Automotive Refinishing

At its core, automotive refinishing can be seen as referring to the process through which an automotive’s original good looks (which were acquired the first time the vehicle went through automotive finishing) are restored, with the vehicle typically having lost them through something like a collision, or through the natural effects of depreciation.

The actual automotive refinishing project is pretty much like the ordinary automobile finishing project (with results being judged by the quality of automotive finishes acquired), and with the difference between automotive refinishing and the first time motor vehicle finishing being in the intent for which the procedures are carried out.

The restorative element of automotive refinishing, of course, widens the scope of the process beyond what ordinary automotive finishing covers: as the body of the vehicle in question first has to be remolded into a form where it can actually yield the automotive finishes being sought – typically through refurbishment process like panel beating (where the vehicle was involved in a collision, for instance), before the actual painting and polishing that makes up for the refinishing project can start.

The process of automotive refinishing, once preparatory steps like panel beating are done away with, starts with planning phase (just like any engineering process has to): where the amount of paint required for the project, and the type of paint too are scheduled for. These processes call for a keen eye for detail, especially where the automotive refinishing is being done for a client, because few things could be off-putting to him or her to find that the people they engaged to do automotive refinishing ended up changing their car’s basic color (or the tone of it), because when all is said and done, people buy the colors of the different colors that they buy for (often) deep-seated psychological purposes.

Color considerations done, and right tones of the right colors selected, the next step in the automotive refinishing process is color mixing, followed by blending to the right thickness of it. Now inconsequential as these steps might seem, it turns out that the final result in terms of automotive finishes that one can hope to get out of the whole process will typically depend on how well they get their color mixing and blending – as it is not uncommon for people to still ruin their automotive refinishing projects at this stage even after good pre-project planning and after having made the right choices of colors for the project.

For painting methods, automotive refinishing technicians typically have options like use of spray painting and air brush systems (just like in ordinary automotive finishing), and as in the latter, the foundation for the paint used in automotive refinishing has to be laid down in the form of a primmer, before getting into the actual paint coats if the work is to look good.

While not compulsory, preservative processes like automotive wax and other car paint protective measures are put into place, so that the effort that goes into the automotive refinishing doesn’t go to waste in a short period of time as the car so refinished interacts with the elements of nature after its repainting and re-polishing.      

Except for the restorative element (done through processes like panel beating) most of the other materials and equipment used in automotive refinishing are the same materials used in ordinary automotive finishing. Be sure, then, to read on  automotive finishing products to get insight on the product considerations for the project.