Empire  Collision​

Refinish Dept.

 

 

Refinish Department

 

Getting your car fixed right, the first time, with a lifetime warranty, back to factory specs, is one thing. (And it can take a village of highly trained people to make that happen.) Making sure your newly repaired vehicle doesn’t come out the paint shop looking like an orange peel is another.

 Master Refinish Technician, Cristian H. will tell you priming, sanding, painting, sealing and polishing takes various degrees of attention to detail and expertise. Cristian says a lot of sandpaper scratches in vehicles can be seen if the primer isn’t sanded properly.

Our Auto Body Paint System

 

Empire uses a top of the line PPG Enviro base Paint System. It is the best manufacturer of automotive OEM coatings – providing technologically sophisticated and environmentally responsible coatings as well! These primers have become standard for some OEM manufacturers providing protection while preparing the surface for top-coating without the use of solvents.

 

For PPG products the main properties of its clearcoat are smooth and glossy surfaces. This helps produce excellent resistance against weathering, chemicals and scratches. The materials used ensure OEM requirements such as weathering stability or chemical resistance. These are the standards that Empire Collision Center meet.

 

A basecoat is the coating layer providing color and aesthetic effects. It must provide uniform appearance for many years without fading. When it comes to some fancy paint jobs, micas, aluminum flakes and other particles, they will all effect pigmentation. They can be incorporated in one basecoat layer or in a separate layer (for example in two-tones). If two basecoat layers are used, the sandwich with the clearcoat is called a tricoat or three stage finish.

One such example is the “pearl” paint that gives your vehicle just a touch of sparkle down the road. “They go with a tri-coat,” Our paint jobs are done not only to match the original color and finish after an expert auto body repair, but because of vandalism or people who love their older cars and just want it to look showroom new.

 

At Empire Collision Center we have our own paint machine for that perfect match. “We mix our own paint. We take the paint code off the car and we even have a camera that would capture something as small as a bubble gum wrapper and match the color. That’s how advanced it’s gotten. In the old days you’d have two different panels with two different colors – you don’t really see that anymore.”

Unlike a discount auto body paint place where a vehicle is washed, taped and spray painted, the process at Empire Collision Center is very different. “We take the whole car apart. We take all the glass out, all the molding and handles out, as well as all the doors and bumpers. We completely do it as they would at the factory. Put it back together and buff, polish, detail and it looks brand new.”