I had spent the summer sweating over the body work on my truck that I had since new off the lot…read more Pulled every lil part off it. Weekend after weekend, stud welder pulling dents out, skimming body filler, blocking, shooting the epoxy and 2 k primer. Then wet sanding and wet sanding with 400. I'm no pro, I can see now all the lil dents I missed. (Wow, this stuff is hard to do!) I did basic body work as a young man during a summer or two and learned much but clearly between that and the internet, not enough. If i fix the problems on one of my fleet trucks next (doubtful, to much like work) I will not make the same mistake related to those "lil dents".
Upon arriving at John's shop, he said what most other shops would say. "Don't do this kind of work normally". After all, the body work is everything for a good paint job and painting a novices body work why, who knows so they say. But it was clear that I had it sanded down smooth. LOL he even said, I likely sanded more than needed but I wanted it it smooth for him. Every square inch, very top to very bottom, of that darn truck was wet sanded with 400. Some little tiny seams I couldn't sand why, I shot them clean with my portable sand blaster then blew all that media carefully out. (No, I didn't slack off on the hood either as was said to me.)
Anyway, John did agreed to shoot the white for me and I was grateful for that. Whew I thought, at least I know it will be laid down right in spite of me missing my tiny dents. I have to say, his price for this wasn't out of line based on the homework I had done. I simply asked that he appreciate the very hard work I put into this and in spite of it not being "perfect" to at least lay down the color like a pro. This means wiping down the truck complete and shooting it smooth.
Overall John is a nice guy. As I look at the white though, I do feel at his skill and experience level that it could have been much better. He got it sprayed complete, I even complied in getting all the bed bolts out but two, But there is many places where it's real rough and orange peel doesn't begin to describe how bad it is. Overall, the orange peel is heavy throughout and thank gawd for white. I really wanted to come to his shop and final wipe it down myself to help but didn't get met with much of a response on that.
After two months of letting it cure, I have run the buffer over it with a very light cut polish and this has helped a bit. I then laid down a polymer sealer and during the day if you don't look real hard at it why, the truck looks great with the pin stripe down the side, new bumper rubber etc. My only frustration is...the time it took to do the job is not what was originally told to me and I'm very sure that all the paint flaws is not due to my body work. I mean hey, I was born at night, just not last night. It's clearly in the paint, you can tell by looking and even feeling it, ummm wow is all I can say. Just wasn't shot very well at points for whatever reason and I'm sure the heat of summer didn't help but wait...this is a professional body shop, summers happen every year. One can't use that excuse.
Would I recommend John to anyone? Yes and no. If they were looking for him to do all the work, body and paint yes. He has been at it a long time, he clearly is meeting some customers needs. (Insurance work etc.) However if someone just need him to simply lay down the color on a nicely sanded to 400 piece of sheet of metal, maybe not. I got complete base and clear coats and I bet it will give me years and years of service in the desert sun, but the issues in the paint have me quite frustrated. As i said, it's pretty bad in many places. Whew, if this wasn't white...ouch.
If you need an estimate, I wouldn't hesitate to go there. I feel John is an honest man. Having said that, I know he could have done much better on my paint job and I'm sad about it.
