Good garage for body work?

[lantern]

Our car has been hit and scraped by several motorbikes at this stage so I'm looking for a decent body shop to do some cosmetic work - Central or South Jakarta preferably. Anyone have any ideas or good experiences?

[davobali]

cant help with where , perhaps ask the dealers if they have prefered repairers ..., especially the luxury car dealers ..., but check out the cleanliness of the work area. If its tidy and well lit its more to the possitve side , and ask to see the spray booth ( called a cat oven in indonesia ) as it should be well lit and sealed off from wind and any dust and spotlessly clean apart from old paint spills etc ..., plus humidity plays havoc with paint , so some type of dehumidifying would be good . See what brands of paint and fillers (bog) they use , as some brands are cheap and nasty and better off avoided .

The quality brands will be european . Some good quality Euro auto paint brands used here in Indonesia that I know of are Debeer (owned by Valsper) and Sikkens..,

..., also ask to check out some of their work up close and in good lighting ,
most importantly is to note - that all the work is in the preperation , the cost of the paint is only a small percentage ..., be aware of this and make sure you discuss it when negotiating a price . You will also need to return at some stage too , usually 3-5 days for two pack , and 15-30 days for acrylic paint so it can be buffed to a shiny finish ..., any earlier than this and paint is still usually too soft.

Also to note is cars these days are originally sprayed with tough " two-pac paint " which has a chemical hardener mixed into it before spraying ... this is the best paint ! , and is more expensive than cheaper acrylic auto paint ( which is also very temperamental and problematic when sprayed in a humid environment ) Enamel paint is still available , but rarely used these days , as two pac so much better and is easy to spray , much stronger and chemical resistant and fast drying , and the advancements in technology of acrylic paint has also made enamel less prefered also .

last , be aware that ; you can paint acrylic over the top of two pac - but you cant paint two pac over the top of acrylic .

the order of paint applied starting with bare metal is ; 1st etch primer , 2nd is paint primer , 3rd is colour coat , then 4th is clear coat ..., note clear coat is compulsary on metalic paints as the metalic flecks in the paint can rust and these need to be sealed off from the atmosphere. Clear coat is optional for non-metalic paints .

..., etch primer contains a anti rust acid , and a thin coat must be sprayed on any bare metal before paint primer is applied . Etch primer also grips /stick better to bare metal than paint primer/undercoat

..., primer/undercoat ( which acts as a bonding agent for the colour coat ) , must be use over top of etch primer before any finish /colour coats are applied . Any rubbing back that has gone too far and exposed bare metal must be toughed up again quickly with etch primer

A nasty scam is to specify tough two pac paint and they insted use cheaper acrylic to increase their profits ... you wont know untill the next time you need to fix a repair .