april2022 - 16

This trend plays to a paint technician's advantage.
The monocoats of the past were single-stage
paints with no clearcoat layer. Thus, they were not
as durable with respect to color and gloss retention.
" Furthermore, repairing with basecoat/clearcoat
gives the technician a wider operating
window for blending the basecoat followed by a
clearcoat application, " Wood explained. " The technician
can better provide an invisible repair and
also has the ability to buff minor imperfections
without sacrificing durability, as would be the case
when polishing a monocoat. "
That said, non-LTL commercial trucks can
present some challenges for paint technicians.
" The truck itself might be a basecoat/clearcoat,
but an accessory such as a box or wrecker could
be monocoat or powdercoat, " Wood said. " If a
truck comes in with damage in multiple areas,
the technician could have some challenges in
getting to the right solution from both a color
and gloss perspective. "
Dan Olsen, who has been in the collision repair
industry for 27 years, knows all about these
challenges. He went straight for the heavy-duty
segment, bypassing the glitz and glamour of hot
rods and luxury automobiles. Over the past five
years, however, a bit of glitz has made its way to
the Class 8 segment, said the collision manager
at Premier Truck Group's Salt Lake City location.
Premier Truck Group, part of the Penske
family of brands, is a full-service Freightliner,
Western Star, and Isuzu dealership across North
America-and the trend is happening across
makes and models.
" The days of nothing but solid white, black,
or red tractors are long gone, " Olsen said. " We're
seeing many more colors and more metallics, so
our technicians are having to learn new spray
patterns. For example, a certain color and finish
may require the air pressure on the spray gun to
be adjusted. "
The paint manufacturers have also noticed the
trend of trucks veering into the flashy colors of the
consumer vehicle space.
" The stylists at the OEMs are now looking at
automotive colors to build their color pallets
from, " added Scott Colvin, brand manager for fleet
segments at PPG, a supplier of automotive paints
and coatings. " That means more metallics, pearls,
and special-effect colors. "
Colvin and Olsen concur that the expanding
range of colors is driven by customer demand.
It's all about improving fleet image and standing
out. " We have one fleet customer who is running
seven or eight different pastels, " Olsen said. " He
definitely keeps us on our toes. "
With deeper, richer colors and even some
tri-colors, Olsen said the same traditional basecoat
isn't always the default solution in the paint
booth anymore. " A white primer sealer is often
needed nowadays on some of these lighter colors.
If you're not using the right sealer, there's a good
» Navistar's new San Antonio assembly plant paint booths use a dry filtration
system to optimize paint usage and reduce product waste.
Photo: Navistar
chance you'll end up fighting a complete color
shift, " Olsen explained.
The end result could be a final repair that is
anything but " invisible. " And that can have an
adverse effect on the truck's appearance and fleet's
overall image-just like all of those dents, scratches,
and faded paint that are left unattended.
» Milwaukee Tool's M12 Color Match
Light has a CRI of 98+ to help illuminate
colors and imperfections.
Photo: Milwaukee Tool
Matching colors,
maximizing efficiency
Maintaining quality and efficiency in the paint
booth requires unprecedented collaboration
with a good paint vendor. As Axalta's Wood
pointed out, the goal is to always make a repair
look invisible while also ensuring that it wears
and looks the same as the truck continues down
its lifecycle.
16 Fleet Maintenance | April 2022
april2022

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