How do you go about finding the best bodyshop/painting in your area?

[Ry518]

I'm thinking of completely restoring my 2006 Ford Five Hundred to new. I'm an extreme perfectionist with detailing my car(s). It's just nowhere near my standards anymore, I don't even feel like wasting my time to do standard washes anymore. Has a few dings and scrapes, perhaps needs a new hood due to the front bubbling/corrosion prob that this car is known for, someone hit me mildly last winter above the rear left fender, smashed it in pretty good and I had a small shop fix it but it was fixed extremely half-assed (any normal person wouldn't know it was ever hit but up close you can definately tell and the paint/clearcoat is quite uneven and off), few other tiny things.

I want to get all these little things fixed and possibly get the whole car re-clearcoated so I can start brand new with the upkeep (washing claying polishing protecting etc)..

How do you go about finding the BEST and most detail oriented bodyshop in your area? Everyone I ask just recommends one of their buddies' body shops or doesn't have any idea. Also if I was to get everything fixed and the whole car re-clearcoated, would some places possibly have a warranty just in case the new clearcoat reacts badly to the current paint/clearcoat and becomes a disaster?

Thanks! =)

[Ron Ketcham]

First find shops that are I-CAR Silver or better, Gold Class shops.
Second, find shops that are paint supplier certified and trained, be it PPG, DuPont, etc.
This is important, as those shops provided refinish work that is guaranteed by the paint supplier.
Long warranty if provided for the work.
Third, highly unlikely that a trained and certified shop will only apply the clearcoat. It must be taken down to remove the base and clear that are on the truck, primers properly preped and then the new base and clear may be applied.
These are you start points.
Grumpy

[David Fermani]

Ron's referring to signage like this:



One helpful thing you can do is have the shop give you a tour of their shop. Look closely in their paint shop area to see if cars being prepped for paint, cars in the paint booth and cars just exiting the paint booth have all the trim removed from the refinished panels. That, to me, is extremely important and is a big thing many shops try "cutting corners" on. They'll just tape off trim and paint around it which is an inferior repair that will lead to problems down the road.

[Shawn F.]

Ron is correct! As for the paint supplier certified, I agree here as well BUT there are a LOT of body/paint shops out there that are certified for such things as Dupont, PPG, etc and that doesn't mean crap about their quality work. At least around here. Warranty plays a big part of it though. Your best bet is to first look for the above plus ask to check out the shop. Look for cleanliness, check out the spray booth and look at their hoses and filters. Are the filters filthy or clean? Are the hoses caked up with years of paint and primer and drug all over the ground or hung up nicely and somewhat clean (hard to keep all overspray off them). Check out the brand of materials they use and their quality or the line (middle grade, high end, etc).
Also remember, you get what you pay for. If they say they will fix all the damage and respray the whole car for $1000 then I'd most likely walk away. If they say they can just reclear it then walk away. You will have to have the damage repaired, primed, entire car sealed, rebased, then cleared. That is the proper way to do it.
Just to back myself up on the info I provided, I used to work in a restoration shop doing full restorations on classics and hot rods and specialized in paint and body work. Prepping is key with paint work and when I see a very nice paint job on a car I envy mostly the body man and the materials the shop used (not so much the painter, sorry). Good luck finding a great shop. They are out there but hard to find. Once you find one, keep them because its hard to find!

[solekeeper]

Ron is correct! As for the paint supplier certified, I agree here as well BUT there are a LOT of body/paint shops out there that are certified for such things as Dupont, PPG, etc and that doesn't mean crap about their quality work. At least around here. Warranty plays a big part of it though. Your best bet is to first look for the above plus ask to check out the shop. Look for cleanliness, check out the spray booth and look at their hoses and filters. Are the filters filthy or clean? Are the hoses caked up with years of paint and primer and drug all over the ground or hung up nicely and somewhat clean (hard to keep all overspray off them). Check out the brand of materials they use and their quality or the line (middle grade, high end, etc).
Also remember, you get what you pay for. If they say they will fix all the damage and respray the whole car for $1000 then I'd most likely walk away. If they say they can just reclear it then walk away. You will have to have the damage repaired, primed, entire car sealed, rebased, then cleared. That is the proper way to do it.
Just to back myself up on the info I provided, I used to work in a restoration shop doing full restorations on classics and hot rods and specialized in paint and body work. Prepping is key with paint work and when I see a very nice paint job on a car I envy mostly the body man and the materials the shop used (not so much the painter, sorry). Good luck finding a great shop. They are out there but hard to find. Once you find one, keep them because its hard to find!

couldn't have said it better.

[Dan]

Do some online research to narrow down the candidates. Then call the shops and ask for a tour. The shops that give you BS reasons (insurance, etc) for not allowing you to see their work, remove instantly. Then go to shops and look at their work as stated above. Check out the finished products.

[Accumulator]

Ry518- You really planning to put >$10K into the cosmetics of a '06 Ford 500?

If so, I do understand, I do stuff like that fairly often. But by the time I finish making some "normal car" nice enough for me, I could often have just bought something a lot nicer and spent less money overall.