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The outlook of any vehicles, from scooters to hybrid cars or exotic cars, effected by age or even accident, thus the need for painting… Disappointed by the age old look of your car or those scratch marks and dents? Sounds like it needs an auto body paint repair. Actually your car need not be scratched or dented to need a new auto body paint repair. To increase the value of a car that you are hoping to sell or just to make sure that your car looks good auto body paint repairs could be a good option.

Here are certain ‘know for your own good’ things that you need to learn about auto body paint repair. The cost for such a job is often rather high and roughly the lowest amount you get away with would cost you something like $200 – $250. However, this is something that depends on the gravity of the job. spot paint jobs are often cheaper than full body paints however, if your vehicle looks old and haggered then, a full auto body paint repair may be advisable. Since seamless repairs are now possible with new technology even a spot painting given only to the damaged area would be sufficient for a relatively new vehicle.
   
Also if you are intending to change the colour of your vehicle, beware that the cost would be very high and with almost over 10000 selections of colours available for auto body paint repairs choosing a new colour could very well be a mind boggling affair.
 
If your vehicle happens to be something like a collector car, the cost of an auto body paint repair is probably going to be astronomical. Also note that bigger firms involved in the business are able to provide an auto body paint repair at a lower cost since the cost per car would be much less since the services are provided for a huge customer base.

Before you act on the auto body paint repair of your car, it is indeed advisable to become knowledgeable about the subject matter.A simple Google search will bringforth all necessary knowlege and wisdom you need on the area. However, when decididng on a particular method or color or type of paint, it is indeed necessary to seek professional advice. Don’t settle for less or don’t settle for myths. Always seek professional advice when it comes to affairs regarding your car.

By London Vande Zande

Our first lesson here will be on the basics of pulling dents…yes, pulling dents. After all, pulling dents is one of the most challenging and rewarding of all aspects in the body shop. 

Let’s create a scenario. 

Grandma just hit the garage again backing out and you’ve got to help her out. Well first of all you’re gonna want to give her a hard time, and remind her how you really love her classic fresh baked chocolate chip cookies.

First you’re gonna want to analyze the damage. You may want to grab some thinner and clean the garage paint off to get a good look at it. With any luck you’ll be able to hammer it out. Open up the trunk and take a look. Grab your favorite body hammer, preferably the one with a pick or dove tail on the other end. Where the damage is you’ll have to be able to reach around well enough to apply the contoured dolly.  A hammer and dolly sure work well together in these situations, you may need a helper to do this or your “go-go gadget arm extension”. Tap lightly from the inside and see if you can’t walk it out together. Begin by analyzing the damaged area. You are not gonna get that dent out by hitting it in the middle. It’s a good rule of thumb to pull the dent out working your way back from the way it went in. When you have the right combination you should hear the hammer hitting the dolly, nice and clear (clean). It takes a bit of practice, but with the right tools you’ll get it. There are a variety of hammer & dolly combinations, so find yourself a cheap set of these, check out my store at Begin Autobody.com. Do this until satisfied. Again, just take your time. But what if the hammer and dolly aren’t cutting it? Then grab a bigger hammer!!. No! Keep the BFH’s in the tool box, they are used for other things. If you can’t hammer it out, try a couple of different pry bars. Sometimes they help, even if it’s only a little bit. There should be a method to your madness, it is a slow and daunting task, but it usually helps. You decide this is fruitless huh?  O.K. here’s the secret if you have a few bucks laying around especially if you enjoy doing autobody work and pulling dents. See if you can find yourself a stud gun spot welder.  This is a must have in the shop if people (grandma) keep on hitting the garage.  It’s a hand held spot welder that will weld pins to the damaged area.  This can be quite fun, but make sure you grab your basic essentials.  “SAFETY FIRST”. To get good contact with the uni-spot welding pins you’ll have to be sure to grind the damaged area down to the bare metal. This is very important as they will not hold on a half ground down painted surfaces. Pay attention to where those sparks are flying, especially near flammables such as the gas cap or door, or that 5 gallon gas can on the floor, the dog, your little sister, etc. If the damage is near this then wet a rag with water and shove it in there, just to be safe. It’s a fruitless endeavor if you now have to buy a new tail light, side marker light, emblem, and the worst of all, painting adjacent panels that were just fine a minute ago. NOTE: Use duct tape if you have to, a couple pieces here and there will assure you that you won’t cause any extra unnecessary damages to fix while you’re at it.  Alright, back to the Uni-spotter. If you’re lucky enough to have one, then you need no advice as to how to use it. If you don’t, maybe your local autobody shop will lend you theirs for a few bucks. Where the crease is, begin to run a row of pins. Place them as close together as you can. Get yourself that slide hammer and tighten it on the pins. Begin pulling the dent out, in this scenario she was backing out of the garage. Work from the rear of the car and walk the dent out, from back to front. NOTE: It’s from where it started to where it ended Keep at it as long as you like. It doesn’t have to be perfect. The body filler (bondo) we’ll be using should fill in the rest. Remove the pins with a side cutter pliers. Usually the head of the pins remain on the car. These can be ground off with a hand held grinder. NOTE: You’ll want to be sure to pick those pins up asap. They may find their way into your tire Okay!!! Great, you should be good to go. Tap in the high spots lightly, and I mean lightly. Try to avoid having to use the stud gun once again especially if it’s put away. Tapping gently all the way around the dent (nipples) will help to control the amount of residual damage applied by the hammer. Peck at it lightly using the pick side of your hammer. You’ll need to feel around it with your hand really good. Give er a good rub. Putting a glove on may help you feel the contour of panel better.It may be rough, but you don’t want any high spots. Go grab that hammer and dolly again and see if you can flatten some more of that dent out. NOTE: you’ll be putting a lot of body filler on trying to form your way around high spots or by having to pound them in after each course of body filler. I’m not being cynical, it is a woe to every body man out there. You’re just making life easier by eliminating these high spots.  Congratulations! If you did these simple steps thoroughly, you should be about done with this step. Go take a break and get some of those fresh baked cookies grandma’s got for you. Keep in touch, we’ll bondo it up real soon.

London Vande Zande is currently the owner of London’s Autobody, a local autobody shop located in South Central Wisconsin. He is also a passionate freelance writer of everything automotive at London’s Autobody being a 20+ yr veteran in the autobody and paint industry. After years of answering endless questions he has decided to write down in layman’s terms the tools and techniques to assist all who are interested in the autobody and paint industry. Whether you a beginner or the advanced, there are always little nuggets that someone will appreciate you for.

By London Vande Zande

Autobody & paint may certainly have one of life’s greatest rewards, but not without the basic essentials; so let’s live to tell about it.Paint and body filler sure smell good to some, in fact you’ll never forget the smell, but too much of anything is not a good thing and you’re not leaving.  The painter doesn’t really have that luxury, since leaving the job midway would be devastating.You don’t want to wake up hacking up a lung of dust, or worse yet paint that tastes like $%&*, so take caution whenever possible and go home feeling good. I’m not trying to scare you but it sickness and or death happens, I witnessed this once already and that says it all to me.Take the extreme caution in all things, yourself, your friends that won’t leave, and surrounding areas.How many times do you get in the middle of something and wish you had this or that, you’ll want to avoid this and avoid any unnecessary accidents.You’re gonna need these things if you want stay healthy.  You’ll certainly want a decent pair of safety glasses (I know it but you gotta protect those eyes), a good quality dust mask and a paint respirator (full face OSHA approved).  Make sure you have the right size mask as they come in all sizes.  Other things you’ll desire to have is a box of latex gloves, they won’t last long but it’s better than trying to remove paint or bondo etc from your hands or worse yet your face.  It can be a daunting task.I’ve found thinner is the only thing that will remove over spray and the stickiness from your skin. You’ll want to avoid this at all costs.Get yourself a decent set of ear plugs, and while your at it a flexible pair of gloves never hurts.  Autobody and paint can be a “in your face battle” and you’ll be glad you got prepared.Most if not all the proper equipment and tools should be available locally to you.  Next thing your gonna want to do is research the tools you need and what you already have. Tools needed to paint are much different than doing all the work (bodywork) along with it. So deciding how much you want to do and how much you would rather have someone else do is gonna be you call. If you have the money for either I would choose to buy some nice tools than pay to have work done you can do yourself. For painting a car or truck etc you’ll be glad to know you need only a few things to get you started.  Locating a place to paint and do autobody work is an essential thing to consider of course, you can do it outside I suppose, if you’re in California, but either way you’re gonna need yourself a good air compressor, at least a 5-6 hp with a holding capacity of 60 gallons min.  You’ll be painting and sanding sometimes for an hour or longer, granted there are breaks, but let’s not wreck the air compressor today, so keep that in mind, I’ll go further into detail in a later article.  Get yourself ready, your autobody and paint basic essentials have now made you ready to begin autobody.

London Vande Zande is currently the owner of London’s Autobody, a local autobody shop located in South Central Wisconsin. He is also a passionate freelance writer of everything automotive being a 20+ yr. veteran in the autobody and paint industry. After years of answering endless questions He has decided to write down in laments terms the tools and techniques to assist all interested in the autobody and paint industry, whether a hobbyist or professional, there is always a shortcut, new product, or just something you never new before.

To see more articles by London and other authors, please subscribe or visit: www.beginautobody.com – www.londonsautobody.com

In today’s pacy world, an automobile is a requirement to find a way around.  Unfortunately, autos break down and need to be mended. 

Or they get involved in accidents and suffer from body damage.  If you live in Boulder and you must bring your vehicle to a correct shop for body work, where should you get your car repaired? 

Naturally, your first answer would be, a Boulder auto body shop, maybe.  But what if you want to commute to Denver to get to work or to school?  Then it would probably be simpler for you to go to an auto repair shop in Broomfield. 

Let’s have a look at the distances.  The space between Boulder to Denver is roughly thirty miles while that between Broomfield and Denver is only 14 miles. 

Thus, the commute from Broomfield would be shorter than if you took the bus from Denver. 

In provisions of travel time, this suggests it would take you between 20 to thirty minutes to Denver from Broomfield, versus forty to 1 hour from Boulder, depending on the traffic. 

Therefore, it makes more sense to employ a Broomfield instead of a Boulder auto body shop. 

Once you’ve decided where, you currently have to decide which car body shop to give your business to.  You can ask for referrals from relatives and buddies to lead you in the right direction, but the final decision is yours.  How does one make it? 

First, visit the shop and see if they have all the mandatory equipment for the repair job, such as the frame machine and paint booths. 

Note the condition of the hardware does it look contemporary and dependable?  And the facility is it neat?  Does the office prominently display its certification documents?  Are the fees for standard roles posted in the office? 

Then, ask the manager if the store accepts insurance claims and what the estimate for the job will be.  Guesstimates for vehicle body repair roles include the cost of labor, parts, fees and varied charges. 

The staff of the store should be prepared to take the time to elucidate to you the work that needs to be done. 

The store should also offer warranties on their work as a guarantee the correct will be done right. 

Compare guesses from many shops to get the hottest deal.  If you are feeling ok with a specific shop but find their guess too high, you may also ask them if they are willing to match a lower guess from another shop. 

If you have decided to use a Broomfield shop rather than a Boulder vehicle body shop, try SVE AutoBody

SVE is one of the top auto body consultants in the Denver metro area, and the shop is easily accessed from both Boulder and Longmont.  Their standard charges are mentioned on their index page, giving you a general concept of how much the repair job would cost. 

SVE will even provide you with a 76-page downloadable e-book crammed with tips on buying and keeping up your vehicle.  So, if you want auto body fix, SVE should be your first choice.