Panel Painting a Tri Coat Color?

[moparmusclecars]

I had the local Honda dealership call me and ask me to come look at a new Honda CR-V that they sent one of their salesman to pickup from another dealer, and bring it back on a trailer. Apparently he had to pass through a lot of road construction, and came back with a pitted (chipped) up CR-V. Anyway they want me to fix the worst panels being the front upper bumper cover, and the two front doors only. Paint code is NH603P (White Diamond Pearl). I picked up the sprayed out chips from Diamont and picked out a variance chip that looks dead on. Sprayed out a let down panel and one card with two mid coats, and will check them tomorrow against the actual vehicle. Am I way in over my head by taking this on? I am a decent painter and I have sprayed a fair amount of tri coats over the years, but they want me to panel shoot these two doors. I told them already I couldn't guarantee a match doing it that way. Am i crazy to get involved in this type of job? They don't want to pay me to blend the adjacent panels (four panels). He said I need this fixed as cheap as possible, as it is already sold. I tried to explain to him about the blending, but he didn't like painting half the vehicle. I showed him the spray out card from Diamont up against the vehicle, but he hasn't seen my spray out card yet. Just feeling like they got my back against the wall on this one. When i explained the other day when looking at it about blending all the adjacent panels, he kinda got upset and asked me if he needed to call another shop to look at it. Maybe I should have said, "Yes". Just wondering what you guys think. I guess it's possible, but "geeezzzz". Plus if I get any black specs at all in that white job, i'm in trouble. I don't have a great expensive spray booth, like some.

 

[Dub]

How much work do they send your way? If this is the first job I would have walked away. If I have to sign my name to the job then I'm doing it my way. Otherwise it might end up biting you in the ass. I have walked away from many jobs like this. Being a new car it should look as perfect as the factory sent it out. Once your spray out card is done put it in the sun and see how it looks. If it's not 100% match it will come back to haunt you.

If they send you a good amount of work then fix it right and eat the extra cost. Just remember, once you do they will expect you to do every job just as cheap next time, and every time after that, as well. It's a vicious cycle....

 

[moparmusclecars]

thanks for the replay Dub. Actually they are a small dealership, but they do send me the majority of their work which is maybe $2K-3K a month. That is the only reason why I didn't walk away, because if they call someone else, that might end my work from them. Maybe i should just charge what I can, and tear down the rear doors, and fender moldings, etc and do the blend. I will look at the spray out and let down panel tomorrow and decide. Even if my spray out is perfect, unless I can exactly duplicate that I sprayed on the car9s), I will be in a world of hurt. At least being able to blend it, not so bad, but also the chance of black specks in the white are more likely.

 

[Dub]

Even if my spray out is perfect, unless I can exactly duplicate that I sprayed on the car9s), I will be in a world of hurt. At least being able to blend it, not so bad, but also the chance of black specks in the white are more likely.

This did cross my mind as well.

Actually they are a small dealership, but they do send me the majority of their work which is maybe $2K-3K a month."

In this case I might tell them since they are a valued customer you went ahead and fixed it right. Did them a favor "THIS TIME" It may win you some brownie points... But next time I'd remind them that you did them a favor on this one and you can't work for free. Sometimes you just have to stand your ground.

 

[jeremyb]

If you want to do their work you will have to get used to that car dealer mentality. You have to draw the line somewhere. I do work for a used car lexus dealer..most i will panel paint pearl is bumpers/hoods. He knows they wont be dead on. Bumpers dont from factory....but being a used car with good history he doesnt want a whole front end painted. In his eyes it looks bad on the sale. Hey its his business...you just gotta draw the line where it starts effecting your business. He might be able to guarantee you a good bit of work...but if you arent in charge, is it worth it? Afterall its your name on it. If they are smart, they will value someone dependable and honest over the dirt cheapest around..if they want dirt cheap...send em on.

 

[moparmusclecars]

Thanks for the reply Jeremy! Around here "a bit" of work is a lot of work considering we didn't have a winter, and more than half of the shops in town are super slow. There is people laid off all over this city (about 60,000) in the body business. I'm in Montana, and we count on our winters to get us through. I think the Manager is just being stubborn headed on this one as it was already a sold unit, and they merely went to pick it up and were suppose to just deliver it to the customer upon the customer's arrival at their dealership. He usually doesn't dictate to me much as far as what i paint, etc. He isn't usually trying to pull a "I need it cheap" on most of these jobs. There has been a few times after asking me how much on a job, he has jacked the price himself and paid that amount. I may just need to suck it up and blend it out on the adjacent panels, and eat it if I want to keep their work. I think I would be fighting losing battle trying to panel paint this tri coat, even if I could spray it exactly like my spray out card. Should i just make sure to "blend" everything I spray into the adjacent panels? After spraying the sealer, blend the base out, then blend the mid coat out before clearing? Been maybe two years last time I sprayed a tri coat. If i remember correctly, blend everything out before clearing. That way there is no built up edging on the base coat or the mid coat. Guess I just been tired over the weekend thinking about the best way to handle this project.

 

[jeremyb]

Here is the technique i use for pearl blends. Offered by jayson m. And i believe the way it is taught at sikkens training school.
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The trick with 3 stages is to make absolute certain your ground/foundation coat matches the car,look in the trunk,under the sill plate or under hood and make sure your ground coat matches first by doing a spray out.

A let down panel is also great advice,and generally taking an extra panel to blend is also a must and I don't have a problem getting paid by an insurance company either.If you are doing the fender I would do the hood and door at the very minimum.

This is how I have been doing tri stage blends for over 20 years and have been successful with hundreds of them.After you spray on 2 coats of ground/foundation coat apply a clear base or orientation coat to help the pearl blend easier to your maximum blend area.Now mix your mid-coat /effect coat(pearl or candy) and reduce for spraying.Now mix your ready to spray ground coat with your ready to spray pearl coat 1:1 and apply 1-2 light coats gradually fading out to make a more uniform blend of the ground/foundation coat.

Now take your mixed and ready to spray pearl/effect color and apply one coat to your maximum blend area(this is called a reverse blend or staggering your blend) and mark it on your masking paper with a pen or sharpie.Coat #2 goes just past the fender,coat # 3 goes to say the middle of the front door but not to your maximum blend area.You should now have a smooth undetectable blend.By doing a reverse blend and marking where you are on your masking paper you know where you are at,plus you will not have a build up of pearl/effect coat in one area that will show as a color difference.Now all you have to do is clear it and be done with it.

 

[moparmusclecars]

Thanks again for the reply Jeremy. I always learn from others, so I am always open to hear how everyone else does things. I actually went up and had a talk with the GM of the Honda dealership. I first explained that it was not the correct procedure to attempt to panel shoot this brand new 2012 Honda in this fashion being a tri coat to start with. I have panel shot other vehicles for them in the past, and they came out great (although none were brand new models). I also explained that I am not set up with a $50,000-$80,000 paint booth, and was a bit concerned if I get a black speck or two in the finish it would not be acceptable. Basically, he was happy with my honesty,and he understood why I was not feeling comfortable with the job. He understood what I was trying to tell him after I explained it all. I was able to get myself out from under this particular job, and I felt great after I walked away. Before I left I asked him if this was going to create an issue with him calling me in the future for work, and he said, "absolutely not!" Although i wasn't concerned with painting the tri coat, I was a bit concerned with a possible dirt or dust issue with this particular job and color. At this point, it was a wise choice for me to walk away from this particular job. I just hope I did the right thing.