Today we’re sharing a photo that just might surprise you. We asked our friends on Facebook to try to identify what took place in the photo below. Many of the responses were what we expected to see: parking lot touch-n-go, shopping cart, tree branch, bicycle or motorcycle. Someone thought it was Magnesium Chloride, and another even blamed it on the Easter Bunny.
The correct answer came in from an industry expert, Charles Russell of Finish Masters. He said, “Looks like a ‘splitter’.”
I asked Charles for a little more detail on how a “splitter” actually happens. This was his reply: “Reasons can vary from over application, to applying clear coat too soon. There are also some chemical compatibility issues that can cause the split as the surface temperature of the metal can get up to 250 degrees on dark colors in the sun. When the surface gets this hot, it “sucks out” the remaining solvents trapped in the mid coat and base coat. The clear coat is a cross-linked surface (insoluble) so it “cracks” like a dry creek bed.”
Then I asked him to put all that in layman’s terms. He replied, “Oh! It’s cracked.”
He went on to say: “I am sure that Roberts shop did not do this paint job, and he is repairing some other shop’s mistake. (He gets a lot of requests to fix others problems!)” Right again, Charles.
Nylund’s does in fact receive a lot of requests to fix poor craftsmanship that all too often occurs in the auto body industry. If you feel like your car might not have been repaired to the highest standards, you are welcome to bring it by for a free evaluation.
Here’s a short clip of how we perform a proper 3-stage pearl paint application that will NEVER crack!
Oh… and here’s the biggest surprise of them all: This poor paint job and subsequent splitting was not what brought this car to Nylund’s. This was…
At Nylund’s, we are driven by the customer experience. If it’s not perfect… it’s not leaving!