They all make them. Whether or not your local jobber carries them or will bother to order them for you is another issue. One of the benefits in shooting Sherwin-Williams is they are company owned stores. They'll get you whatever they make, and you're getting everything straight from the horse's mouth.

That's an excellent point. I suppose one should consider vehicle usage in making that decision - less an issue on a show vehicle. I would say though, going all the way down to bare metal is unnecessary. Taking off the etch primer just to put it back on, taking off the primer just to put it back on... why? Knock off the clear and the base, maybe shoot a coat of primer so you can block it out, base it, clear it.

Not the clears. They're still all about the isocyanates.

I would make that bet simply because I've sold paint to plenty of guys who are shooting in their garage with no mask, minimal ventilation. I think you'd have to spray it right into your face to get sick from a single paint job.

That's an outstanding point. I'm not even sure why paint companies, after all the lawsuits over the years, would even sell to DIY'ers.

I think familiarity is the most common reason why painters stick with a paint line. They believe a product works well, simply because they know how to deal with the issues.

"The Chromaclear 7779S flows out glass smooth once you learn how to lay it on..."

Whereas there are clears on the market which go on glass smooth so easily a monkey could almost do it.

In a production environment, DuPont is seriously trailing the pack. In many cases, trying to shoot all similar competing products side-by-side, there isn't a DuPont product that even fits. Where speed is the key, Sherwin-Williams is the king (you can go from bare metal to out the door in less than an hour), PPG, Sikkens and a few others are just about there, and DuPont is somewhere in the 1990's still.

 

Don't know about bike shops but this is what car body shops do:
If it takes 10 hours to repair a car they charge customer 15-20 and they pay bodyman for 5. This is what my friend professional bodyman told me. Bodyshop is one of the most profitable businesses. Anybody will charge as much as he can regardless of invested labor and material.
If HD sells a bike for 30K it is not because it spent 50 or 70% of that money to manufacture it, it is because there is somebody who will pay.

 

Whatever happened to the flate rate manual, that restricts shops from charging whatever they want???
Ive been told that auto mfg costs are 25% of sticker price and HD's are about $10-11k for big twins and much less for the chicks bikes.

 

Not even close to correct.

Autobody repair hours are the same as mechanical repairs - there are references for the number of labor hours per job. If the manual says you have 1 hour to repair a fender, the charge is 1 hour. If it takes .5 hours or 4 hours - the shop only gets paid 1 hour. The shop has no discretion on the labor hours.

Yes... the tech gets paid a portion of the labor hours. He doesn't pay for shop supplies, he doesn't help pay the mortgage on the building, he doesn't get hit up to pay the employees who work up front, etc.

it gets even better when the insurance companies get involved. You might write an estimate that totals 10 labor hours. The insurance company might come back and say "We're only going to pay you for 6" (and they ALL cut the labor hours they'll pay)... and the repair takes 12.

Trust me... autobody shops are NOT rolling in the dough. Most of them are hanging on by a thread. The insurance companies see to it they stay that way.


Why do so many people ever only consider the cost of manufacture? Do you really think anyone is making all that much off a Harley?

What about the people who;
- design the bike
- sell the bikes
- advertise the bikes
- ship the bikes
- accountants who make sure everyone gets paid
- everyone who works in the dealer
- etc.

By the time you get done slicing up the pie among everyone who needs to get a piece, no one is getting a significant chunk.
-

 

Still exists. Shops *can't* charge whatever they want. When insurance companies get involved, shops can't even charge what it cost them to do the job some times.

 

well said i run an automotive shop so i can relate alot of people think my techs are making $90 an hour they dont understand the big picture

 

Us dummies that decided to get into the auto body trade make far less then the guy who spins wrenches or the heavy duty mechanics. Insurance companies want a cheap door rate. If the shop doesn't agree they will move the vehicle to a shop that will. Flat rate applies to all repairs except resto work or work that has no rate available to apply. Any shop that wants to keep the door open is not going to get carried away estimating any job, including bike painting. Some shops pay staff by the hour most give a percentage of the flat rate to the tech for each phase of the repair. A good, well trained, and experienced tech can do okay on flat rate, but no one is getting rich doing this.

 

Midniteevil- In our neck of the woods most shops use Dupont or Sikkins. The resto/rod shops mostly use PPG. A good friend, who runs a small rod shop, told me they use PPG mainly because most guys read rod magazines and think they have to have PPG. There must be a reason a majority use Dupont. The shop I worked at for many years looked at changing supplier and after trying all the other major brands stuck with Dupont. When setting up our shop we used several different systems and went back to Dupont. I will admit a big plus is the Dupont rep for our area.

 

MidnitEvil glad you are my go to paint guy ha ha ha almost spring brother almost spring!

 

Well you beat me to it. I was gonna say to anyone who thinks $1000 is expensive for a quality paint job has never owned their own business, paid for quality labor, workmans comp, fica taxes, other taxes, business licenses, overhead and tools, a good looking receptionist, bookkeeper, yellow page ads, etc etc ......on and on...........

I wouldn't get out of bed to paint your bike for $1000 unless it was new bare metal, then I'd have to like you.

And that's just for good quality, not "show quality".