Root Sources of Contamination- REBOOT 182

Show Notes:

Keeping It Kleen Series – Part 1: Root Sources of Contamination

How much money is paint contamination really costing your shop?

Most shop owners and leaders know dirt nibs and fisheyes are frustrating, but very few realize just how much these seemingly small defects are costing them in lost productivity, wasted materials, missed delivery dates, rental extensions, and unnecessary rework. Across the collision industry, paint contamination is creating millions of dollars in avoidable expenses every year.

In this first episode of the Mind Wrench Podcast's "Keeping It Kleen" series, we take a deep dive into the root causes of contamination and reveal a simple framework that can help any shop identify where their problems are really coming from. The reality is that virtually every contamination issue can be traced back to one of three sources: the booth, the vehicle, or the painter.

We'll discuss why your paint booth should be viewed as the cash register of your business, how poor maintenance and airflow issues create defects, and why common shortcuts in vehicle preparation can come back to haunt you in the spray booth. We also cover painter-related causes, including PPE, spray gun maintenance, tack rag techniques, and contamination prevention habits that can dramatically improve first-time quality.

If you're tired of redos, frustrated with inconsistent paint results, or simply looking for ways to improve profitability, this episode delivers practical, real-world solutions you can start implementing immediately.

Key Takeaways:

🔹 Every contamination issue can be traced back to one of three sources: the booth, the vehicle, or the painter.

🔹 Small paint defects create much bigger costs through lost production time, wasted materials, delayed deliveries, and reduced profitability.

🔹 Preventative maintenance and disciplined shop processes are some of the highest-return investments a collision repair facility can make.

🔗 Help me spread this message. Share this episode with someone who lives in the paint department, runs a shop, or is responsible for quality and production. The more we learn from each other, the stronger our industry becomes. 

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Transcript

The Hidden Cost Of Repaints

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 eyes. 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. Welcome to the Mind Wrench Podcast with your host, Rick Selover, 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. 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. A couple of years ago, I conducted an extensive study that uncovered something most collision repair facilities never fully measure. The significant financial impact of paint contamination and rework. What I found was eye-opening. Every month, shops are losing thousands of dollars to preventable defects, redoes, wasted materials, lost production time, and reduced profitability. The findings led me to create a presentation called The Cost of Contamination, which I've had the opportunity to share at several industry conferences and through published articles over the past few years. In that presentation, I cover three critical areas the root sources of contamination, the true cost of contamination, the value of preventative maintenance. So, to help spread this message, I also recorded a three-part Mind Wrench podcast series that takes a deeper dive into each of these topics. The reality is, I feel like I've only scratched the surface. This information has the potential to help shop owners, managers, and paint technicians improve quality, increase profitability, and eliminate unnecessary waste. That's why over the next few weeks, I'm resharing all three episodes. If you find value in this information, please share it with others in the industry who could benefit from hearing it. This week, we're kicking off the series with episode one. Keeping it clean root sources of contamination. I hope you enjoy it, and more importantly, I hope it helps you keep more of your hard earned profits where they belong. 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. This incredible cost is not a misfortune only realized by startup shops with little to no spraying 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. 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.

Three Root Sources Of Contamination

Rick 5:07

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 fish eyes 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 spoken with several paint manufacturers' reps, and lastly, I have drawn on my own forty plus year career on the refinished side of this industry, which included fifteen years of being in a booth, some rougher than others, pulling the trigger, spending several semesters as a refinished instructor at a local community college, as well as over thirty 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. 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 repaint 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 are 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 disciplin 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. 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 was any redoes in those time periods, usually the management had no idea until we just started doing some investigating and some digging. And almost a hundred percent 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 the dirt is already in the paint before they open the can. And for probably 90% of the time, it shows up in the 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. 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 multimillion 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.

Booth Problems That Create Dirt

Rick 9:34

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. It is a fact that an incredible number of the most successful business owners, nearly half of the Fortune 500 companies, top-earning professional athletes, entertainers, and industry leaders like Microsoft's Bill Gates, former president Bill Clinton, Richard Branson, Amazon's Jeff Bezos, and Salesforce Mark Benioff all have one thing in common. They all have at least one coach, and some have several, that they work with on a consistent basis. Someone that helps guide, mentor, and support them, challenge them, help them set and achieve goals that move them forward and then hold them accountable to follow through, driving personal and professional growth. Working with a coach has many substantial benefits. Just for an example, 80% of coaching clients report improved self-esteem or self-confidence thanks to coaching. 99% of individuals and companies that hire a coach report being very satisfied, and 96% would do it again. If deep down you know it's time to make those improvements in your business, your personal life that you've kicked down the road year after year, if you're tired of knowing there's a better version of you waiting to shine, but unsure of how to bring that version to light. If you're tired of wanting to enjoy a more successful business, but not sure how to start, and if you don't want to go another 12 months without better results, but you don't want to go it alone, then take the first step. It's super simple. Sometimes talking to the right person can make all the difference. Go to www.rixlover.com/slash contact, and I'll set you up with a free consultation call with me to see if one-on-one coaching is right for you. 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 necessate 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 job. 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? 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 it's 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 as 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. So regardless of which type or brand of booth you have, 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. 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. 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.

Vehicle Prep Mistakes That Follow You

Rick 15:59

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. The top culprits of contamination from the vehicle are number 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 print prep work uh 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. That's relatively new. Obviously, the ceramic coatings have only been around a few years, but that does play a big part. 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. Now 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.

Painter Habits That Ruin Finishes

Rick 18:49

Okay, last but certainly not least, let's dive into what issues the painter brings to this party, okay? Although all forms of surface contamination fall into 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. So here we go. Here's the top culprits of contamination 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. 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 um, 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 on to 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 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. 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 to 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. 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 got some issues. Number eight, not using an anti-stat process. Not everybody's hip to using 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. Uh it does work, and it works very well. And I if I had to go back to painting tomorrow, it's the first thing I'd buy is an anti-stat gun. Number nine, parts painted on dirty parts racks. I see this all the time too. You got these, you know, parts racks that got three years of crustaceans uh built up on them, and nobody does anything to them. 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. Bringing all that dirt in with them every single time. And 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 the 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. 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, or 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'll help you. I didn't realize all those factors that were really my responsibility to control. But eventually I did. The old mindset, if not my shop, not my problem, or that's not my job to clean out the booth, just doesn't fly anymore. Because ultimately, yeah, maybe the owner suffers because it's going to cost him more and 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.

Mindset Shift And Final Takeaways

Rick 25:00

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. 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 www.ricksilover.com, where you can find all my social media links, podcast episodes, blog posts, and much more.