Mobile Smart Paint Repair In Bristol
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Mobile Smart Paint Repair In Bristol
I had my van restored and resprayed around 4 years ago and after about a year, I had around four areas of slight bubbling appear which I assume is some sort of paint reaction. It isn't rust anyway as it would have got worse by now and they have never got any worse, but I think it is time to fix them. I have been thinking about using a mobile smart repair company but I don't have any experience of them. Are they any good? Has anyone used one before? Are there any recommendations for the Bristol area?
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davidoft1
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Re: Mobile Smart Paint Repair In Bristol
Looks like rust to me
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Burtybassett
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Re: Mobile Smart Paint Repair In Bristol
OK,
If you're going to get it sorted anyway...why not pick at a bit to see if it is or isn't rust. Once it's confirmed either way the issue can be sorted in the correct way.
1983 1.9TDi Westfalia Vanagon, 5 Speed (AAP) - Now Tax & MOT exempt 
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davidoft1
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Re: Mobile Smart Paint Repair In Bristol
Sand it off and find out , I’ve seen plenty of stuff like that and paint issues are usually regular in texture and that’s irregular so pretty much certain to not be a paint issue, once it’s stripped bare you’ll know better
Re: Mobile Smart Paint Repair In Bristol
I am actually looking for advice on whether mobile paint repairs are any good or not. I have already established for myself that it isn't rust!
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davidoft1
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Re: Mobile Smart Paint Repair In Bristol
Until it’s uncovered it’s just a guess and the advice of repair method will also be a guess, smart repairs are temporary, I wouldn’t on anything I was keeping
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cobblers
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Re: Mobile Smart Paint Repair In Bristol
That's very likely moisture under the paint. My brown van did this - the painter left it outside his workshop in primer in the rain for 2 weeks before painting it 
. It looked perfect for about 4 months, then when I left it out in the hot sun for a week patches just like this appeared, again near seams where water had been trapped. They never spread or got worse in the three years after.
I had done all the work on the van so I was 100% sure there was no rust in these areas, and when I repaired one of them myself, it was just an empty bubble and perfectly clean primer and metal beneath.
Anyway.
Most mobile paint repair people will be able to do a decent enough job of that, providing you know what the exact colour the van is painted in. They'll mix paint to match, but it's never 100% perfect so they'll use their judgement as to where to "lose" the repair - ideally on a swage line or seam. This isn't always possible, so sometimes a fade out of the repaired area needs to be done in the middle of a panel. This isn't ideal and you'll often end up with a bit of a halo appearing round the repair after 6 months to a year, where the thin edge of the faded out lacquer starts to oxidise and weather. You can usually improve this by just buffing it up with some mild cutting compound but it will keep coming back unless they paint the whole panel.
What the mobile repair lads do isn't magic, the materials they use are more or less the same as in a normal bodyshop - but they approach the job from the perspective of providing a reasonable result with the least amount of work by bending the rules and pushing their materials to the limit. A normal bodyshop would (should?) just aim to do a proper job following straightforward industry standard processes which generally means that they'll be painting at least one full panel, something that can't really be done on a mobile basis.
You might find people are reluctant to take this job on because they're also worried it'll be rust underneath. These guys just want straightforward work they can bosh out in a few hours and move on without fear of a quick job escalating into something bigger - they'd rather do 3 or 4 scratched plastic bumper corners on lease return modern cars every day than mess around with old stuff that's already had more work than Madonna! In fact the few guys in the trade that I know will usually refuse to do any "rust" repair, and if they do they will usually make it very clear to the customer that there's absolutely no guarantee of the quality or longevity of the repair - they'll do their best in an allotted time and that's that.
. It looked perfect for about 4 months, then when I left it out in the hot sun for a week patches just like this appeared, again near seams where water had been trapped. They never spread or got worse in the three years after.I had done all the work on the van so I was 100% sure there was no rust in these areas, and when I repaired one of them myself, it was just an empty bubble and perfectly clean primer and metal beneath.
Anyway.
Most mobile paint repair people will be able to do a decent enough job of that, providing you know what the exact colour the van is painted in. They'll mix paint to match, but it's never 100% perfect so they'll use their judgement as to where to "lose" the repair - ideally on a swage line or seam. This isn't always possible, so sometimes a fade out of the repaired area needs to be done in the middle of a panel. This isn't ideal and you'll often end up with a bit of a halo appearing round the repair after 6 months to a year, where the thin edge of the faded out lacquer starts to oxidise and weather. You can usually improve this by just buffing it up with some mild cutting compound but it will keep coming back unless they paint the whole panel.
What the mobile repair lads do isn't magic, the materials they use are more or less the same as in a normal bodyshop - but they approach the job from the perspective of providing a reasonable result with the least amount of work by bending the rules and pushing their materials to the limit. A normal bodyshop would (should?) just aim to do a proper job following straightforward industry standard processes which generally means that they'll be painting at least one full panel, something that can't really be done on a mobile basis.
You might find people are reluctant to take this job on because they're also worried it'll be rust underneath. These guys just want straightforward work they can bosh out in a few hours and move on without fear of a quick job escalating into something bigger - they'd rather do 3 or 4 scratched plastic bumper corners on lease return modern cars every day than mess around with old stuff that's already had more work than Madonna! In fact the few guys in the trade that I know will usually refuse to do any "rust" repair, and if they do they will usually make it very clear to the customer that there's absolutely no guarantee of the quality or longevity of the repair - they'll do their best in an allotted time and that's that.
Re: Mobile Smart Paint Repair In Bristol
Thanks for all your replies! I have booked a time to go back to the place where I had the work done originally. I spoke to the guy who did the spraying and he is more than happy to sort it out. I have had a few cars resprayed in the past and however well it is done, there is always a risk of issues down the line. I don't mind spending a bit of cash on it to get it right as I am planning on long term ownership!!