is not a painting advice but more of a legal advice. If they screw it up again and you have to resort to legal action, you can then say you gave them a chance to fix it, and they still messed it up. From there you could take it to a shop you trust, and once again, its on their dime. I have had to fix jobs that other shops have screwed up. As far as a good painter in LA(I do have family in LA and southern cali), but I really do not know anyone out there in the industry, BUT, just look for a solid shop wth a solid rep and the proper certifications, IE I-CAR, ASE etc etc. I-CAR is the ASE of collision repair. I hope it all works out for and good luck.

Josh

 

On both the rear doors of my Evo, I've got a one small nick in the paint. I didn't think that the nicks went all the way to the sheet metal, but I just noticed today that there is rust showing up in the grooves of the nicks. I just want to stop the corrosion and apply some type of protection to keep the rust from coming back. I don't a perfect finish. Suggestions?

 

You hit the nail on the head with the touch up idea. Thats about all you can do with it right now. Also do not be alarmed with the small rust in the grooves, because at this point is just surface rust. Just about the only thing you can do to with it right now is touch it up. If you have time stop by a body shop and ask them to mix you up a touch up bottle of paint, it should not be more then a couple of dollars. That way it will be the exact color of your car, also keep an eye on it, but I am sure the touch up will get it out of the elements for now. Also reapply the touch up as needed. That should stop the corrosion, and in future you might want to think about getting it repainted. Good luck

Josh

 

Thanks. I'm wondering if there is any corrosion stopping primer that put in the nicks before applying the touchup paint.

 

Well how big are the nicks? There are corrosion prevention products, but the "nick" you are describing sounds like a chip to me. So without knowing exactly how big or how small they are, its tough to say if you should put on metal primer. One thing you could do if it is a small chip or nick, is go and get a rust prevention primer, and brush touch it on before you put your touch up paint on it. Just a small lil dab before you brush touch the paint on there. I am going to send you a pm for future care if you do deciede to get it painted in the future.

Josh

 

Got your PM. Thanks!

 

hey ziggy_juju, i have a few questions. they mainly deal with the methods body shops use to fix specific body parts/sections.

my car was recently hit at the rear quarter panel section (passenger side). i brought it to a highly recommended shop (A rating at BBB.org).

the rear quarter panel needed to be replaced. i saw the car briefly after the new panel was welded in place. it looked like they used bondo over the weld lines. i was just wondering if this was normal. i was always under the impression that if the weld was done correctly that all that would be needed is to smoothen the weld area then just prep it to get painted.

they've already painted my car and i inspected it. it looks pretty good (but i couldn't compare the paint with the other sections since the lighting wasn't that great in the shop), but i noticed that there was a bit of overspray in certain areas, like the front door sill and trunk water channel area. i was told they would colorsand and polish the door sill area, but they never said they were going to fix the area where the water runs down at the trunk.

the thing is that normally the inside trunk crevice is a matte/flat color but now one side is glossy and one side is flat. i dont think they were planning on fixing it. should they?

they also got a bit of overspray in the taillight space (space when taillight is taken out).

is it the shop's responsibility to match the paint finish so that a person can't see that the car has been worked on?

thanks

 

WOW I hate to break this to you, but it sounds like you went to a below par shop IMO. Ok first question, YES, its perfectly normal to put mud(bondo) over a welded in fresh quarter, it shoud not take a whole lot, but you will need a little. Did you see it after it was blocked and sanded or just when it was still thick?? See bondo goes on thick(as its a filler) then it is block sanded flat. Then the painters use primer to get it perfect. Ok onto the overspray, without knowing how bad the overspray is I can not diagnose how to repair it, but let me tell you what I think they should do. If its in the freshly painted jambs, have them colorsand it and buff it to remove it. IMO you should never get overspray in your jambs if you tape REALLY TIGHT. I am very good at taping, almost gift wrapping as my friends like to tell me. Now onto the shiny-supposed-to-be-matte jambs.... This is a very common problem, but every paint shop has the appropriate materials to deal with this. If the jambs are flat, then they should be flat when you get them fixed. Rejambing a quarter is not much work so YES I would have them fix it. There are two kinds of clears SHINY and MATTE/FLAT. Actually they are the same, only in the matte clear you add a special flattening agent to make it matte. I would have them fix that. Overspray in the taillight???? What in the heck was the tail light doing on the car to begin with??? They replaced a quarter, right? So why in the heck did they put the darn thing back in before painting??? HAVE THEM FIX THAT, I dont care if you cant see it with the tail light in. I never paint with ANYTHING on the panels on the cars in the shop I work at we R&I(REMOVE and INSPECT) everything, EVEN ON BLEND PANELS. It just makes for a very high quality job. And your last question(sorry if I didnt get them in order) YES the goal of every body shop and tech is PRE ACCIDENT CONDITION!!!!!!!!! Who is your insurance company by the way?? If its Farmers or State Farm, they will tear that body shop a new one for not doing the job right. I am not saying that they are a crap shop in any way, everyone has off days, just make them fix everything. If they fix everything and its to your standard(and by the way YOU have a helluva eye to catch all that and good attention to detail for someone not in the biz) then they will be an "ok" shop in my eyes. Everyone makes mistakes so give them a chance to fix it as I am sure they will. Good Luck and feel free to hit me up if you have any other questions. Later

Josh

 

Sent to PM.