Hot take: I think the push for waterborne paint in every shop is moving too fast

I was mixing a job at the supply house in Spokane when a guy next to me, a painter from a big chain shop, said 'if you're not on waterborne, you're not a real painter anymore.' That stuck with me. Our shop is small, our booth is old, and the humidity here makes it a real fight. We tried it on a 2015 F-150 hood and the flash time was a nightmare. Has anyone made the switch in a shop without a perfect climate setup?

4 comments

4 Comments

max_cooper211mo ago

That guy at the supply house is right though. Tech moves on and you have to move with it. Blaming your booth and the weather is just making excuses. Every shop had to figure out new stuff when base/clear took over, this is no different. If you're still fighting with solvent on daily drivers you're just creating more work and more problems for yourself.

paul871mo ago

That guy sounds like the kind of painter who buys his personality from the supply house. Cora's right about the reducer, but a perfect booth doesn't fix the attitude.

cora_mitchell1mo ago

Was that a Sherwin guy? In my experience, the flash time is more about the reducer and your prep than the booth being new.

the_alice29d ago

Yeah, and paul87 is onto something about attitude. The real problem is when guys get stuck in their ways and stop paying attention to the actual job in front of them. It doesn't matter if your booth is brand new or twenty years old, you still have to watch the paint. Getting the reducer right for that day's humidity is a skill you can't buy. Relying on gear to fix a lack of focus just means you'll have the same problems in a fancy new space.