Before Unmasking A Car
The car has been painted and now it’s time to pull it out of the paint booth and put the car back together. However, before unmasking the car you should inspect the car for paint defects such as heavy orange peel, runs, trash in paint, etc. Any reason that may require you to sand and buff the paint finish.
If it is obvious the car is going to need to be sanded and buffed, then I would recommend leaving the car masked as much as possible. You may have to partially unmask or cut access holes so you can see to move the car, but try to leave as much masked as possible. This will provide protection to the adjacent parts when sanding and buffing, which will reduce the amount of clean-up. Compounds and polishes make a mess and are hard to clean off. Leaving the car masked will save time in the end.
If the car does not have any paint defects or just a few spots to denib and polish, then go ahead and unmask the car. This is also going to depend on each individual shop procedures. For example, a production shop may require all cars to be unmasked outside of the booth so they can pull another car into the booth to start spraying.
Unmaksing
Care should be taken to unmask the car. All back masked areas should have the tape push back away from the panel. This will prevent pulling toward the freshly painted surface, which could possibly peel a chunk of clear coat off. Also watch all edges when unmasking and make sure there are no spots where the clear coat bridged to the tape. This may require special attention as well.
Aligning The Fender
In the video we put the car back together and got the car ready for delivery. However, we focused on the steps we took to alight a front fender. First protect the edges using masking tape. This will eliminate accidentally scraping an edge and scratching the fresh paint. Next, we installed the fender and placed all the bolts to hold the fender in place. Then we adjusted the fender gap, height, and flushness to the front door and tightened the bolts in the rear of fender. Next, we adjusted the gap, height, and flushness if the fender to the hood and tightened those bolts.
It’s important to remember to check progress before slamming any panels open and shut. Check the alignment slowly to prevent the two panels from touching and rubbing, which could cause damage to the paint finish.
Once you have it aligned tighten everything up, install all other parts, clean the car and get it ready for delivery.
Become a CB Plus Premium Member Today
For a limited time offer of only $25 per year. Once you are member, you are locked into that cost. After the introduction period the cost will go up. The more people we have join, the more creative we can get in the members area. Your membership fees will help pay for the costs of this website and to invest more into the members area. Click Here for more information.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.