Episode #182 - "Keeping it Kleen" Series: Root Sources of Contamination

Episode Notes: 

What if you could drastically reduce the need for costly rework in your paint shop? 

Ever wonder where all that dirt in your paint job comes from anyway?

Join us as we kick off our new series, "Keeping it Klean", where we explore the troublesome sources of paint contamination and how to prevent them. With insights from top industry experts, we dissect the three main culprits: the booth, the vehicle, and the painter, shedding light on how each contributes to paint defects and how you can mitigate these issues.

This week's episode of the MindWrench Podcast, and first part of this series, promises to arm you with the knowledge to identify the root sources, and learn how to start eliminating surface contaminations such as dirt and fisheyes, saving you time and money.
 
 Better understand the vital importance of treating your paint booth like the cash register of your business and why meticulous maintenance of this space is non-negotiable. We'll discuss common pitfalls such as dirty exhaust filters, poor prep procedures and unbalanced airflow, we’ll also offer practical solutions like proper PPE and equipment maintenance to ensure a pristine finish. 

Whether you're a shop owner or a paint technician, this fact-packed episode equips you with actionable steps to enhance your shop's efficiency and profitability. Tune in to discover how proactive measures can dramatically improve your paint jobs and extend the life of your equipment, ensuring smoother operations and higher quality results.

Link to video: 10 Secrets to Clean Paint Jobs! - Refinish Media - https://tinyurl.com/4ffbzbp7

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Chapters

• 0:00 Preventing Paint Rework With Podcast
• 9:51 Identifying Sources of Paint Contamination
• 15:13 Avoiding Paint Contamination in Auto Body

Transcript

Rick: 0:00

Did you realize that, as an industry, the amount of rework or repainting of vehicles due to avoidable surface contaminations costs shop owners millions of dollars every single year? Wait, you know, that's probably a little light. I think it's more like tens of millions of dollars a year Right up the old booth stacks. And yes, I did say avoidable contaminations, More specifically, dirt and fish ice. Now the good news is, no matter what kind of facility you have, whether you paint one car a day or ten, it doesn't have to be that way, and I'll show you why. This week I'm starting a new podcast series called Keeping it Clean, where I break down all the aspects of what really creates these repaints, what the main sources of contamination are and what the real costs of rework are from all perspectives, and what effect a good preventative maintenance program has on reducing repaints and extending the life cycle of booth equipment, all captured in shorter, bite-sized episodes.

Rick: 1:01

Welcome to the MindWrench Podcast with your host, rick Sellover, where minor adjustments produce major improvements in mindset, personal growth and success. This is the place to be every Monday, where we make small improvements and take positive actions in our business and personal lives that will make a major impact in our success, next-level growth and quality of life.

Rick: 1:34

Hey, what's up everybody. Welcome to the MindWrench Podcast. I'm your host, rick Silover. Thanks so much for stopping in. If you're a returning listener and haven't done so already, please take a minute and click the follow or subscribe button and then rate and review the show. When you rate and review the show, the algorithms for Apple, spotify, google Podcasts, iheartradio, amazon Music and all the other platforms will see that it's valuable and show it to more people that have never seen it before, and hopefully it can help them too. I would really, really really appreciate your help, sharing this word with your friends and family as well, and if you're a brand new listener, welcome. I hope you find something of value here that helps you in your personal or professional life as well. Please make sure to click the subscribe or follow button so you never miss another episode.

Rick: 2:20

Did you realize that, as an industry, the amount of rework or repainting of vehicles due to avoidable surface contaminations cost shop owners millions of dollars every single year? Wait, you know that's probably a little light. I think it's more like tens of millions of dollars a year right up the old booth stacks. And yes, I did say avoidable contaminations, more specifically, dirt and fish ice. This incredible cost is not a misfortune only realized by startup shops with little to no spray equipment or smaller established shops with an old cross draft, but by many large high production facilities with multiple downdrafts and even some of the most elite collision repair centers in the US. Now, the good news is, no matter what kind of facility you have, whether you paint one car a day or ten, it doesn't have to be that way, and I'll show you why.

Rick: 3:11

This week, I'm starting a new podcast series called Keeping it Clean, where I break down all the aspects of what really creates these repaints, what the main sources of contamination are and what the real costs of rework are from all perspectives, the roles and responsibilities of the paint technician and business owner in this arena, and what effect a good preventative maintenance program has on reducing repaints and extending the life cycle of booth equipment, all captured in shorter, bite-sized episodes. This first episode, I'm focusing on where the contamination comes from to begin with, and I've categorized them into three root sources the booth, the vehicle and the painter. All dirt or fisheyes can be tied to originating from one of these three sources. Now, just for clarity, we are not talking about things like bullseyes or lifting or solvent popping or runs or sags or orange peel or any of that other stuff. Those are much different issues and not surface contaminations. And when doing my research for this deep dive into dirt, I had previously interviewed key people from the top three booth manufacturers, gathered info from the distributors that install, service and provide preventative maintenance programs for those booths, as well as surveying several industry tech reps, some that I know, some that have worked for me, and I've also spoke with several paint manufacturers reps. And, lastly, I have drawn on my own 40-plus year career on the refinish side of this industry, which included 15 years of being in a booth, some rougher than others, pulling the trigger, spending several semesters as a refinish instructor at a local community college, as well as over 30 years as a jobber, visiting hundreds of shops every year, seeing the issues firsthand and watching some of the best and worst paint techs doing their thing.

Rick: 5:03

I've seen firsthand the frustration painters face when that job they worked so hard on got into the booth but rushed the paint job a bit and now have to spend a ton of time trying to fine, sand out the imperfections, hoping it'll rub out, only to ultimately re-sand and re-paint a panel or two or maybe the whole job, all while listening to the manager or owner bust his chops over the wasted paint materials and tying up the booth twice for the same job that was supposed to be delivered today. And now we'll have to put them in a rental. Oh yeah, usually one of the body techs will be laughing and giving him shit about it to boot, and we all know as cruel as it sounds sometimes that's the best part of a body man's day is watching the painter screw something up and have to redo it right. I've also seen the frustration from the ownership side of this issue as well Owners or managers not understanding why their painter has to keep repainting vehicles due to dirt or a massive fisheye problem, but totally oblivious to the fact that they purposely postponed the filter changes or necessary booth or airline filter system or compressor maintenance needed to help keep these problems at bay, because they considered the expenses unnecessary at the time. In fact, if I had a dollar for every time I saw a disc and bead filter with a last change date older than a year, or an air compressor with at least a half gallon of water and oil that drained out, I could have retired a decade ago.

Rick: 6:29

Many times as a jobber, I'd get questioned on why a particular shop was spending so much on paint materials at certain times and when I would ask if there's any re-dos in those time periods. Usually the management had no idea until we just started doing some investigating and some digging, and almost 100% of the time that's exactly what it was. Listen, I could go on and on and on about this, but the truth is, the problems and their causes are right under your nose and the solutions are very easy. So let's get into this, shall we? So dirt is not magical. It doesn't just come from nowhere. The paint companies don't put it in their paint at the factory. I swear to God. I've had many painters and managers say that they actually think that dirt is already in the paint before they open the can, and for probably 90% of the time, it shows up in a paint job because of something that wasn't done correctly, a critical pre-prep step that was missed, or rushing a paint job, or just sheer laziness.

Rick: 7:30

Now, granted, we don't live in a perfect world. The 100% nub-free paint job doesn't happen. Even the manufacturers can't get a perfect, dirt-free finish with their multi-million dollar automated spray booths in their highly controlled environments. In fact, the factory allows for a few specks of dirt per square foot of panel surface. So today's average downdraft booth may not be able to compete with that level of control. So the nub and rub process will never be totally eliminated, but the current level of flat panel sanding and rubbing or, worse yet, the sand and repaint process, could be drastically reduced to a minimal occurrence. If you're looking for a competitive edge for your business or a more effective jumpstart to your personal development in 2024, I'll make your first step super simple, like Microsoft's.

Rick: 8:19

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Rick: 9:51

Now, just as a reminder, dirt in the clear coat may have a chance of being removed with a nub and rub or full panel sand process, but dirt in the base coat does not. That'll require a full sand and re-base coat, re-clear coat process. Fish eyes oftentimes will necessitate a repaint and continue to appear until that source is identified and corrected. Now there are several places dirt comes from. Many conditions that drive dirt into the booth atmosphere and onto the paint surface more than others, as well as several conditions that will result in an absolute nightmare of fish eyes in the paint shop. But all of those things will boil down to three root sources for contamination. As I mentioned earlier, surface contamination can be traced back to these three variables. It's either the vehicle, the booth or the painter as the root source. The root source is where the contamination originated from. But the actual influencer or person responsible for correcting or eliminating that contamination could be the painter or even the shop owner. For example, floor filters plugged up with two months of overspray will kick dirt up into the booth atmosphere. It'd be classified as a booth as a root source. But the painter failing to A change the floor filters when needed if that's the process at that shop or B letting the manager or owner know that it needs attention, makes the painter an influencer, right. So let's look at those main root sources of contamination, shall we?

Rick: 11:29

Number one the booth. This is the magical machine where all your paint dreams come true. Come on, you've all seen the videos posted by these painters on TikTok or Instagram of these slick, flawless paint work done. But sometimes also your greatest nightmares come to life. Right, the booth is very simple in its purpose but complex in its design. Basically, you have filtered heated if it's downdraft. Air comes into the booth, flows over the vehicle to draw away the overspray and exhausts down through the floor filters which catch the overspray particles before exiting out through the stacks on the top of the building. Now, most cross-draft booths bring in air from the inside of the shop. So whatever the ambient temperature is best and sometimes it's colder Brings it in through the front door, filters across the vehicle and exhausts through the filter stacks on the opposite ends of the booth and then exits out through the stacks on top of the building.

Rick: 12:26

So, regardless of which type or brand of booth you have, it is the most crucial piece of equipment in your shop. It is the most crucial piece of equipment in your shop, usually the most expensive investment as well, and because nearly every single job has to pass through that booth before it gets delivered to the customer and, most importantly, ding, ding, ding, ding. You get paid for the job. I consider this piece of equipment the cash register of your business. Taking the utmost care of your cash register should be a no-brainer for any business owner, regardless of the industry you're in. If that cash register doesn't work correctly or God forbid stops working, your income stream suffers or completely stops. Sound about right to you. I consider the air compressor, airlines to your booth and any air filters or three-stage filtration systems part of the root source of booth as well.

Rick: 13:18

Now a large portion of the contamination issues fall into this root source. Issues caused by dirty filters, poor maintenance, airline contamination and general care and cleaning of the booth ecosystem are often completely avoidable. Top culprits of the excessive wet or dry sanding and rubbing and the repaints. So here's the top culprits of contamination from the booth source. Number one dirty, overloaded exhaust filters and intake filters. Number two lack of booth maintenance and cleaning. You know that's like dirty, dusty floors, items stored inside the booth. Number three booth not balanced correctly. That makes a huge difference on whether you got a problem with dirt or not. Number four excessive water and oil in the air compressor due to poor maintenance. Number five contaminated airlines, unchanged air filters or three-stage filtering systems. Number six desiccant bead breaking down or old air hoses breaking down. Number seven vehicle not centered over grates. Number eight boot doors left open without running in spray mode. That lets the shop dirt in. Just so you know Now there are several other factors that contribute to this, but these are the most common problems we found.

Rick: 14:35

Now let's take a look at what most think would be the biggest problematic root source the vehicle. This is one variable that would seem to bring the biggest potential for issues. I mean, the booth and the painter don't change on every job, but the vehicle does right. The amount of dirt the car brings into the shop, the possibility of silicone-based products on or in the car, the size of each job and how they, along with the parts painted off the vehicle, are positioned in the booth, can be challenging and may create other opportunities to attract dirt, but according to my surveys, not so much. So let's take a look.

Rick: 15:13

The top culprits of contamination from the vehicle are 1. One vehicle not completely washed and dried before entering the production floor. That means power washing out the wheel wells, all the cracks the underside of it, the engine compartment, really cleaning it before you drag that thing into your shop to start on it. Number two vehicle not being completely washed and dried before final masking. You know if it's a big hit job and you've got mechanical stuff on there and you've replaced some suspension parts and you know there's a lot of greasy, dirty hands that get all over that car. You know your whole process of doing body work and paint prep work gets a lot of dirt and contaminations all over the vehicle. Thoroughly washing it and drying it before your final masking starts is something that should not be avoided. Number three proper wax and grease that's, both solvent and water-based cleaners not being used. Number four silicone-based, like Armor, all products used on the outside or inside of the car. And number five ceramic coatings on vehicle surface not properly removed before painting. Now, that's relatively new, Obviously. The ceramic coatings have only been around a few years, but that does play a big part.

Rick: 16:25

Now, realistically, there's only a couple ways vehicles add to the contamination issue. Being proactive on thorough cleaning of vehicle before bringing it into the shop and using the proper surface cleaners, like both solvent wax and grease removers and waterborne cleaners, can eliminate most of those concerns. I know this may sound ridiculous, but it helps if you think of it this way. Treat that new repair job that's caked with mud or a nice snow salt slush mix sitting outside you're about to bring into your shop. Treat it like a visitor standing at the front door of your home with his wet, muddy boots, oil and grease all over his pants and a nice layer of sawdust on his shirt. Do you really want to swing open that door? Just let him come on in. Bring that world of dirt and contamination into your clean home. Walk across your carpet, maybe sit on your new off-white sofa? Probably not. Hopefully, silly as it seems. Hopefully that visual helps. Okay. Last but certainly not least, let's dive into what issues the painter brings to this party.

Rick: 17:30

Okay, although all forms of surface contamination fall under those three root sources, the paint tech really has the most influence over the actions taken or not taken to avoid the possibilities of these affecting the end results of his paint finishes. The ability to obtain a very clean job is well within the grasp of the painter, provided the management does their part to maintain the equipment properly. But also can squander that ability if they choose to be lazy or have no pride in their craft, and unfortunately I've seen both of those many times in my career. I've also seen the opposite of that. I've seen painters that are just on it every day striving for perfection. It's a tremendous amount of responsibility, no doubt, and so many variables to contend with within the painter's quest to have a nearly perfect finish. Yes, the management and ownership makes financial decisions to have filters changed and regular maintenance done within your booth environment or not. But the painter can only try to plead his case and influence that decision. That is the truth. But the painter can make the most of his choices to keep his kingdom as clean as possible. That includes a vehicle, the booth's interior as well as the outside area surrounding the booth and his or her own personal hygiene practices.

Rick: 18:53

So here we go. Here's the top culprits of contamination. From the painter Number one not wearing proper PPE. From the painter Number one not wearing proper PPE, that's paint suit or a paint jacket, at minimum A head covering, gloves, fresh air, respirator. Number two poor spray gun maintenance. You know, if you're not cleaning your guns out every couple jobs, I mean, you end up bringing a dirty gun into there, into that atmosphere You'll end up with some spitting, some chunks of the clear coming through the base gun or vice versa. If you don't change guns out, you get leaking. You get all kinds of issues coming out of that spray gun that are totally avoidable.

Rick: 19:31

Number three using poor quality wipes or old dirty tack rags or the wrong tack rag for the paint type. You know they make a lot of new tack rags for you know, waterborne base coat, clear coat jobs have a lot less tack on them than the old crystal tack rags. And even with the crystal tack rags they're still good on most solvent jobs. But if you just pull them out of the pack, flip them over once and start using them and if you rub too hard, a lot of that resin that's on those tack rags will transfer right onto your job and it'll look like dirt or fish eyes. So make sure you open that thing up completely, let it air out for a few minutes, lightly fold it back in half or maybe in quarters and then you can use it. Number four dirty or broken down air hoses. I see those all the time and you know it's an expense to replace an air hoses. I see those all the time and you know it's an expense to replace an air hose. But I think it's a little bit bigger expense if you have to repaint a job because chunks of that old air hose blew through and came out in the job.

Rick: 20:32

Number five sanding in the booth. I see a ton of this out there. You know people nubbing and you know getting ready to rub. They'll pull it outside to rub, but they do all the sanding inside or they do final sanding, blow it off and start taping while it's in the booth. Man, that's wrong. You can't do that. There should be zero sanding in the booth period.

Rick: 20:54

Number six improper prep of surface and vehicle. Number seven improper masking and taping. Simple as that sounds, all it takes is a poorly masked or poorly taped down piece of plastic. And now you've got some issues. Number eight not using an anti-stat process. Not everybody is hip to using an anti-stat gun or even anything that's anti-stat, because they don't believe in it. But I'm telling you, I've seen it firsthand. It does work and it works very well, and if I had to go back to painting tomorrow, the first thing I'd buy is an anti-stat gun Number nine parts painted on dirty parts racks.

Rick: 21:38

I see this all the time too. You got these, you know parts racks that got three years of crustaceans built up on them and nobody does anything. Sometimes they'll put a piece of plastic over them, sometimes they'll wrap a piece of paper over them, but man get those dirty parts racks out of the booth. Number 10, working on other jobs in between coats. I'll see this in a production shop that just has one painter, no helper. Gets a coat of base on, goes out, does a little sanding on a car, comes back in, puts another coat on and he's bringing all that dirt in with him every single time.

Rick: 22:06

Number 11, too much junk stored in the booth. That's like cans of paint, plastic dispenser tools stands not being used all kinds of stuff I see in a paint booth. There should be nothing in there, but exactly what you need to spray that one particular job and that's it Now. This list can go much longer, but you get the idea right. There's a lot that the painter can control to minimize the amount of potential dirt, dust or fish eyes that end up in his or her paintwork and that'll cost the shop as well as themselves unnecessarily.

Rick: 22:38

Listen, I'm not shooting from the hip here. I'm talking from experience. I was there before. I repainted a lot of jobs because when I was young I was lazy, I was in a hurry where I just didn't understand a lot of what I'm explaining here today, and there may be many of you out there that are in that same boat. Listen, don't feel bad about it, but just take what I'm saying, learn from it and make some changes that will help you.

Rick: 23:02

I didn't realize all those factors that were really my responsibility to control, but eventually I did the old mindset not my shop, not my problem or that's not my job to clean out the booth just doesn't fly anymore. Just doesn't fly anymore because ultimately, yeah, maybe the owner suffers because it's going to cost him more in utilities and paint and lost production, but as a painter it's costing you too, because I'm pretty sure you only get paid to paint a car the first time. Anything after that is no charge and it's also keeping you from painting something else. So if you're a professional paint tech and plan on making a great living and being a valuable part of a good shop. Take care of your cash register at all costs and, if you're a collision shop owner, protect your most valuable investments, your people and your equipment by engaging in a preventative maintenance program for your booth. Now that's it for this segment. Next time we're going to dig into the costs of re-dos hey, real quick.

Rick: 24:06

There's one more thing I wanted to share with you. If you're looking for a really good video that shows you, from start to finish, how to get a car properly prepped, get your booth ready and successfully spray a job with very minimal dust, dirt or any paint surface issues, I'll invite you to check out this video done by Gary Sobry, an instructor at Washtenaw Community College in Ypsilanti, michigan. Gary was the guy that gave me my shot at being a Refinish instructor there for several semesters. Anyways, gary has started a podcast himself called Refinish Media, and he's been posting some fantastic videos and some how-tos and done some interviews with some really good guests. So I want you to check out this video. It's about 28 minutes long, but it's really probably one of the most comprehensive guides to really getting a job from start to finish through the booth with fantastic results. So I'll put the link in the show notes. Go check it out.

Rick: 25:03

Hey, I hope you enjoyed this first episode in my Keeping it Clean series. Be sure to tune in to the next segment of this series, where we dive deep into the actual costs of redoing paintwork. Well, that's all I had for you today. Thanks again for tuning in. I really appreciate your support and I hope you have a great week. I can always be reached at wwwrixelovercom, where you can find all my social media links podcast episodes, blog posts and much more. I'm out.