If you are an apprentice in an auto body garage, you should stick to your supervisor's directives to produce excellent paintwork. However, it is common for apprentices to make mistakes when preparing a car body for spray painting. Unfortunately, such errors often lead to poor-quality spray-painting results, frustrating both supervisors and customers. Thus, you must do everything to avoid car body preparation mistakes since they significantly affect your chances of landing employment or winning clients. Most importantly, you must familiarise yourself with the most common spray painting mistakes and how to avoid them.

One Rag Habit

A common habit among apprentice spray painters is using the same rag to clean off wax and grease in preparation for sanding. Ideally, a wax and a grease remover should be applied using a wet cloth then wiped off with a dry rag. However, most spray painters use spritz bottles rather than a damp rag to apply wax and grease removers. Thus, the technique encourages using the same rag to wipe off excess wax and grease. However, it is counterproductive since it only smears the remover into a car panel, making the sanding process challenging. Besides, the contamination causes blisters on a car's body over time. You can avoid the mistake by using a traditional two-rag policy to apply wax and grease removers. This ensures the effective removal of contaminants before sanding and spray painting.

Over-Reliance on Adhesion Promoters

While sanding a car body panel takes a bit of time, it is essential for the proper adherence of enamel and lacquer topcoats to the surface. However, some apprentice painters believe they don't have to spend too much time sanding a car panel if they use adhesion promoters. Unfortunately, this is not the case because poor sanding affects paint adherence, whether you use an adhesion promoter or not. Therefore, always sand a car panel thoroughly, and only use an adhesion promoter as an aid to encourage paint adhesion.

Late Confirmation of Paint Colour

It is common for apprentice painters to perform a colour check when a car panel is already in a spray-painting booth. However, waiting that long increases the chances of making mistakes when choosing the right shade for a paint job. Thus, it is advisable to verify the colours before a car panel reaches a spray-painting booth. Most importantly, it gives you a chance to counter-check paint colour and prevents costly surprises. This is particularly the case for closely-related shades, such as red and maroon or navy blue and royal blue.

Contact a spray painting service near you to learn more.