quickie paint jobs

[calvink at fastermac.net]

I have worked in an auto paint store, for a paint
manufacturer, and in body shops as an estimator and tech.
There isn't a huge difference in paint materials, until you
get into the really high-end stuff.  the difference, as
everyone else has said, is in the prep work.  I had the joy
one time of rescuing a car out of a paint booth at another
shop, unmasking it, and we spent TWO DAYS re-sanding the car
and re-taping it properly.  Believe it or not, the other
shop sprayed primer over DIRT. Since they also didn't scuff
the surface underneath, most of their primer came off with a
blowgun.  Not good.  Of course, this is a worst-case
scenario.  Paint costs are relatively fixed, it's labor that
differs.  Some places have the sand-tape-shoot down to a
science where they can turn out a decent paint job in a
short time, that's the one you need to find.      

Calvin Krug