February 2011 The Paint Spot Newsletter
Ok, Let's get to it. Last month along with the newsletter (that was a bit depressing, and I apologize for the personal issues but I just couldn't get that off my mind when I sat down to do the letter) I included a price increase notification. In that notification I expressed my disbelief in the whole idea of the increase by basically calling our vendors bluff. I told you (Paint Spot customers) that I was going to send each of our vendors the same letter. Whereas they would be put on notice that I did not agree with their decision and the reasons why. I also stated that I would look for alternative sources and would actually absorb as much of the increase as possible. Well, here s some response from my suppliers. Before we even got any mailed out one of the suppliers stopped in for a routine courtesy call (I won't mention his name or the company, but it was a heavy hitter) when I let him read the letter he laughed at me (big mistake) and said you're not going to get anywhere with this, and besides, your customers are used to this and they won't say a thing about a few percent increase . I told him that I didn't care whether or not they said anything, I said it, and that's good enough. He then told me the reason for the increase was that their cost and raw materials had gone up. I said prove it , and there s no way anyone has gotten raises in an economy where there s more unemployed workers than there are jobs, and only an increase in their cost of doing business would justify an increase. I said just bring me some proof that your cost went up, and that should be easy coming from the corporate world where nobody can do anything without having a paper trail, and I would personally write a letter of apology .To date, I've seen nothing! Since that time I've heard similar comments from three of our other suppliers. Remember, I also talked about alternative sources . Well guess what .I found some, and I d like to share a quote from one of them Rick, you ve got cast iron nuts , at which point I was the one laughing! HE WHO LAUGHS LAST, LAUGHS BEST! I truly believe that what I did to these suppliers, nobody had done before, but I hope it catches on because The squeaky wheel really does get the grease . There is more than one company out there selling body shop supplies, and the new ones we found since last month are grateful for the opportunity to work with us. Here s some feed back from a real Paint Spot customer, who happens to be a neighbor of one of Hoffmans employees and who USED to be a Hoffmans customer.
The guys name is Merle and he runs a shop named Bump and Grind . He came into the store today (1/26/11) and bought some materials. In doing so, he saw a Binks respirator on our wall for $ 52.18 and said I really need a new respirator, but I can't afford it right now . I said hang on a minute how about this S.A.S. respirator for $16.00 ? He was ecstatic and said add it to the bill. Now I am not knocking the Binks as it's the respirator that I actually use, but the SAS is of the same quality and I don't mind changing. As a matter of fact, we are going to promote it on this month s flyer. I told you I would do whatever it took to keep your prices down, and I meant it! I also think that despite getting laughed at, these suppliers know I mean business, and because of all of you, The Paint Spot is no longer considered a small fry . I can tell you this, there isn't a week that goes by that a major paint company or supplier doesn't call or come by to talk to Rick Ciotti (yes, they actually know my name) to ask us if we would carry their line. For that reason I believe even the Laughers will come to the table and see things my way. One of the paint suppliers that came out asking for us to carry their line is Trans Star , and believe it or not, I actually accepted their offer. Although they are in stark contrast to Matrix I decided to bring the line on board because we run into people out there that use some of those products. Some painters are convinced that nothing else is as good as Trans Star and it has always for me is what they say. I say that Matrix is a much better product, but whatever floats your boat . The main reason I took the line on is ..Because I can! So many jobbers out there are considered Platinum distributors, which basically means that they cannot sell anything other than what they are told. For that status they get better pricing and perks than normal because they are exclusive distributors for that certain line. For example, Hoffmans is a platinum PPG distributor, and everyone knows how good of a deal you get when you buy from them. At any point, I can sell anything I want, but I am not interested in selling something that doesn't have the maximum bang for the buck, and Trans star does have its place. If anyone would like pricing or a demo on the Trans Star products, just call The Paint Spot and we'll hook you up! Another line that we are working on right now is Zolotone or Z-Line . Many of you might remember that name from along time ago. It was the speckle paint we used to shoot in trunks of cars back in the 60 s, 70 s and 80 s. Well a few years ago Matrix bought that company and turned it into their industrial paint division and decided to fly the zolotone name on it. You might (depending on what part of the country you're in) have actually seen clear coat called Zolotone (I know I have and it was from Colorado). Anyway the Industrial line is pretty impressive. There are hundreds of colors in the paint selector, and the system comes with a hand held spectrophotometer. You can take this devise and put it on any color on any substrate and it will read out the closest color in the data base (pretty cool). Now, before you start reading more into this than you should let me remind you .This is only for Industrial paint! You are probably thinking about a previous newsletter when I mentioned that we had an Industrial paint line here already, well you would be correct, however, we are not completely satisfied with the line. Although the paint is great, the tech support (namely the ability to match a color in a timely manner and get a formula back to us) is not! That is something we (and you) just can't live with. In about 95% of the cases, the industrial paint customer has some special corporate color that must be matched. It is often close to some standard, but rarely exact and because industrial paint has such few toners in their systems, those matches can take forever for us (the jobber) to match. Matrix apparently thought of that when they designed the Zolotone line. The pricing is apples to apples and we are switching, that's another benefit that us independent paint jobbers have, if it aint good enough, we can get rid of it and find something that is.
I need to clarify if not down right retract something I mentioned in an earlier newsletter. I unfairly compared Matrix MP- epoxy primer to PPG DP- epoxy Primer when I made reference to the long window and extended cure time. In that news letter, I said that the Matrix had the same length of time before it must be sanded before top coating. I made a mistake and I stand corrected. It is one of the reasons that I recommended using Northstar instead (Northstar is still the better deal when you compare price per sprayable quart).
Matrix does not have that long of a window, and it seems that they have purposely corrected a long time PPG mistake (I'm sure PPG does not consider this a mistake, and why should they, after all, they have been selling it to you for years and you ve been paying for it one way or another).
... PPG- DP epoxy primer / DP 401 or 402 may be recoated any time up to 1 week. After 1 week, it must be cleaned with either DX 330 or 380, then scuffed with a medium / fine scotchbrite or fine sand paper . Now that's quoted right out of their product info book, and I want you to think about what that says. I contend that if that material stays open for that long, it is not yet cured. It also has a 72 hour pot life@ 70 degrees ( DP 401) 8 hour pot life @ 70 degrees ( DP 402) as a sealer or a primer. Matrix- MP Epoxy primer When applying one coat of primer allow 1 hour dry time before applying additional topcoats, when applying 2 coats of primer allow an overnight dry before recoating. When applying as a primer sealer, allow overnight dry before recoating or applying body filler . Pot life- pot life will shorten as temperatures increase . Now, that's all the Matrix P-Sheet says about pot life, so to get an accurate comparison to PPG, I called the Matrix tech department to get an actual time limit. Per their tech dept. at an average temperature Matrix MP Epoxy primer has a 1 hour pot life.
I can admit when I'm wrong, and I hope the above issue proves that. So since I'm spilling my guts let me bring something else to your attention. Recently Brian Lynch from Matrix came down and spent a day on demos with me. I had to do some paint work at a potential customers shop. While I was in the booth, Brian video recorded my efforts, and afterwards he commented on my style. Brian said hey man you're spraying too dry and you're wasting too much material because of it . Now, I got to tell you it pissed me off! I've got just as much pride as the next guy, and the way I look at it if there s one thing I know, it's how to paint , after all I've painted in excess of 20,000 vehicles from lacquer to imron and a good amount of them were candies, so how dare you say something like that to me . I've run into similar situations while trying to help someone with their style, habits, or material choice that I thought were less than cost effective and I know how they sometimes respond. It is a pride thing and depending on how you approach it or what the exact issue is, you run the risk of loosing their attention and pissing them off . This newsletter is one of the ways that hopefully I can reach out to you in a non- threatening way and actually help you by sharing tips that will make you money and in return be grateful to The Paint Spot for doing what no one else would (or possibly could).
After I cooled down and was willing to listen to Brian, I realized that he was only trying to help me and it would behoove me to hear him out. I also considered the fact that Brian has a vast background in the business that includes working for and actually applying House of Kolor . He talks the talk and walks the walk and those are the kind of guys I look up to. Once I understood that, I forgave his in your face style and understood that diplomats are diplomatic and craftsman are .In your face! Anyway, he s a good guy and I'm really glad I accepted his constructive criticism. The issue was too much air which was keeping me from getting a good wet transfer of material. He then suggested that I change the restrictor valve , which I had always referred to as a regulator . He explained to me the difference in an actual regulator and the restrictor that I was used to. I will explain it to you and how the regulator will help you as it has vastly helped me. The restrictor valve that comes with almost every gun I have ever bought basically controls the air to your gun the same way kinking a garden hose controls the water pressure. In doing that you restrict the c.f.m. that your air compressor is capable of maintaining, which equates to sacrificing c.f.m. for pressure. The regulator, that actually has a diaphragm in it regulates the air to your gun without sacrificing c.f.m. Here s what that did for me. When Brian was with me at the customers shop, I was using a Sata NR-2000, I was spraying with 25lbs air on my Sata gauge. We brought that gun back to my shop, loaded it with black base coat and did test patterns on masking paper that we taped to my booth wall. With my gun set by me the way I use it, I pulled the trigger and set the fan, when I sprayed into the open air to check the transfer efficiency (the distance from the air cap to where the fan lost its pattern) that measurement was 4 to 5 inches. We then put the gun towards the masking paper at the same distance that I sprayed the customer s car, instead of the pattern looking even it was blotchy , with a lot of overspray around the edges. We then changed to the diaphragm regulator left the gun set up the same way, held the gun up and pulled the trigger. The transfer efficiency was now about 10 inches and not only that, we were able to lower the air pressure to 15 lbs. We did the test pattern on the wall and we had a nice even long oval with almost zero overspray around the edge. The proof was in the pudding and if I would have stayed pissed off, I never would have learned such a valuable lesson. Brian also showed me the correct way to set any spray gun (I was sure I already knew). Take any gun, put lacquer thinner in (or paint), increase the air pressure so much that you know it will split the fan, open the fan until it splits then back to where it just stops splitting, that is where that gun wants to spray. Next set the air pressure to where it just sprays evenly and no more, that's the air pressure that gun needs (you don't care what the gauge says). Next note the transfer efficiency, that's the distance from the panel that that gun wants to be when you are painting. This is all stuff that I for one never considered, I always just grabbed a gun, either set the air where I usually set it by the gauge, or sometimes I actually went by the sound of air that I was used to hearing (that's a no no and I see lots of painters doing it), set the fan full then back a little and was off and running. I'm telling you right now that these things definitely make a big difference, and if you make these changes you ll be able to grab any gun at any time and get the most out of it. That is especially beneficial to me as I have to use all types of equipment that I've never used before, and I'm expected to get good results, and the last thing a customer wants to here is this guns a piece of shit, you need to buy a new one preferably from me !
By the way, if you want to buy a new gun the paint spot is now officially an Iwata distributor and we've got some smoking deals this month!