Blend Guidelines for Auto Damage Appraisers
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(This is a rough draft excerpt from my upcoming book the Auto Adjuster’s Playbook)
Everything that needs to be done to repair a damaged vehicle needs to be written down step by step in the form of an auto damage estimate. We group the types of repairs that need to be done into different types of repair operations. Every line of an estimate will include a type of repair operation. Below is a definition of a repair operation, “Repair operations are types of processes and labor that need to happen to restore a vehicle back to pre-loss condition” The different types of repair operations are the cornerstone to understanding how to write a proper estimate. This makes having a proper understanding of the different types of repair operations essential to our job. In this post we’ll dive into the “blend” repair operation.
Blend Operation
The repair operation “blend” is the kid brother to refinish. This represents painting a panel then blending or overlapping the color into the adjacent panel to avoid color match problems. “Blend represents painting a panel then blending or overlapping the color into the adjacent panel to avoid color match problems.” Why do we blend? Great question. Let’s go back to a household example. Imagine your spouse has asked you to repaint a wall in the living room where the nephew ruined it with permanent marker. It has been years since the room was painted. You start out with the intention of only painting one wall, but after completing the one wall you realize how bad the walls next to it look. One looks shiny and new, the other not so much. You end up chasing the new paint look around the room and paint the entire room. The blend operation is designed to help with this issue when a panel is getting painted. We blend the refinish operation into the next panel so it isn’t obvious only one panel was fully painted.
There are certain situations when you choose to blend and others when you don’t. For the most part it is straightforward, but like many things in our industry there are many opinions as to the “right ways” to choose how to blend. I will stick by widely accepted guidelines and try to make it as easy as possible on you. When considering if a panel needed “blended” you have to determine FIRST if the car qualifies for blend. What this means is that not all paint colors need blended and then the SECOND thing you need to determine is if the panel that you are considering a blend operation on qualifies for blend. This may sound ambiguous, but I’ll give you 3 questions to ask yourself that will make it easy. The first two rules are to help you determine if the CAR qualifies as a vehicle that will possibly need blending and the last one is to help you determine if the PANEL you are considering does indeed need blending.
- Does the vehicles paint have metallic in it? (car)
- Is the vehicles paint light in color? (car)
- Does the panel share a horizontal plane with a panel being refinished? (panel)
If you answer YES to the first question (metallic in paint) then you can skip the second question. Cars with metallic in the paint always qualify for blend Metallic is the metal specks or flakes in the paint. I personally call them sparkles, but technically it is called metallic. If there is NO metallic in the paint you ask the second question, “Is the vehicle light in color?” Except for white, all vehicles that are light in color will qualify for blend. Many body shops and repair facilities write estimates based on the rule that the only colors they don’t blend are white and black. As an IA I’ve had MANY files rejected for blending dark colored vehicles which has made me develop the above guidelines but understand that a shop will likely request blend on a dark color vehicle. They aren’t WRONG, we just operate under different guidelines. Check your guidelines for the carrier you are working for when faced with that situation.
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Home→Car Spraying Metallics and Colours→ Blending Paintwork Repairs
Blending Paintwork Repairs
Small repairs may not warrant spraying a complete panel. In this case consider what will be the easiest way to “lose” the edges of your paint repair. This will ideally be a slim rear pillar or narrow section of bodywork, or a moulding or break line further along from the repair. If using basecoat and clear, it is usually easier and quicker to lacquer complete panels, or if spraying for example a door, blend and lacquer the panels either side of your repair to completely hide any slight colour difference.
Thoroughly flat all areas to be blended or lacquered with ultra-fine abrasive pads (usually grey Scotchbrite), nothing any coarser. If lacquer is to be blended away up a rear pillar or suchlike, use a fine grade compound to restore the gloss to the last few inches of the abraded area
Apply colour coats to the repair area until covered, preferably using a lower pressure than usual to reduce overspray. To blend the colour into surrounding areas apply two or three extra coats, extending the colour coats a few inches further out for each coat. Always keep within the abraded area. If paint strays on to unsanded paintwork it will always compound back to a visible edge. Arcing the spraygun at the edges of each coat helps the paint edge to fade away, rather than a sharper cut-off to the colour. Finally, melt the overspray edge with a very light coat of thinners, so that the edge of the repair can be compounded into the original paintwork without trace.
Blending colours to hide subtle colour differences
Metallic colours are unusual in that different shades can be produced from the same batch of paint by varying application methods or conditions, For this reason blending basecoat and clear metallics is almost compulsory to ensure a perfect match. For most brands of basecoat exactly the same blending process as solid colours is used.
The basecoat colour may be blended into adjacent panels to achieve a perfect colour match. Spray two or three coats of colour onto the repaired area until covered. Extend the basecoat over a slightly larger area to loose any colour differences. It may be easier to reduce air pressure for these coats, which will help to minimize a dark, rough edge where the aluminium particles stand up from the panel instead of laying flat. Do not apply thinners to blend the basecoat edge.
After leaving the basecoat to dry for 5-10 mins, lacquer can be applied. Lacquering the full panels is usually a lot easier than trying to blend a large area mid-panel.
If the repair must be blended into a part panel, the same requirements as for solid colours must be met. The final coat of lacquer must stay within the area that has been sanded with Scotchbrite or similar abrasive pads,otherwise it will be impossible to compound away the lacquer edge. A light coat of thinners to the lacquer edge will blend the repair into the existing paintwork. When hard, do not aggressively compound the lacquer joint – light compounding produces better results.
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Blending automotive paint is the process of transitioning the new base coat being sprayed onto the repair area and old existing paint. This will provide the best match possible because you don’t know where the new paint ends and the old paint begins. It’s like an illusion or fooling the eye to believe it is a perfect match. Paints can be very difficult to match perfect. Even if you are using the exact same batch of paint, gun settings, temperature, and humidity, can all cause slight color change, which will look like a mismatch if the entire panel was painted without blending. Even if the metallic lays down different, it can cause the color to shift darker or lighter. So, blending is standard body shop repair procedure and helps the car appear as if its never been painted. And don’t worry, just because it’s standard auto body procedure it’s easily doable at home to save you a ton of money!
The Basic Process
Prepping the panels should be done using the following guidelines:
- After priming any repaired areas, sand with P400-P600 in the area to be fully color coated.
- In the area to be blended with color, sand with P600-P800.
- The area to be cleared only should be prepped with P1000 grit sandpaper. Many paint manufacturers prefer the P1000 over a scuff pad.
Especially important when sanding with finer grits is to thoroughly sand all edges.
- With the proper color and prepping, finish coating may begin. Color is applied to any new panels and any repaired areas to achieve full hiding. The number of coats will vary depending on the color being sprayed usually 2-3 coats.
- The last coat of color should be sprayed onto the original finish of a repaired panel and onto any adjacent panels. These coats should be faded out with each coat extending farther out from the repair than the last. Clear coat should be applied to the entire panel or panels as necessary.
There are many high quality videos on youtube which do a great job of explaining the blending process. If you are not familiar with blending process, we highly recommend watching these videos prior to making your repair. American Touch Up will feature our own videos on youtube in the coming months.
Check out these videos below for now:
