Auto paint jobs are amazing if you want to give your vehicle a little bit of life – not to mention it helps your car looking pretty slick too! Auto paint shops are capable of helping you deal with either car scratches, faded paint job, or simply when you wanted to change your car’s color. These often offer a fast, simple, yet effective service leaving your vehicle looking new again – given that they know what they’re doing!
Sadly, just like all other types of services, not all auto paint shops are made equal and not all would be able to provide you the service you’ve been looking for. Sometimes, if you end up getting the job done from an unreliable paint shop, you may end up with a car that has a paint job that looks terrible.
To make sure that you don’t have to experience this at all, here are the 5 signs that you need to watch out for from an auto paint shop. These 5 characteristics will give you an idea that the auto paint shop isn’t a good one and must be avoided at all costs:
- Mismatched Colors
- Paint Impurities
- Runny Paintwork
- Poor Masking
- Bad reviews
1. Mismatched Colors
A good and reliable auto paint shop is capable of matching colors. Not all people want to paint their entire car. Some people just needed to replace their door or hood color, and simply wants to match the new paint with the existing one.
Unfortunately, bad shops aren’t able to do this. When it comes to modern vehicles, most paint codes can be found somewhere in the body, letting them know of the exact color. If the shop doesn’t know how to match the original paint color of your vehicle, then it’s probably best that you don’t get the job done from that particular shop.
2. Paint Impurities
For the majority of auto paint shops, they usually work with a huge number of autos on a daily basis – which makes it understandable if the shop has some debris, dust, and dirt. While this cannot be avoided, a good shop will make sure that these particles won’t get in contact with their paint, and make sure that the area is clean, particularly the paint booth.
Always look for shops and technicians that make sure that the vehicle is thoroughly cleaned, including the vehicle’s undersides. Doing this prevents paint impurities.
3. Runny Paintwork
If you see a paint job that has runs and drops, this is a simple indication that it has been rushed and that the technician didn’t take his time to do the work. Unfortunately, some painters think that they can get away with it and cut corners – so be cautious.
4. Poor Masking
Masking is simply a term used to cover the vehicle with paper and masking tape to protect those areas that don’t need painting. The entire process can take a lot of time, and some of the worst auto shops rush this entire process. This results in color splotches that are usually found in some areas like the exhaust.
The undersides of the vehicle must be thoroughly masked before the paint job, so make sure that you check your painter and see if he carefully takes his time to do this.
5. Bad reviews
As simple as it sounds, some people don’t even spend time to check the shop’s page for reviews. It may be time-consuming, but it’s definitely worth the time. This will help you determine which among the auto paint shops in your area are doing a great job, and which ones aren’t. You can also check sites such as Autobody Review and Yelp to gauge the pros and cons of a particular shop, check customer satisfaction reviews and see the overall quality of work they’ve done for their past customers.
