Customer complaint about my paint job made me drop the cheap primer

I've been using a house brand urethane primer for years because it was $15 less per gallon. A guy brought his restored 67 Mustang back 3 months later with peeling around the edges. He showed me the bare metal underneath and said 'you skipped the etching step didn't you?'. Switched to a proper epoxy primer that costs $48 a quart and I've had zero callbacks since. What do you use for panel prep on older cars with bare metal?

2 comments

2 Comments

rowan59313d ago

$15 saved per gallon sounds great until you're forking over for a full respray plus the customer's apology pizza. Good on you for facing the music though, most guys would've blamed the weather or the paint.

sethr1113d ago

Funny you say that, I did the same thing last year with a metallic blue and ended up buying the customer a whole new front bumper after the clear coat fisheyed. Ever learn that lesson the hard way too?