If your car’s been involved in a collision or the paint has been scratched, run your fingernail over the damaged area. If you can feel a “dip” in the surface, chances are that portion of your vehicle will need to be repainted. A century ago, that would have been cause for concern, but automotive painting today is a much more exact science.
Automotive paint, as well as the methods and tools we use to apply it, have come a long way in a relatively short amount of time. From matching colours with our own eyes to the use of scanners that read the intricate details of the flakes in your paint, there is a lot to consider every time we need to apply paint to a customers vehicle.
Today, we’re going to take you on a brief tour through the history of auto paint technology, and we’ll also talk about some of the tools and techniques we rely on to make sure every car looks just as good as new by the time our work is done.
Automotive Paint: The Early Years
The very first paint used on cars included natural linseed oil as the binder, so it took a long time to dry. In fact, since multiple coats of the paint had to be applied by hand, it could take as long as a week to paint a single car, making production painfully slow. By the early 1900s, chemists had invented a much-improved formula that reduced painting and drying time from days to mere hours.
But the availability of more colours led to new challenges for car repairers of the day. Back then, paint was mixed according to recipes, and collision repair shops did their best to visually match paint colours by comparing samples under various light conditions. As you can guess, these methods often resulted in inaccurate and inconsistent results!
It was clear that a more scientific and reliable way of doing things was
International Commission on Illumination developed the world’s first colour
measurement standards. Although this made it easier to identify and
incorporate specific colours in a variety of applications, it was often still
painfully obvious whenever new paint had been applied to cars during
repairs.
A New Auto Paint Technology: Spectrophotometry to the Rescue!
Around the end of the 20th century, spectrophotometry came along to
change everything for the better. Spectrophotometers are devices that can
measure the intensity of various wavelengths of light reflected from a
painted surface, and then compare that data to standard colour samples.
Human input was no longer needed, as spectrophotometers analyzed colour based on scientific principles. This revolutionary car painting advancement pretty much eliminated paint batch variations and the need to take different lighting conditions into account.
Although spectrophotometry has become indispensable as a starting point,
collision repair technicians must still undergo extensive training to become
truly proficient in the colour matching process. In addition to identifying the
precise shade to use, they must also know the best possible techniques for
applying the paint to ensure the repainted area will be undetectable to the
naked eye.
Mitek’s Multi-Step Road Map to Paint Match Precision
To give you a sense of what a complex process it is, let’s delve a little deeper into the steps Mitek technicians go through in order to ensure the most flawless results possible with every repair we complete.
1. Examine the vehicle and use a paint thickness gauge to determine
whether it has been repainted in the past or if it’s still the manufacturer’s original colour.
2. Determine the car’s colour code reference. Automakers create
standard paint formulations for every colour used on their cars, each of
which are assigned and identified by a certain code.
3. Identify the surface to be repaired to determine the best spot to target
for the reading.
4. Prepare the selected surface by cleaning, degreasing and finally using
a polishing machine to ensure reading accuracy.
5. Remove the polishing paste and apply a waterborne degreaser.
6. Ensure the spectrophotometer has been calibrated and follow the
manufacturer’s specifications to take an accurate reading.
7. Once the display indicates that the reading has been successful, save
the resulting data (colour code, registration plate, vehicle
manufacturer, vehicle model).
8. Connect the device to a computer and use special software to verify
the information obtained during the reading.
But that’s just the beginning!
Even after the colour has been matched accurately, there are still many
factors that can result in unexpected variations during the application
process — for example, the ambient temperature during application, the
distance and position of the gun, the speed at which the paint is applied, the use of thinners in the paint and/or forced evaporation, and more. Careful blending is also required to achieve the most accurate match possible, which is why all paint and OEM vehicle manufacturers specifically recommend it.
With so much to pay attention to, you can begin to appreciate why patience, training and experience are so crucial in order for our paint technicians to excel at their craft.
Our Trusted Auto Paint & Technology Partners
In our experience, Standox paints are a premium choice for producing results that are as close as possible to original OEM coatings. With a vast array of paints, colour tools and digital colour management solutions, this leading European paint brand is trusted by countless body shops worldwide. Its products are approved by all the leading manufacturers, and are also tested based on technical criteria established by them to ensure colour accuracy, finish performance, distribution standards, and more.
We also appreciate the fact that Standox products are manufactured by
Axalta, a global provider of liquid and powder coatings that values and
promotes environmental and social sustainability by constantly seeking ways to reduce emissions, energy use, and waste.
A Common Source of Stress for Collision Repair Customers
if your car needs any degree of repainting as part of your repair, it’s
understandable to worry about patchy, dull, inconsistent or just plain
unattractive results, but we’re here to put your mind at ease! At Mitek, we
invest in keeping our technicians up to date on all the latest developments in paints and paint technologies. In addition, our use of OEM-specified
equipment helps to get the finished product to where it needs to be. When it comes to equipment and training, we are the most advanced body shop in all of Waterloo Region.
In the world of automotive paint, no doubt there are many car painting