Understanding Automotive Paint Products

Understanding Automotive Paint Products

Restoring The Body On Your Older Car To Near New Condition

Stanley Garcia

The way your car looks can significantly affect the value of the vehicle and how you feel about driving it. An older vehicle with dents and dings, rust damage, or other visual blemishes can be restored, and a good auto body shop can make the car look as good or better than the day it rolled off the assembly line. 

Evaluating Damage

Before the auto body shop can begin any work on your vehicle, they need to evaluate the body and determine what they need to repair and how best to do that. Minor dents and dints are easy enough to deal with, but if the sheet metal has rust and rot, the approach may need to be different.

If a full inspection of the body is not completed, the potential for running into damage that you were not aware of could make the job more difficult. The evaluation is free at most shops and will come with a full estimate for the work, but remember that the estimate is just that. The costs could change as the work progresses, so you need to be prepared for that possibility when you decide to move forward with body repairs.

Insurance Coverage

If you are having cosmetic work done that is not the result of a collision, your insurance will often not cover the work, so while restoring the car is nice, you should be prepared to pay the bill out-of-pocket. If you can tie the damage to a recent accident, you may get some help from the insurance company, but often unless you get the work done shortly after the accident, they will not want to cover the damage.

The auto body repair shop may be able to contact them and file a claim on your behalf but be prepared that they may send an adjuster to look at the damage and determine how old it is and if it could have come from the accident in question. If it did, they will pay it, but if not, you will have to pay for the repairs yourself.

Making Repairs

Once you have worked out how you will pay for the auto body repair to your car, the work will begin with preparing the body. The dents and dings can be pulled or filled, the rot cut and out, the panels replaced, and the entire body straightened and smoothed, so the original lines are crisp and clean. A coat of high-quality primer will be sprayed over the car's body and allowed to cure, and the tech will go over the vehicle looking for highspots or imperfections that may show through once the vehicle is painted. 

If there are no problem areas, the auto body repair tech will spray the car with several coats of paint, add a clear topcoat, and your car will look brand new.  


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About Me
Understanding Automotive Paint Products

Hello, my name is Bernie Ainsworth. I am intrigued with all of the different types of paint available for vehicles today. When I was growing up, vehicles only featured normal gloss, metallic or candy tones. Today, you can find color change paints and opalescent finishes that make the car look amazing. Furthermore, you can find paints made from plastic materials that peel back off without damaging the original finish. If you want a new paint job on your vehicle, it doesn't take a whole lot to change its color. However, you may still want to go to the shop if you want a professional finish. I will discuss the best way to decide between a do it yourself project or professional touch. I hope you will find my information useful. Thanks for visiting.