james caruso
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well i sprayed the energy pro on some sportbike fairings this afternoon. all in all it was extremely similar to the superior 250 except with faster flash and cure times. its actually a bit more like what i am used to. seems to flow and level out nice just like the superior. haven’t seen it dry yet to know if it holds the gloss but i would imgine it should being a higher end clear. i guess we’ll see. in a day or two i will sand and buff it. my neighbor said it buffs pretty easy compared to superior. so far nice stuff.
there you go!! looks great from the pic. expensive yes but you make up for it 10 fold in the time. it really seems like that with alot of 3m’s stuff. they really get you on the price but the labor savings is killer.
well i’ve never done a car. bikes yes and with anything the major concern is a chip. rust will creep like cancer if you get a chip. you have to take car of them right away. harley had grinded metal on alot of their custom paint sets for a few years then stopped. i think they had to warranty just about every one of them. they would have rust forming under the clear. they paid me to repaint one set that they replace for a guy 3 times. you could see complete rusty handprints under the clear. this kind of finish needs to be done in a very low humidity environment if your going pull it off. another problem i see here with your “formula for sucess” is the soda blasting. we just had a thread here the other day on it. you need to completely sand, clean and wash the metal with water to get the film off or your paint is going to peel off in sheets. now the problem is your introducing water to a situation where you dont even want humidity in the air.
All good to know, thanks
Hey thanks for the info. I dont usually do much more than smaller parts so thats good not to mention i am used to fast clears. Most of the spi stuff i use is on the fast side. I give this stuff a go a see how i like it. Thanks again.
For regular paper or wet/dry it is too big a jump but trizact is a totally different technology. With a good disc it really cuts 1500 grit out quite fast. Like i said they take a bit of getting used to but when you get the whole sysyem down it works fantastic.
just a little tip. i have found most guys, me included tend to overuse the discs. since they are foam its really hard to tell when they stop cutting. when they are half wore out you end up in a situation like jimmo. took me quite a while to get the feel for the discs and get the hang of them. average lifespan for a disc is maybe a small door and hood or 2 larger doors. beyond that they start to just polish instead of working out the 1500 scratches. problem is they still leave a foam on the surface so you think they are still cutting. if you change the disc often enough they take out 1500 grit scratches pretty quick and you sould be left with a really nice finish that will buff right out.
man i try to blast all i can. its faster and leves a prefect tooth for paint however i never use soda. i use a medium crushed recycled glass. the stuff works dynamite and wont warp sheet metal. http://www.newageblastmedia.com
funny my stuff has been up on my walls for a year now and has not come off. a corner or two is maybe a little loose but that is it. my walls were really clean. in the instructions your supposed to give the booth an inital clean and prepping to get everything nice and clean first so it will accept the fabric. if you have overspray on the walls then they will need a light sanding to smooth everything out. no different that cleaning a surface for masking tape to stick to really. if its dirty its gonna fall off. once the booth is cleaned and prepped right you should have no issues with it comming off. ryan, i will get there with the carpet. i just keep putting it off. i’m going into my slow time of year now so maybe this winter i will switch. ryan, is your carpet glued down to the floor or do you just have it seamed?
yeah man, your pics are always good ones. thanks for sharing.
turbo, that is my procedure exactly for every part that goes out of the shop. 1000, 1500 then 3000 trizact. all done with a da. for regular collision work andy is right that it gets the finish too flat. if you want that perfect smooth finish though then that is the procedure you want to use. dont bother with 1200 or 2000 or any grit in between as it will be a waste of time and not needed. it should be a very fast system. the last complete car i did was a 78 vette. did the whole thing and from 1000 to final polish was 6 hrs.
all these guys are right on man. the soda leaves a residue/film. if you epoxy over it the epoxy is stuck to the film not the metal so its comming off. gotta get the film off. imagine taking raw metal,putting a coat of wax on it then applying epoxy over it. same difference really. because you cant see it doesn’t mean its not there. scotchbrite, 80 grit, soap, water or reblast with another media.
ha thats funny. no fibers dont come loose. look at ryan, he has damn carpet on the floor and he obviously doesnt have a problem. i have never had a fiber stuck in anything. 3m is pretty good about shit like that. i think its been pretty well tested. in any case its not like a paint system thats stuck in your shop under contract. line the booth, if it doesnt work for you, when it gets dirty pull it off. nothing lost.
powerwashing isn’t a big deal for sure but imagine just brushing off the walls, ripping up and changing whatever you use on the floor, changing filters and your back in business. one guy maybe 30-45 minutes. as far as the material. its very durable. its actually a self adhesive fuzzy fabric. probably as durable as an old cheap t-shirt or maybe duct tape. the front/fuzzy side is not tacky at all.
ben, well compared to the sprayable stuff as far as the jobs being cleaner its pretty much the same. the sprayable stuff i was using was evercoat’s tackycoat which stayed slimy on the walls of the booth. that stuff certaintly did work. you would not believe what you would find stuck to the walls after a week. problem with that stuff is its expensive because you have to wash it off and reapply every booth cleaning or 2 weeks. the price adds up where the 3m is just once or twice a year to put it on. as i said too booth cleaning time is cut in half or more. all in all though compared to having nothing on the walls or just a nontacky booth coating…yes there is a difference. you do get cleaner jobs with it. i think it would make a really big difference if it was used on the floor too, i’m just not paying for it. thats the expensive part to do since it will need to be changed often.