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Originally Posted by for_cars1 However I wanted to explore an Honda OEM for the original paint quality and lustre. If they do use dent pullers and part panel painting for minor scratches, the cost would be lower and competitive to independent garages. |
I would have got the work done from Honda even if they were charging me 5000 more than outside garages. Why ?
I once had seen the bodyshop guys working on a gold Accord from start to finish. It had a badly dented/scratched door which was supposed to be worked on. The procedure and tools they use are very well worth the extra money you pay them. I'll give you a brief idea of the entire procedure so that you can take an informed decision.
1. The panel which is going to be worked upon is removed from the car, Honda cars usually have 13 panels. The only panels which cannot be removed are the rear quater panels(including top/bottom running boards). It is also possible that they may not remove the panel at this stage if it's damage is very minor.
2. If the panel is removed they attach it to a jig which holds the panel in place while the workers grind off the paint and get it down to bare metal so that they can use the welders and stuff which is needed for the dent puller. Everything from that panel is removed, so if the door is being worked on, the glass/handles/beadings/doorcards everything is removed.
3. They will pull out the dent by using a reverse hammer technique. Honda usually uses sikkens tools/procedures for their bodyshops, there are these small sticks of metal that are welded around the dent and then a rod is attached which serves as a meduim to exert pressure on those sticks which in turn pulls the dent out. They never beat the panels to get them in shape, this beating of panels was fine for the old Fiats/M800s but not for cars of today because as it is we have less gauge of steel and beating it will cause it to deform over the years.
4. The panel then again goes through a round of grinding to remove the welding's residue that those sticks leave. At this stage the body lines are carefully looked at and if they are not proper they use precision tools to get the lines proper, even minor adjustments are made at this stage only.
5. The panel then is sanded down completely and then the fine trimming/shaping is done using the fillers and putty. The amount of filler/putty used is hardly anything because these guys have nearly worked out 98% of the dent in the previos stages. One thing to be kept in mind is that using more putty/filler is bad, it results in flaking of the paint down the line, Mumbai guys must have heard "papdi nikalna".
6. The panel goes in for sanding, followed by primer. Again after this the panel is checked to make sure the lines are perfect, if not then a more fine filler is used but the panel will be 100% like factory before it hits the paint booth.
7. Now comes the paint matching, Honda has a seperate room to make the perfect shade to match other panels with the new one. The reason they get the shade just right everytime is, they have colour cards of the same colour for different ages of the vehicle meaning in this case they had that gold colour pack of cards which had years written behind them, so if your gold car is 3 years old they have a card of gold(3 years old), if your gold car is 5 years old then card of gold(5 years old). I was told that 99% of the times the card perfectly matches the shade of the other panels if not 1-2 cards up/down but shade will be matched perfectly. Attention to detail is fantastic.
8. Another coat of primer turns the panel completely white after which layers and layers of paint go on in the paint booth and it is dried/baked in between the coats in a temperature controlled environment. Then inspected for any painting flaws, if even a slight fault is found they will take it down to the primer stage again.
9. Now there are two things that happen but I don't remember which of them was first. One is the clear coat and the other is wet sanding.
10. Panel is fitted back and minor adjustments to align them are made. Then the car goes for a whole body polish and wax setup. This I was told is done so that the new panel doesn't shine more than the remaining panels. You can say that this is the type of polishing we see when detailers do paint corrections, its motive is to make the other panels shine/look just like the new one. Then obviously the waxing, tyre dressing and stuff is done.
The pains and efforts these guys take is worth the extra money anyday, the results speak for themselves. Work done from outside shows the real picture after a few years when that panel will have to be reworked again because it was not done correctly before. The entire denting/painting takes around 2 days.