November 2010 The Paint Spot Newsletter

As some of you have already discovered, we've added a new member to The Paint Spot foul. Her name is Johnna Lea , and she is heading up outside sales. Welcome aboard Johnna!

Johnna has a lot of experience in this industry including 17 years with PPG and 4+ years with Sherwinn Williams. All of her qualities compliment what we are all about at The Paint Spot, she is honest, energetic, self motivated, and she is not interested in having to produce unexpected results based solely on numbers (money).

All too often sales people are demanded upon to go out and bring in revenue, even though the product they are asked to sell is a suckers bet . Either the product is the same as everybody has already got, or it's substandard to what they might already be using. There s also the chance (god forbid) that the product is more costly than what they presently have. At any rate, Johnna had only heard of Matrix and didn't really know what it was all about. She had heard (as many people had) that Matrix was a cheap copy of PPG. Most of the bad slander going around about Matrix was created by employees of PPG or PPG jobbers, and she was shocked to say the least, when she began to find out different. She was equally shocked (if not down right mad) when she found out that single stage can be made from base coat, and given that Matrix and PPG toners are identical, why can't you do that with PPG. There is only one answer

PPG would rather sell you a lot more product, and for a lot more money! She also found out that you would have to have at least 5 mixing banks and as many different systems to equal 1 Matrix bank. She also learned that apart from the toners , Matrix is a stand alone system with primers and clears that are actually superior to anything PPG has to offer. Now here s the real kicker , when she walks into a shop, she really has something to offer. Lateral quality to DBC, superior and more flexible primers and clears, five times more versatile than there present system, no contracts, and all of this at a substantial savings to you. No more going into a shop with your hands tied behind your back and getting them to buy something they already had, or raise their cost of doing business. Matrix sells itself, and when you couple that with an attractive female that actually knows what she s doing, it's a win / win situation. I am both grateful and ecstatic to have her, and I hope all of you are as well. Agenda We are now ready to shoot the clear coat and with that said, you ll have to decide on what clear best suits the need. There are plenty of choices when picking a clear, actually, there are too many! I will list some of the most common. Low solids Medium solids High solids Euro type The Low solids clears would typically be used in a situation where quality and longevity are of no concern. Don t expect it to last long, and the only warranty that applies is The red light warranty (when we can no longer see your tail lights, that's the end of the warranty). The medium solids clears would typically be used in the collision environment, in that they are about the same viscosity as that used at the O.E.M. level. One thing you have to bear in mind is that due to the controlled environment at the factory, there is not much of it on the vehicle. This is why the clear coat goes to shit so fast unless the vehicle has been well taken care of. You ll note that the first place for the clear to fail is the top surfaces where the sun has had the most access. Unless the vehicle has seen a regular dose of paste wax , the clear won't see five years before it starts showing signs of wear. We do however have an advantage. To replicate the oem finish, we have to put a lot more on the vehicle, and for that reason, our paint job (if done properly) should last longer. The High solids clears would typically be used for the high end paint jobs, such as custom or restoration. The reasons for this are many, but to name a few here goes. Money is usually not the biggest issue. The amount of work that has gone into a restoration or a custom job is usually a lot more and therefore, the final process of clear coating is not one that would want to be cheapened. After all the time and money has been spent, you ll want the job to last as long as possible. The extra cost that going from a medium solid to the high solids would kill the average production (collision) shop, due to the low paint and materials rate the insurance companies have bestowed upon us. The restoration / custom work, however, should have plenty of room for nothing but the best in materials built into the job. The Euro type clears are typically used; well I don't know where you would use the euro clear . Some of the euro clears on the market are only called euro because they come packaged in metric form i.e.; Liters instead of Ounces. Others like the Matrix AG 40 are definitely different as they are much thicker than the high solids , and as a result don't seem to flow out as well. Now maybe I just answered the question of where to use an actual euro clear . I guess if a textured appearance is what you're shooting for, then the higher solids of a real euro clear is your best bet. I have used the AG 40, and I don't care for it, however, Matrix sells a lot of it. There has been times that we have painted Mercedes and BMW s and noticed a bit of texture and to replicate the appearance, we've simply adjusted our style of painting. There has also been times that we've tried to use the AG 40 and it has resulted in a lot of cutting and buffing . I will give you guys some technical information on what makes a high , Medium , and low solid. Some labels distinguish the difference by the V.O.C. rating. I think this is misleading because (not being a chemist), I can't see the correlation between volatile organic compound and thickness (viscosity). Higher solids are thicker and lower solids are thinner, it's that simple, and in preparing for this news letter, I have researched the viscosity readings of the clears mentioned. Viscosity is typically measured with a #2 Zhan cup and is recorded in the amount of seconds a full cup takes to empty. I will list the most popular Matrix clears with there respective viscosities below:

....17-19 seconds The Matrix name brand clears all have a lifetime warranty, while the RSC (refinish solutions clear) does not. I have to tell you that at my body shop SLIX we offer a lifetime warranty on all work all the time. I have used RSC clears for six years and have given all those customers a lifetime warranty. In six years we have re cleared 3 vehicles due to clear issues. Note that each one of these vehicles had never been waxed, which is something I tell every customer they need to do as part of their responsibility. I had every right to refuse to warranty these vehicles, but when you say something like that to a customer, it sounds like you're being dishonest.

We warrantied them anyway, and we looked like heroes, and Let's face it, it was a small thing for us to do! Also consider that given the lack of care that they took in not waxing their vehicle, what would the factory clear have done in the same period of time? Also consider that no way in hell would the factory do what Slix did re paint for free! I don't get hung up on money and for that reason a lifetime warranty from my level and covering a clear that technically shouldn t be covered is no big deal! As a matter of fact in all three cases because of our warranty, we received more work from each one of those customers (the honesty is the best policy thing). All the warranty vehicles were also shot with the RSA hardener (the refinish solutions hardener that comes with the RSC 220 clear), three years ago we started using the MH hardeners or the Auto Bahn equivalent with the RSC 220 (MH hardeners are the Matrix name brand), which is a higher solids and higher quality and should buy at least two more years of life. A lot of you are rightfully concerned with warranty. Matrix has the same warranty that any major paint company has (lifetime), however, whenever a warranty issue comes up understand this, the factory rarely if ever has a bad product and if you ve been covered on a bad product the Jobber is actually the one who covers it. Now what I'm going to say next is undoubtedly going to piss some people off. When the jobber covers a product failure, how do they go about that? I ll tell you, they give you store credit. Now think about that, if I warranty a product by giving you store credit, which means that you ve still got to get your product from me. It also means you're getting screwed ! There s profit built into everything we sell you, so we're not taking the hit, you are! Now don't get me wrong, as The Paint Spot, I would rather give you credit too, but I ll say it right here, right now, WE WILL RETURN YOUR MONEY if asked! I will also say that there s almost no such thing as product failure . These companies have done their homework, and believe me they're quality control is second to none. If you have a problem with a product, I guarantee you it's something that was done at the refinisher level, and don't expect someone not to be able to figure that out. In applying the clear coat the easiest way to get the best results is to follow the product information sheet . Pay strict attention to pressures, adjustments, distances, fluid tips, and times. All too often a painter tries to mimic someone else s style, and in doing so overlooks a whole bunch of variables. I also run into the I tried that clear and it didn't work good . When I hear that, 99% of the time, they didn't read the P sheet, and they are spraying it wrong. Read the P sheet no matter whose clear you're using, it will yield you the best Results! GOOD LUCK!

We have run out of time and I know, I haven't even gone into re coatable and single stage. I promise we'll talk about that next month.