Bodyworx Professional 3#2

SPECIAL EDITION OF

SPOTLIGHT: IAN MCINTOSH BUILT KIRMAC COLLISION FROM THE GROUND UP. SEE PG. 19 FOR DETAILS!

SHOCKING INFORMATION Stay safe working on EVs and hybrids

SHOW TIME !!

Get prepped and ready for NACE and SEMA.

PLUS

Full report on the Skills Canada National Competition, inside Algonquin College’s autobody program, and much, much more!!!

Summer 2016

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FEATURES

2 COLLISION REPAIR COLLISIONREPAIRMAG.COM

CONTENTS

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profile 14 Classics Empire Based in Chatham, Ontario, RM Auto Restoration does business all around the world.

regulars 4 Publisher’s Page

by Darryl Simmons

6 News Chip Foose inspires, Canadian glass tech wins honours overseas and much, much more!

12 Industry Insight

by Mike Carcone

41 19

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Systems and Process

How to Blend Clearcoat

A desire to improve the industry drove Ian McIntosh and Kirmac Collision to the top

Tips and tricks for when you absolutely have to blend.

features

Don’t Get Zapped!

25 NACE Preview

36 Going for Gold

Check out the excitement coming up in Anaheim!

Complete coverage of the Canadian National Skills Competition!

29 In the Clear

45 Algonquin College

Dip into the chemistry behind protecting that shiny finish.

Offering a balance between theory and practice.

The basics of working on hybrids and electric vehicles.

on the cover: One of the many hot rods on display at SEMA 2015. Photo courtesy of SEMA.

AUGUST 2016 BODYWORX PROFESSIONAL

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PUBLISHER’S PAGE

WORK FOR CHANGE

PUBLISHER Darryl Simmons 647.409.7070 publisher@collisionrepairmag.com

You need training, tools and a willingness to sweat.

BY DARRYL SIMMONS

I

t’s great to be a part of the collision repair industry. You get to fill a vital need, while at the same time you’re often working with cutting edge technology. Plus, cars are undeniably cool. There’s something to be said for spending your working days putting them back in pristine condition.

Today’s technicians are highly skilled, technologically savvy and some of the hardest working people in the world. They’ve dedicated their lives to repairing vehicles and keeping

ASSISTANT EDITOR Anna Davey

No matter where you are in your career, finding success means having a career path. Pinpoint where you are now and map out where you want to go. Be as specific as you can.

It isn’t enough to say “I want to make more money” or “I want to own my own shop.” You need to figure out how you’re going to get there. The more specific you can make your steps, the clearer your path will be.

You may not like where you are now, but that’s frankly not as important as where you’re going.

THE MORE SPECIFIC YOU CAN MAKE YOUR STEPS, THE CLEARER YOUR PATH WILL BE. motorists safe after the repair. The floor is a great place to be if you’re a tech, but that doesn’t mean you have to stay there.

There are a lot of stories of technicians with humble beginnings who rose to the very top. In this issue, we bring you the story of Ian McIntosh, founder of the Kirmac Collision chain.

You can check it out on page 17.

Ian started out in his backyard when he was just 13, fixing up a car purchased for $50. He later sold it for $100, doubling his investment.

That’s a great return, but he put in a lot more than money. It was his time and his effort that really led to profit.

The initial investment was needed, but it wouldn’t have paid off without a lot of sweat.

If you’re a working tech or apprentice, you’re in the same boat. You’ve got your training (or you’re getting it), but it’s the work you put in from this point forward that will take you to the top.

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EDITOR Mike Davey 905.549.0454 editor@collisionrepairmag.com

Take a look at Ian McIntosh. He worked in a few autobody shops when he was young and didn’t like the way they were run. So he did something about it. When he founded Kirmac Collision, he made process and staff two of his top priorities. Today he’s acknowledged as one of the people who raised the bar for the entire industry. The modern collision repair industry owes a lot to Ian McIntosh and the other pioneers who helped make the business what it is today.

If you’re not in the industry, take a serious look at the careers that can be found in collision repair. With the right goal in mind, and the path mapped out, you just might be one of the pioneers for the next generation.

CREATIVE DEPARTMENT Michelle Miller, Kaylee Mclean STAFF WRITER Jeff Sanford jeff@collisionrepairmag.com VP INDUSTRY RELATIONS & ADVERTISING Gloria Mann 647.998.5677 advertising@collisionrepairmag.com DIRECTOR OF SALES & MARKETING Ellen Smith 416.312.7446 ellen@mediamatters.ca CONTRIBUTORS Michael Carcone, Justin Jimmo, Adrien Montoya

SUBSCRIPTION One-year $29.95 / Two-year $49.95

Bodyworx Professional™ is published bi-monthly, and is dedicated to serving the business interests of the collision repair industry. It is published by Media Matters Inc. Material in Bodyworx Professional™ may not be reproduced in any form with out written consent from the publisher. The publisher reserves the right to refuse any advertising and disclaims all responsibilities for claims or statements made by its advertisers or independent columnists. All facts, opinions, statements appearing in this publication are those of the writers and editors themselves, and are in no way to be construed as statements, positions or endorsements by the publisher.

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We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Periodical Fund of the Department of Canadian Heritage.

Bodyworx Professional is published by Media Matters Inc., publishers of:

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NEWS

Chip Foose inspires youth at Carlson Body Shop Supply and BASF event

I

nspiring minds through inspiring people. That was the theme when legendary custom car wizard Chip Foose dropped by an event hosted by Carlson Body Shop Supply and BASF in Calgary—allowing the industry to nurture the next generation of auto collision specialists.

“We’re trying to give back, to encourage more youth to come into our industry,” said Jamie Corbeil, Sales Manager for Carlson Body Shop Supply. “Because we need them.”

The event was also a way for Carlson Body Shop Supply to show appreciation for customers and thank them for their business.

Foose—best known for his long-running automotive makeover reality TV program Overhaulin’—hosted the event to lend support towards struggling autobody programs at five Calgary high schools.

“He custom-designed three pedal cars, very similar to the ones students designed for World of Wheels,” Corbeil said, referring to the auto show’s Pedal Car Custom Challenge, pitting local students against each other to create tricked-out custom mini-cars.

Auctioned off during the night, the three Foose originals netted a little over $4,000.

“They’re in desperate need of funding for their program, everything from materials to equipment to training,” Corbeil said. “It’s critical for us. What we’re trying to do is encourage youth to come into the collision industry, and let them know there are lots of opportunities, not just as technicians but also as future damage appraisers and production managers.”

With the number of high school graduates entering trade schools on the decline, getting the younger set to consider the skilled trades as a career option is vital, according to event attendee Doug Wiebe of collision repair supply firm Caruk & Associates.

“We have a deficit of technicians in this business,” he said. “If we can get more people coming in at the bottom end again, it’s really important because our industry is aging.”

Also on hand were members of the build team from Calgary’s Bishop Grandin High School, whose rumble-seat rocking roadster won best-in-show at February’s World of Wheels.

Gary Thoreson, an instructor at Bishop Grandin, says such initiatives are vital in ensuring the collision repair industry gets a steady stream of fresh talent.

“Good body shop kids coming out of high schools are hard to find,” he said. “We try to run with the trades and get the kids trained into something [where] they know they can get a job—by the time people come out of university, the kids that are working in the trades have already made their money.”

Entering Carlson’s meticulously spotless training centre to a welcome usually reserved for a rock star, Foose’s influence on the autobody industry is hard to ignore.

“Chip’s not only a very talented designer, he’s just overall a great human,” said Corbeil. “He genuinely cares about the future of the industry, and takes a lot of pride in what he does—a really good representative for the collision industry.”

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Chip Foose sketches, while an overhead camera shows the process to an attentive crowd.

The team from Bishop Grandin and instructor Gary Thoreson.

Foose-designed pedal cars.

NEWS

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Canadian glass tech second out of 27 competitors at Best of Belron Canadian mobile glass technician Ryan Cox won second place at the Best of Belron global event in Portugal, right behind American contestant Gary Riebesehl from Safelite.

The ninth edition of the windshield repair and replacement competition gathered 27 national-level winning technicians, along with 1,500 colleagues, suppliers and partners from across the globe.

“This competition was an experience of a lifetime. I’m really proud of my performance and I would like to thank everyone back in Canada. Your well wishes made the difference and gave me confidence. I have made friendships that will last a lifetime,’’ said Cox. He is currently employed as a technician at the Speedy Glass Kingsway service centre.

For the competition, Cox had to repair and replace a windshield, recalibrate the camera of the Advanced Driver Assistance System, replace a side glass, remove and refit a rear window, and show his skills at communicating with customers before and after a job.

Each technician was also asked to complete a detailed questionnaire covering every aspect of their job, from health and safety to customer care.

“We are so proud of Ryan. He is extremely skilled, talented and driven. The criteria for measuring performance was extremely thorough, covering health and safety, working methods, care for the car, customer care, as well as final quality and speed of completing the job. Winning second place is a superb achievement,” said Roy Tarcea, Technical Trainer for Belron Canada.

Speedy Glass technicians Ryan Cox, who won second place at the 2016 Best of Belron Competition, and Matt MacDonald, who won second at the 2014 Best of Belron Competition.

At the last edition in 2014, Vancouverite glass technician Matt MacDonald finished second. He later visited many service centres across the country to share his knowledge and encourage technicians to take part in the competition. When he transitioned to a management position, Ryan Cox was his first employee.

“I pushed him to sign up and helped him train because the process was eye-opening for me and I knew Ryan had everything to be a great contestant. He is calm, confident, very intelligent, and he’s competitive in an understated way. I am so proud of him,” said MacDonald, now Manager of Lakewood Speedy Glass.

College of Trades oversight transferred to Ministry of Labour

By Mike Davey

A decision by the government of Ontario will see oversight of the Ontario College of Trades (OCOT) transferred to the Ministry of Labour (MOL) from the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities (MTCU).

The regulatory shift was not mentioned in the November 2015 review of OCOT, prepared by Tony Dean. Dean was appointed in October 2014 to perform a review of various aspects of OCOT, including scopes of practice and the process used for determining whether a particular trade should be voluntary or compulsory.

A memo was emailed to a number of stakeholders, describing the change to oversight by Ontario’s MOL: “As the province moves forward with Mr. Dean’s recommendations, MOL has formally assumed responsibility for the College’s regulatory and administrative oversight. This will allow MOL to directly apply its expertise to complex labour matters, including the role the Ontario Labour Relations Board will play with regards to enforcement activities.”

The memo also indicated that the responsibility for apprenticeships will remain with MTCU.

JULY 2016 BODYWORX PROFESSIONAL

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NEWS

Talented Canadian customizer struggles in wake of collision Wes Mclean is the former owner of Wesward Custom Shop in Campbell River, BC. At one point a key player in the Canadian mini truck movement, Mclean’s designs were frequently featured in magazines. Life was good, until 2012 when his life changed forever after a collision with a dump truck.

Mclean and two friends were heading to the ferry. “It was kind of cloudy out. The roads were wet. We were in an area where the road merges with a train track. We had to slow down,” says Mclean. They were in a Tracker. All of a sudden a dump truck pulled out. “The truck made a big wall in front of us. The Tracker had a grab rail on the dash. I grabbed that, thinking to say ‘Oh shit,’ I was half turned to look at the driver when we T-boned the dump truck.” The seat belt broke and his head hit the top of the frame as he went through the windshield.

Mclean had glass in his face and eyes. The front part of his hair was peeled back. He had bleeding in the brain, right on the medulla. “The neurosurgeon says I’m lucky to be alive,” says Mclean. Along with a dislocated back there was a broken, dislocated jaw. He lost three teeth. He gets bloody noses on one side. He has nerve damage and now speaks with a pronounced stutter. When it comes to his vision he sees “four of everything.”

Mclean had been carving out a spot in the world of custom truck design for years before the accident. He also worked in the collision repair field. He went to college in Victoria and was one of the few

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that made it through the course to the end. “When the rest of the class welded a new floor in a truck I was customizing it,” he says.

Working with another customizer, Mclean became an expert on how to customize low-rider trucks. Eventually his work was on the cover of Mini Truckin’ magazine. “I was the first Canadian to get the cover,” says Mclean. He was considered one of the outstanding talents in the movement.

Today, he’s given it all up. The accident has left him unable to work. “Now that I’m the way I am I don’t have the vision or the touch.

I have the knowledge. But I can’t do what I used to do. I’m not that way anymore.”

He currently has a lawsuit with ICBC. “I am kind of getting shafted by the insurance company. I won in court and I am not being given what I’ve been awarded. My lawyer is fighting them but they’re jerking me around. ” he says. “My lawyer and caregiver are fighting for me. But we’re just coming up against walls. I don’t know what to do. My caregiver has been taken away from me. Everybody wants the old Wes back, my mother and ICBC. But I need care. I try to do as much as I can. It’s frustrating. People take my frustration as anger, but I’m just looking for care. I’m not looking for money. I need the care. But ICBC doesn’t want to top up my disability.”

Mclean says ICBC recently cut his payments and that has him worried about the future. “I can’t deal with normal day-to-day life like I used to. I am supposed to get all this care and I’m not,” he says.

New custom colours from House of Kolor

One of the new custom colours from House of Kolor, Black Forest, adorns this 1940 Merc.

Want the look and depth of a candy, without spending too much time? According to House of Kolor by Valspar, the company’s latest product launch has got you covered.

The company has announced eight new products, including four limited edition colours that debuted at SEMA in Las Vegas. The limited edition colours—Black Forest, Blue ByYou, Blood Orange and Righteous Rojo—are available as a factory pack for a limited time. They are also available to be mixed in the Shimrin2 Intermix System.

“What’s fun about these colours is that you can easily get the look and depth of a candy with the ease of applying a basecoat clearcoat,” says Jon Kosmoski, founder of House of Kolor. “These four uniquely crafted limited edition colours will provide you with the look of a custom colour in no time.”

House of Kolor has also introduced a new sprayable primer (SP1600.G01), a premium, low-VOC, high-build polyester primer surfacer that the company says provides excellent adhesion to fibreglass and primed surfaces such as aluminum and steel.

“From the trend-setting limited-edition colours to the incredible clears, these products have something for everyone,” says Gina Mahan, House of Kolor Brand Manager. “We take pride in offering products to better serve our customers through advancements in colour and technology, and the products in the spring 2016 launch are no exception.”

For more information, please visit houseofkolor.com.

Antenna Wrench II from Steck Steck has announced the launch of Antenna Wrench II. The tool is designed to aid in the removal of antennas, especially in cases where a raised hood design prevents many tools from accessing the bezel nut.

Antenna Wrench II can be used independently or in conjunction with Steck’s original Antenna Wrench (21600). The Wrench II is laser cut from steel then grit blasted and plated to give it a strong and polished finish. A statement from Steck says the design expands coverage to more vehicles, such as Dodge pick-ups. The Antenna Wrench II works as a two, three and four notch bezel nut wrench of any diameter.

According to Steck, Antenna Wrench II eliminates the need for an antenna nut socket wrench set.

For more information, please visit steckmfg.com.

NEWS

<<<

AkzoNobel’s MIXIT colour software provides updates in real-time AkzoNobel’s colour web application, MIXIT, now offers real-time updates. A statement from the company says the cloud-based software is the first colour software to do so.

Some of the coming updates will focus on continually adapting and improving the software based on user behaviour.

According to AkzoNobel, how body shops are using the application is analyzed, and this information is used to understand how customers can retrieve and match colours more efficiently. Every three weeks AkzoNobel uses the data to release an updated version of the application.

According to a statement from AkzoNobel, the software’s search function is extremely robust, fitting all possible keywords, in many different languages. The search function also includes suggestions.

“MIXIT is the first software of its kind to provide data updates in real-time, with a simple, fast and intelligent search, making it the most accurate colour retrieval tool available,” says Remco Maassen van den Brink, AkzoNobel’s Vehicle Refinishes Marketing Director. “It is also the first to support searching for car makes and model names in the Chinese language.”

MIXIT has been designed to work on smartphones, tablets

AkzoNobel says the MIXIT software has been optimized for smartphones, tablets and PCs.

and PCs. Since its launch last December approximately 50 percent of users have accessed the application from a mobile device or tablet.

The application can be accessed at MIXITcloud.com.

AUGUST 2016 BODYWORX PROFESSIONAL

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HOT WHEELS

THE BEST

EQUIPMENT The right choice is the one that will grow your business.

BY MICHAEL CARCONE Technology has changed. In many cases, a touchless tire changer is an absolute necessity.

I

t’s a fact: Today’s cars and accessories are not as simple to work on as they once were. There’s been a lot written about new materials and advancing technology, but let’s take a look at one part of the vehicle that should be pretty simple: wheels and tires.

Guess what? Those have changed too.

The old norm was 13 to 15 inches. Most wheels were steel with wheel covers. I still remember the old tire machine that we used in those days. It was basically bulletproof and man, could this machine break down tires.

The new norm today is 18 to 20 inches and 22 inches is not far off from becoming one of the popular sizes. That’s a big change and it’s not the only one we’ve got to deal with.

They say size isn’t everything and that’s the case here too. Most cars today are equipped with aluminum alloy wheels. They can be painted, machined or polished. Dealing with such wheels now requires the use of newer and more sophisticated machines. The use of older machines on new wheels will heighten the chance of damage to the wheel and possibly the tire as well.

CHANGING TIRES As the wheels have changed over the years, so have the tires. Run flat tires are now found on many makes and models.

That brings a whole new complexity to the installation process. Having the proper equipment is an absolute necessity.

There are a number of companies out there that offer the latest and greatest

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when it comes to tire machines. The new touchless technology is now, more than ever before, needed to deal with the change in the wheel and tire world.

If you’re not familiar with these, they’re called “touchless” because they don’t touch the wheel itself, only the tire.

The touchless tire changers ensure that you won’t leave scratches on expensive wheels. The choice of equipment is paramount. You need to know exactly what you’re looking for. To get to that point, though, you first need to figure out exactly what you need.

This is more than just figuring out who makes good equipment right now. If you or your boss are in the market for a tire changer, your best bet is to go with the offering from company that is aware of the changing marketplace and adapts itself and its equipment to suit new conditions.

Remember the old “bulletproof” tire change I mentioned earlier? It was a great piece of equipment in its day. Rugged, solid and reliable. The company that made it did a great job of suiting the equipment to the market conditions ... when it was built. We wouldn’t try using it on a modern wheel. There’s just too much chance that it would scratch up that great looking finish.

TIME TO CHOOSE When it comes down to a choice between two suppliers, always go with the company that is aware of the changing marketplace and whose equipment will help grow the business.

I had the opportunity to visit a collision

repair facility recently where the owner was showcasing his shop’s capabilities and the equipment they used to get the job done. He was obviously very proud of their offering, and something he said hit close to home with me. “When you’re looking for equipment, make sure you’re not just buying a product. Rather, make sure that what you buy is a new way of doing business that will take you to the next level in service.”

That really rings true for me. Any piece of equipment you buy, whether it’s a big purchase or a small one, will impact how you serve your customers.

This is true no matter the size of your business. Whether you’re a working tech just starting out, or an established shop owner with three facilities, your equipment choices will have a big effect on the level of service you’re able to provide.

In other words, choice of equipment is incredibly important. What equipment is right for you? Again, it’s the equipment that will help you grow your business.

That’s the case no matter what kind of equipment it is.

Michael Carcone is the co-owner of Carcone’s Auto Recycling and Wheel Refinishing, located in Aurora, Ont. He can be reached via his company’s website at carcone.com.

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RESTORER PROFILE

RM AUTO

RESTORATION

A 1938 Graham with a Saoutchik coach-built body. RM Auto Restoration restored and showed this car at Pebble Beach in August 2015.

EXTREME PATIENCE AND ATTENTION TO DETAIL HAVE NETTED THE COMPANY SIX “BEST IN SHOW” AWARDS AT PEBBLE BEACH

By Mike Davey

T

he community of Chatham, Ontario bills itself as the “Classic Car Capital of Canada.” While that’s not an official title, it’s certainly appropriate. It’s fair to say that the reputation is largely due to the presence of one company in the town: RM Auto Restoration.

RM Auto Restoration is easily the largest classic car restoration shop in Canada, and may very well be the biggest in the world. General Manager Mario Van Raay gave Bodyworx Professional a tour of the operation recently. For those used to working in a collision repair facility, it’s a window to a whole new world.

“It can be a bit of an adjustment for someone who has spent most of their time working in collision,” says Van Raay. “We work very hard, but you also need to have patience and take the time to get things exactly right.”

Getting things “exactly right” is a major factor for RM Auto Restoration. It’s a large part of how the facility has built its reputation as one of the top classic car restorations shops in the world. Their work has won the classic car world’s highest honours.

The Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance is the destination of choice for rare and antique automobiles. Winning a “Best

General Manager Mario Van Raay examines some work in the company’s wood shop.

Restoring a wooden window frame. Woodworking skills are often required at RM Auto Restoration.

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RESTORER PROFILE in Show” at this world-famous event can easily add half-a-million dollars to a vehicle’s price tag. Vehicles from RM Auto Restoration have taken the title six times in the last 13 years. It may very well be a world record.

RM Restorations was founded in 1976

by Rob Myers. At that time, his facility was a simple two-car garage on Indian Creek Road in Chatham. Myers, simply put, was driven by a love of cars. It likely wasn’t his intention to found and build a global empire.

Nevertheless, that’s what the business grew into.

Whether it was his original goal or not, a love of classic cars paid off in the long run for Myers and his company. Today RM Auto Restoration has left the old twocar garage long behind and occupies a 25,000 sq. ft. building, designed and built for restoring classic cars. Other buildings on the lot include an enormous space for the auction house, and a separate space for working on aircraft interiors.

The restoration shop is big, but there’s not a lot of room to spare.

Van Raay says they’re working at capacity and may be looking to expand even further.

“We’re booking work a year and a half in advance,” says Van Raay.

“That’s part of the reason we’re always looking for people who fit in with our operation.”

RM Auto Restoration does a lot of its own training. A mix of younger and older techs helps to ensure that the needed skills are passed on. For a skilled technician who also appreciates the classics, working at a shop like RM Auto Restoration might seem like a dream come true.

The company broke into the auction world in 1992. The classic car restoration business grew significantly over the years, but the auction house has grown even more. Originally Myers would send cars off to auction on consignment. One year, according to Van

Small forms are used to show customers how paint will look when applied to a vehicle’s curves and angles.

<<< <<<

A view of the auction house.

Raay, Myers realized that they could do it themselves.

“In one year, Rob sent over 100 cars to auction on consignment,” says Van Raay. “That’s when he said ‘Wait a minute! We can do this ourselves!’”

Today the auction house is the largest part of the business in terms of personnel and dollar volume, with a number of offices far afield from Chatham. Places like New York, Monterey and Auburn Hills. However, the auction operations still take up a lot of space at RM’s headquarters. There’s one large building on the lot that’s very nondescript from the outside. You can’t say that about what’s inside.

For a classic car enthusiast, entering the auction building is is like stepping into a museum. Or a temple. Classics of every description are stored, row on row. Duesenbergs, Cadillacs and Bugattis. Many of these cars were extremely expensive, top-of-the-line automobiles when they were brand new. Now they’re lovingly restored antiques, and the price is ... well, whatever a collector is willing to pay. Price tags in the millions are by no means uncommon.

Experimentation can be key to getting a job exactly right.

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RESTORER PROFILE That’s part of the reason that patience is key for any tech who wants to get into restoration. These aren’t just cars. They’re highticket collectibles and valuable antiques.

Perhaps the best way to put across the patience needed is by looking at the paint shop. Painters will research and experiment to get the necessary hue. There are no codes for most of these colours, and most of the products used originally simply aren’t available any more.

“You can’t buy the lacquer that they used to use back then,” says Van Raay. “We spray waterborne, and we do sprayout after sprayout after sprayout to get the colour right.”

The paint shop goes the extra mile to show the customer what the final finish will look like. Touring the paint department, Van

Raay shows us something that looks sort of like a model car, but with no windows or wheels. It’s about eight inches long and hollow. However, you can clearly see that it’s meant to simulate the shape of an automobile in a very general way. This allows the paint department to show the customer not just the colour they intend to use, but how it will look when applied to the different curves and angles of a car’s surface. Plus it’s easy to carry, so you can see it in sunlight.

Looking at how RM Restorations applies clear is another lesson in the patience required. Van Raay shows us a panel that’s still curing. As he points out, it looks “goopy.”

“We’ll lay down a few coats of clear, just like a body shop would,” he says.

“Then we lay on a really thick coat and let it sit for a week before sanding.”

ABOVE and BELOW: A 1960s era Batmobile and Batcycle. These vehicles were built to promote the Batman TV series starring Adam West.

A Duesenberg, restored by RM Auto Restoration. Duesenberg was one of the first American luxury brands.

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RESTORER PROFILE

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The 1938 Graham at the auction house.

Doing this, he explains, allows that extra thick coat of clear to cure completely. It’s then wet-sanded until it has an extremely deep shine. There’s no arguing with results. The finish on these vehicles is undeniably deep and rich.

The paint shop seems to do just as much research and investigation as the rest of the operation. Sometimes this pays off in unexpected ways.

“Working on one car, an old Ford, they eventually found the original paint buried underneath other layers. Our painters worked out how to formulate it, and RM Restorations now shares a patent on that colour with The Edsel & Eleanor Ford House. It’s called Speedster Green,” says Van Raay.

Van Raay also shows us around two areas of the shop that most autobody facilities just don’t have. The first is the fabrication shop. Fabricating parts is simply not that common these days, but at RM Restorations it’s an absolute necessity.

He shows us a trunk lid for a Stutz, currently in progess.

“We’re always looking for people in all areas, but there’s a definite need for fabricators,” says Van Raay. “Some techs do a bit of it, but here we do it a lot.”

The average body shop has been known to fabricate a part when the need arises, but it is very rare. The next stop, however, is something that hasn’t been seen in a collision facility in decades: the wood shop.

“A lot of these cars had wooden frames, wooden bodies or wooden trim,” says Van Raay. “We try to save the old wood when we can, but sometimes that’s not possible so we have to rebuild it.”

Rebuilding a wooden frame requires an enormous amount of research, but that’s par for the course at RM Restorations.

Sometimes, they can do things the “easy way.”

“We restored a 1938 Talbot Lago where the original body was long gone. It had been destroyed a long time before and a new body put on,” says Van Raay. “Luckily, we had previously restored a sister car, and the owner allowed us to laser scan the body. Then we dissected the scans, just like a brain scan, and built wood bucks to pattern the original body from that.”

That’s right: that’s the easy way. Usually it’s not that simple. It’s

A rear view of the Graham, showing the distinctive Saoutchik tailfin.

a matter of painstaking research and attention to detail.

One of the last stops on the tour is the dyno room. This is where cars are “road tested” under a wide variety of conditions. Van Raay notes that actual road tests are also part of the regimen, but the dyno room allows them to simulate almost anything the real world can throw at a vehicle.

“It can simulate grades, head or tail winds, all sorts of things,” he says. “It uses magnetic braking systems to give us accurate results.”

The key to any restoration operation is to put the vehicle in its original condition. Oddly enough, this often requires a lot of experimentation to get things exactly right. The cars are not modified, but restored. With that said, a number of the people working at RM Restorations are passionate about custom cars as well, just in their own time.

“A lot of our guys will work on classics during the day, then go home at night and work on a personal hot rod,” says Van Raay. “It’s in their blood.”

For more information on RM Auto Restoration, please visit rmautorestoration.com.

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CAREER PROFILE

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SYSTEMS

& PROCESS A desire to improve the industry drove Ian McIntosh and Kirmac Collision to the top.

BY MIKE DAVEY

The most recent donation from Kirmac Collision to the BC Children’s Hospital.

Ian McIntosh (far left) believes very strongly in giving back to the community.

W

hen we featured Ian McIntosh on the cover of our sister publication, Collision Repair magazine, we led off by saying that life was sort of like driving around an unfamiliar neighbourhood. Every once in a while, you’re going to find yourself in a place where you have to make an unexpected turn. It’s still a good metaphor for the path McIntosh followed.

He was initially on a trajectory that would take him into corporate law. A summer spent working in a Kenworth truck factory changed all of that.

McIntosh is the founder of Kirmac Collision and Autoglass, an MSO operating primarily in British Columbia. Until fairly recently,

the business operated a number of collision repair facilities in the US alongside its Canadian operations. The US stores were sold to consolidation giant Service King in December 2014.

“Extending the Kirmac Collision platform and building our business over the past 15 years in Washington has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my entire business career,” said McIntosh at the time. “In ultimately selecting Service King as the new owners of our company, I am fully confident that I have made the right choice and look forward to watching the Service King team in Washington continue to build further on our success.”

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20 COLLISION REPAIR COLLISIONREPAIRMAG.COM

CAREER PROFILE

The very first Kirmac store, back when the company concentrated on heavy truck repair.

McIntosh noted at the time that the company would concentrate on expanding its BC operations, and this has turned out to be the case. The company added three stores in the province in 2015.

Today Kirmac operates 15 stores in BC, with another location currently undergoing renovations in advance of becoming the sixteenth store later this year. But frankly we’re getting a little ahead of ourselves. Let’s go back to where it all started: a backyard in Aldergrove, a small rural community just east of Vancouver, when McIntosh was just 13 years old.

“It all started out as a way to make money. First, I had a paper route, then later I worked at a food store stocking shelves, before I was even old enough to be legally employed. In either case, I couldn’t make much money at it.”

An opportunity to buy a ‘47 Pontiac came along, and McIntosh purchased it for $50.

“I wasn’t old enough to drive, so my dad, who was a pretty handy mechanic in his own right, intentionally created a dead short in the distributor to keep it from starting,” says McIntosh.

After studying a lot of manuals, and with a bit of help from an older schoolmate, McIntosh found the induced problem and got it running.

“I sold it for $100 and doubled my investment,” he says. “That was the beginning!”

McIntosh worked on a number of similar projects during high school, including the first car he could actually drive when he turned 16. It was a 1954 Morris Minor which needed bodywork. It was the real beginning of a path he would follow for the rest of his career.

“It needed some body repair, which I didn’t know how to do at the time,” he says. “I took it to a shop and they wanted over $250 to fix it up and repaint it. I thought that was nuts, so I got a book on body repair and did the work myself.”

McIntosh continued working on cars throughout high school. After graduation, he was ready to leave it all behind and enrolled at the University of British Columbia. He was, as we mentioned earlier, on a trajectory that would have taken him into corporate law.

The world of the automobile has its own magnetism, however, and soon it would draw him back in. He started contemplating what he really wanted to do with his life. During this time he worked at three different body shops.

“One of the first things I noticed was how unprofessional they all

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Ian McIntosh with an early project, a ‘54 Bel Air.

were,” he says. “With the exception of one, which stood out from the rest, what I saw was shops that were dirty and disorganized, employees who were not treated well and customers who were treated even worse. At one point, I just said ‘That’s enough.

I don’t want anything to do with this industry. I’d better make enough money to go back to university and set my sights on doing something else.”

McIntosh found employment at a Kenworth truck factory, building vehicles for the early ‘70s oil boom that was going on in the Middle East. It was an experience that gave him a different perspective.

“The HR guy who hired me took me out an on elevated catwalk over the production floor. It changed my life,” he says. “From the left-hand side to the right-hand side of the production floor, you could see entire trucks coming to life in stages. Everything was wellorganized and clean. It was my first exposure to processes, systems and the power of computers. I worked there in the paint department for the next two years, but I already knew what I was going to do by the end of my first week. I was going to take the approach to what they were doing, and apply it to the collision repair business.”

McIntosh opened his first shop in 1973. In the early days, his shop did a lot of work on heavy trucks. This meant specialized equipment like a 110-ft.-long spray booth and bake oven. His brother, Ken, came to work with him about six months after the business started.

“He’s really built the business we have today with me,” says McIntosh.

While they concentrated on heavy trucks in the early months of the business, the brothers soon realized that not only does one truck take up the space of three cars, but that it’s very hard to find technicians with heavy truck experience. They started transitioning the business to repairing more passenger cars and light trucks.

Expansion followed, beginning with the second shop in BC in 1988 and later the first US shop in 1999, leading to the purchase of the Thoroughbred Collision Centers six locations in 2005.

It can be hard to pinpoint precisely what makes a business successful. For McIntosh and Kirmac, part of the formula might have been a willingness to embrace technology. Kirmac first became computerized in 1981. At that time, many general business offices were still not computerized. The average collision repair facility certainly wasn’t.

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CAREER PROFILE

McIntosh with another early project in 1974, a 1970 Z28.

In the early days, Kirmac used 3M’s ARMS systems. This isn’t around anymore, but it was one of the very first collision shop management platforms. McIntosh was invited to be a seminar instructor for the management system in 1985. He spent a lot of his weekends over the next three years flying all over North America to give seminars. This exposure to other shops reinforced his idea that the collision repair industry was ripe for systems and processes that would increase efficiency. He also saw opportunity for multi-store operations that could offer

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Another early view of one of the first Kirmac locations.

insurers an efficient process and single point of contact.

It might be fair to say that software kicked off Kirmac’s expansion.

Oddly enough, expanding meant they had to find a new system.

“We opened the second shop in Burnaby in 1988,” says McIntosh.

“That led to us needing more comprehensive systems than we were getting with ARMS.” By 1995, the team at Kirmac had developed a Windows-based system that could work over the Internet. At one time, the company employed as many as 40 people working in software development.

CAREER PROFILE

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Two of the most recent additions to the Kirmac chain, locations in Port Coquitlam and Ridge Meadows.

The management system they developed was eventually sold to CCC, a major American software provider.

“There came a time when I had to pick one or the other, either software or collision repair,” says McIntosh. “I chose collision.

It’s where I came from and the side I love the most.”

He loved it enough to be one of the leaders who helped to improve it. Today, the collision repair business is a much more professional industry that it was when McIntosh got started.

There’s no doubt that Ian McIntosh is one of the leaders that brought it to where it is today, but if you ask him, one of the achievements he is most proud of is the decades long building

of a company that now has the ability to give something back.

“I had been looking for a way to support the community we had prospered in for nearly four decades,” says McIntosh “Our support of BC Children’s Hospital, through our charitable Kirmac Cares For Kids program, is definitely it!”

It’s an initiative he’s obviously proud of, and with good reason.

McIntosh says Kirmac’s decision to support BC Children’s Hospital over the past six years was pretty easy to make. “Helping children get well so they can grow up and follow their own dreams in life just seemed like the right thing to do,” he says.

For more information, please visit kirmac.com.

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INDUSTRY EVENT

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NACE PREVIEW

A view of the Exposition floor at NACE 2015. There’s a reason why NACE has the reputation for being North America’s largest collision repair event.

The latest technology and information will be on full display at NACE 2016.

By Chris Gerics

W

hen NACE 2016 cruises into Anaheim, California this August, the automotive world will be there.

NACE has a gigantic influence on the collision industr y. Among the regular highlights are the educational oppor tunities such as the MSO Symposium and the Technology & Telematics Forum, the chance to network with industr y thought leaders and key influencers and the exhibition itself, featuring a total of 134 exhibitors at time of publication.

NACE is also an international event, offering repairers a rare chance to interact with fellow professionals from around the world. A total of 39 countries will be represented, with over 8,000 industr y stakeholders already confirmed to attend NACE and other Industr y Week events.

Many different vendors and exhibits showcase the entire spectrum of the collision repair industry and auto claims economy,

NACE 2016 will take place at the Anaheim Convention Center.

with representatives from Collision Works, Euro Spray Technology, State Farm and NAPA Auto Parts just to name a few. The large paint companies will be there in force and this year’s event has received more support from automotive manufacturers than ever before.

There are also numerous formal educational sessions. Of particular interest, I-CAR will debut two new training programs: Rivet Bonding and MIG Brazing; two rapidly advancing technologies that are changing the way the collision repair industry operates.

Andrew Shepherd is the Executive Director of I-CAR Canada.

In a recent interview with Bodyworx Professional, Shepherd outlined I-CAR’s focus.

“I-CAR focuses on three major trends: Hands-on training, more granularity within the repair industr y, and a growing par tnership with OEMs,” said Shepherd. “Due to technical advancements, we need to keep up with the times. Customer retention is a vital piece of a successful repair shop.”

Make sure to stop by our booth at the show!

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INDUSTRY EVENT

WHAT TO DO IN

ANAHEIM! NACE is the place to premiere new technology, such as these virtual glasses debuted

by Spanesi in 2015.

The Anaheim area offers an assortment of attractions that are sure to entertain.

Some of the more prominent autothemed attractions include: • The Peterson Automotive Museum where you can experience the best in automotive artistry, extravagant automobiles and industrial engineering California has to offer.

NACE draws together representatives of every segment of the auto claims economy, making it a great place to network.

NACE is also a great place to learn about the latest repair techniques.

Jake Nossaman is the owner of Collision Works, a multi-store operation with a number of locations in Oklahoma. Nossaman believes that NACE is a great place to network with other industry professionals.

“Even more than that, it’s a place to learn about new trends in our industry, the latest technology, and issues and threats to our industry that we must stay abreast of in order to meet and overcome such challenges, and the education benefits of attending this conference is worth its weight in gold,” he says.

One of the major highlights of NACE is the Technology and Telematics Forum, featuring an array of speakers discussing the latest advancements in vehicle security, telematics technology and how the Internet is changing the modern automobile. More in-depth this year is a look at how shop staff can help customers and the business stay secure, with a thorough outline of some of the top risks and successful prevention methods.

Also on the list is a look at cybersecurity and its effects on the technology in vehicles. This forum is a sure-fire way for industry professionals to get an inside look at some of the dangers and how to minimize the damage if a problem occurs.

NACE 2016 runs from August 9 to 13 at the Anaheim Convention Center. For more information or to register, please visit naceexpo.com.

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• The Marconi Automotive Museum, a $30-million collection of exotic, high-performance and classic cars oozes with class and is sure to entice even the most jaded automobile junkie.

• Disneyland Resort and Theme Park is sure to offer memories that last a lifetime, and for those automotive fans be sure to check out the Cars Land area of Disney’s California Adventure. It features the Radiator Springs Racers coaster and provides a racetrack and automobile themed atmosphere that’s sure to please.

• Various hotels are hosting attendees for the event, including the Anaheim Marriot and the Desert Palms Hotels & Suites among many others.

More information on accommodations can be found on the NACE Expo website at naceexpo.com.

TECH TALK

In the

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CLEAR It’s the last step in

PROTECTING AND PRESERVING

that shiny new finish.

Hands-on spraying experience is the best way to learn, but solid knowledge of the basics will help.

By Justin Jimmo, Technical Representative Refinish Sales for Co-Auto Co-Operative

S

praying clearcoat is an ar t in itself. For the most par t, hands-on spraying experience is the best way to learn this skill. However, having an understanding of what clearcoat does and establishing good routines will go a long way in determining how well your paint job holds up.

First, let’s have a look at exactly what clearcoat does.

Clearcoat provides UV protection for the layers beneath, including your basecoat. Just as the sun will burn your skin, it will also burn your basecoat if it’s left unprotected.

Basecoat with too little clear applied will typically fade with a chalking effect. You can wind up with too little clear either from overreducing or simply not applying enough. The only real remedy at this point is respraying.

Second, clearcoat also provides resistance to chemical splashing, mostly notably against gasoline. It provides a durable finish that protects from stones chips and road fallout. It is wor th noting that it is not solely the clearcoat that provides protection. the primer and basecoat do as well, but a chain is only as strong as the weakest link.

Third, clearcoat creates a shine for your basecoat. It takes your dull looking basecoat and creates a lustre to compliment the vehicle’s finish.

You will always need two par ts when it comes to clearcoat.

There is the clearcoat itself and its corresponding hardener/

One of the differences between modern paints and the old-style lacquers is that lacquers do not crosslink.

activator. Sometimes you will require an additional reducer.

This is used to thin the clearcoat fur ther, but whether or not it is necessar y will depend on the brand of clearcoat you’re using. You will also get to choose a fast, normal or slow hardener. You decide this based on temperature, combined with the size of the job. We’ll discuss this fur ther below.

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TECH TALK

The slower your hardener, the easier it will be to maintain a wet-edge. Use a slow hardener on larger jobs.

You’ll also require the technical data sheet. You should be able to get this from the manufacturer’s website if you don’t have one already. The technical data sheet will provide you with information that tells you how to mix the clearcoat to get it ready and what size gun tip is ideal for the par ticular product.

Modern clearcoats are urethane-based products that rely on a chemical crosslinking process (polymerization) to cure the clearcoat. You can see an illustration of how this works in Figure 1.

The clearcoat is mixed with the hardener and polymerization begins. You will have anywhere from one to four hours to spray once it’s activated. Make sure to check your data sheet to see how long you’ve got. This crosslinking network is used because it creates ver y strong film, cures fast and provides optimal holdout.

As you can see in Figure 2, the clearcoat, once cured, will not only get its strength from adhesion, but also from the surrounding area. So as we can see in Figure 3, modern clearcoats differ from the old lacquer-based products because lacquer does not crosslink. Lacquer also remains soluble. Urethane does not. Basically, this means paint thinner will remove lacquer but not urethane crosslinked clear.

When it comes to actually spraying clearcoat, you want to star t by spraying your off-sets first, and then move on to the bulk of your panel(s). You will want to maintain about 50 percent overlap with each pass of spraying. Clearcoat has to go on wet and maintain a wet edge to work properly. Star ting out you should intermittenly look down your panel to verify you are applying well.

This is where the speed of your hardener comes into play.

The slower your hardener, the easier it will be to maintain a wet edge. This is why, on larger jobs, you will need to use a slow hardener. The clearcoat star ts to skin over ver y quickly and the overspray will land in areas you’ve already sprayed. This will give a textured look if you have used too fast of a product.

You will typically require two coats of clearcoat to provide proper holdout. However, on small jobs you only need to apply two coats over the basecoat itself. You are able to

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BODYWORXMAG.COM BODYWORX PROFESSIONAL

Figure 1: Clearcoat relies on a chemical crosslinking process.

This is why you must use hardener to activate the product.

Figure 2: Crosslinking creates very strong film, cures fast and provides optimal holdout.

apply your first coat over only your basecoat and the second coat over the entire panel.

So why should you apply clearcoat to the entire panel?

The sun will fade your basecoat, but it can also cause the thin edge of your clearcoat to chalk and fade too.

The best advice is to follow the the information on your technical data sheet. Aside from that, the most common mistake I see new painters make is not keeping the gun straight to the panel. New painters tend to hold the gun at an angle, or hold the gun too far away from the panel, which can cause the product to go on dr y. The gun should be approximately six inches from the panel when spraying clear.

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TECH TALK

HOW TO BLEND

CLEARCOAT

By Justin Jimmo, Technical Representative Refinish Sales for Co-Auto Co-Operative

Tips and tricks for when you ABSOLUTELY have to blend.

FIGURE 1

The best results come from applying clear to an entire panel. However, you might want to blend to save extra costs.

L

et’s start out by noting that the absolute best way to ensure a long lasting repair is to apply clearcoat to an entire panel. However, there are several reasons you might want to do a spot repair or blend the clear instead.

The most obvious reason is that blending the clear will cost less than spraying the entire panel.

For example, a spot repair on a bumper may cost about $9 in materials and two hours of labour, with a one-day turnaround. Doing the entire bumper puts the material cost up to around $60 and six hours of labour, with a two- to threeday turnaround. Right away, you can see why it can be more cost effective to blend the clear.

I can say from personal experience that spot repairs can work. I have performed several spot repairs that have lasted several years without an issue. One of these spot repairs was on my own vehicle and is now on its fifth year without any sign of a problem. However, my spot repairs are mostly concentrated in low areas on the vehicle, as these take less abuse from the sun.

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Figure 1: The area marked in red shows where the clearcoat starts to taper off.

Ultraviolet from the sun will wear down the thin edges first. This is also illustrated in the depiction of the vehicle.

Figure 1 helps to show where the problem lies. As you can see, the area in red is where the clearcoat tapers off. It is far thinner and that is where your breakdown can happen. The UV rays from the sun wear down clearcoat and if you have a thin edge

BODYWORXMAG.COM BODYWORX PROFESSIONAL

that is where it will fade first. This is why you should restrict a spot repair to side panels only, preferably low on the vehicle. Again, if you attempt a spot repair on the top it will take much more abuse and likely fade in the tapered-out area of your clearcoat.

TECH TALK

1 2 3

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Clean the entire panel you’re working on with soap and water and a quality degreaser.

Polish the entire panel with a coarse compound.

A coarse cutting cream would be ideal. This will work to clean the panel and scratch it very finely which will give our blending reducer a good surface to adhere to.

Perform your repair as you would for any other job. Prime it if necessary and finish sanding it with P600 to P800 sandpaper. Try and use a primer with a similar value so you will use less paint to cover it and keep your paint job/blend as small as possible. You will notice I say to use a similar valued, not similar coloured, primer. The value refers to the lightness/darkness, rather than the hue of the colour. Your paint will cover better over an undercoat with a similar value than a similar hue.

You will need several grades of abrasives to complete the job.

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TECH TALK

4

5 6 7 8 9

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Next, prepare your clearcoat area/colour blend zone. You can use anything from 1200 to 2500 grit sandpaper. I usually pick 1500.

How far you extend this prepared area really depends on the colour you’re spraying. If you’re spraying a solid colour, you won’t need a ton of blending room. If you’re spraying a high metallic colour you’ll want to give yourself as much blend space as possible.

After the area is cleaned and masked, you are ready to spray. On a higher metallic colour you can try putting down an orientation coat to help combat problems with blending. The best orientation coat for spot repairs is an overreduced clearcoat. Mix activated clearcoat into reducer at a ratio of eight parts reducer to one part activated clearcoat. Spray this over the primer and clearcoat area. There really isn’t any advantage to using this on a solid colour.

Apply your basecoat, blending it further with each coat until covered. More experienced painters could also try using a reverse blend, which would bring each coat inward. This would keep you from spraying over the previous coats’ overspray. When you’re spraying a silver or gold (or really, any metallic) you can run into problems most people refer to as the “halo” effect. Your metallic will land drier at the edge and there will appear to be a dark ring around where you sprayed your paint. Keeping your air pressure lower and fanning out your basecoat well with each coat will help to avoid this.

Apply your clearcoat. Your first coat should cover your base and your second coat should be fanned out a bit further. Try and taper it off gradually to make blending it a bit easier.

Apply your blending reducer. Sometimes the blending reducer needs to be mixed into some activated clearcoat, but not always. It depends on the product you are using, so make sure to check the data sheet. Look down the panel and spray your blending reducer to melt away the clear coat.

After your panel has dried well, you can sand it down and polish the blend area. Usually it will appear a bit bumpy, like a bunch of tiny dirt specks. I personally use 1500 wet sandpaper and polish it back up using the 3M polishing system, but any system will work fine. In theory, you can end up not having to sand that area, but I have yet to see a perfect blend achieved without doing so. That’s the basic process for blending your clearcoat. If all goes smoothly, then you are off to the races! Spot repairs are not easy, so the best advice is to practice, practice, practice!

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SKILLS COMPETITIONS

Going for Gold Competitors strive to be the best at 2016 Nationals.

BY LEANNE JEFFERIES A competitor examines a vehicle’s underbody during the competition. The national competition draws together champions from provincial competitions.

Randy Hearn of AkzoNobel provides the competitors with instructions.

S

ince 2008 the CCIF Skills Program has promoted careers in collision repair to hundreds of thousands of students attending Skills Canada competitions. The program centralizes communications regarding provincial and national skills competitions, and works with volunteer committees and suppliers to continuously improve the presence of the collision repair industry at events across Canada.

The Skills Canada National Competition (SCNC) was held at the Moncton Coliseum in New Brunswick in June. The event drew together 30 provincial champions to compete in the Car Painting and Autobody Repair competitions at both the secondary and post-secondary levels.

Media coverage of the collision repair industry events is enhanced due to the CCIF Skills Program, which provides industry with a direct link to Skills Canada organizations. The media coverage itself is of

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Denis Osmani of AMH and Bill Speed of Danforth CTI.

direct benefit to the collision repair industry, as it helps to show the average person the careers, opportunities and technology at play in our industry. For example, I was interviewed by CTV Atlantic while at SCNC. During the segment, we showed the virtual paint system. I believe that this would definitely spark interest in our business when it was shown on TV. The virtual paint system is always a popular draw at these events.

In addition, Claude Labonte, member of the Car Painting technical committee, was interviewed by CBC Quebec. That’s yet more exposure for our industry One of the highlights of the event was when Ashley Weber, postsecondary Car Painting competitor, was interviewed by Sherry Holmes, daughter of TV personality Mike Holmes. The CCIF Skills Program caught her experience on camera, and this will be shown in an

SKILLS COMPETITIONS upcoming video. Weber went on to win gold in the competition, and will have the opportunity to join Team Canada at WorldSkills in Abu Dhabi in 2017.

The National Technical Committees for both Car Painting and Autobody Repair strive to keep projects fresh, and current with the latest in technology and repair methods. The Car Painting competition includes the use of UV primers and the latest in waterborne paint and paint gun technology.

Looking at the Autobody Repair competition, aluminum welding was introduced this year, and instructional sessions on aluminum dent removal were provided. Next year, aluminum will become even more prevalent, with dent removal becoming a project for points, rather than just for demonstration.

Over 60 volunteers helped to plan and execute a flawless competition in Moncton, and there was representation from suppliers, collision repairers, OEMs and insurance companies on site. The skill level of the competitors was extremely high, with the difference between first and last place being only a few points out of 100.

There were a significant number of women participating in the competition, with five of the 14 Car Painting competitors, and one of the 16 Autobody Repair competitors being women. This reflects the increased interest in the trade from women. Having a woman holding positions as the CCIF Skills Program spokesperson and NTC member, as well having multiple female competitors (including the last two Team Canada Car Painting competitors) sends a clear message to the thousands of young women attending the event that there is a place for them in collision repair.

The CCIF Skills Program will continue to add new components to enhance our competitors’ experience. The technical committees across Canada have already started planning for 2017 events, with several planning to expand to offer additional spaces and introduce training components.

Leanne Jefferies is the Director of the CCIF Skills Program. She can be reached at leanne.jefferies@aiacanada.com.

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Trying out the virtual painting booth. It’s always a popular draw and helps to pique interest in the collision repair industry.

SCNC WINNERS AUTOBODY REPAIR, POST-SECONDARY Brandon Drover, Newfoundland: GOLD Johan Wiebe, Manitoba: SILVER Roeloph Clemens, British Columbia: BRONZE

Prepping a hood. Competitors must demonstrate numerous skills during the competition.

AUTOBODY REPAIR, SECONDARY Alex Fortier, Quebec: GOLD Kevin Messerschmidt, Manitoba: SILVER Braedon Thiffeault, British Columbia: BRONZE CAR PAINTING, POST-SECONDARY Ashley Weber, Manitoba: GOLD Brodie Gibson, Ontario: SILVER Gheorghe Apopei, New Brunswick: BRONZE CAR PAINTING, SECONDARY Dave Mercier, Quebec: GOLD Conrad Proszowski, Ontario: SILVER Julian Walsh, British Columbia: BRONZE

The preparation for the competitions can be extremely elaborate. For Car Painting, a complete portable booth must be set up.

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YOUNG GUN

FINDING HIS NICHE

Chris Mombourquette is pursuing his passion with CSN-427 Auto Collision.

BY MIKE DAVEY

An early interest in cars and racing stayed with Mombourquette.

C

hris Mombourquette was fascinated with cars and the automotive business from an early age. The 29-year-old technician lives in Toronto and is currently employed with CSN427 Auto Collision.

“As a kid, I was always watching LeMans and NASCAR,” he says. “But I wasn’t really interested in the mechanical side. I knew I wanted to put cars back together again.”

Despite that early interest in cars, after high school Mombourquette found employment as a mechanic at a Bowlerama, repairing and maintaining pin-setting machines and ball return mechanisms.

However, an ad his mother spotted on an employment website rekindled his interest.

“She was on the webpage for AYCE (now called Tropicana Employment Centre - ed.) and saw an ad for their autobody preapprenticeship program. I applied and was interviewed by Marc Tremblay, who runs the program. I got accepted, and that’s how it started,” he says.

Tropicana Employment Centre offers its pre-apprenticeship training program for youth to prepare for a career in autobody and collision damage repair. The program is now in its sixth year, and is widely suppor ted by repairers and vendors.

Many companies help lend their suppor t

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in an effor t to curb the labour shor tage.

Par ticipants receive an introduction to the basics of the autobody trade, six weeks of pre-employment training, including interview preparation, resume writing, WHMIS training, employment counselling and job coaching. Hands-on training includes the Level 1 Autobody and Collision Damage Repairer course offered at Centennial College.

In addition, participants receive a toolkit and course materials and a 12-week paid work placement with an employer.

From there, program participants can often go on to start an official apprenticeship with their Level 1 already completed, thanks to the training from Centennial College.

For Mombourquette, the road started in 2011. After completing the preapprenticeship program, he started an official apprenticeship with a Maaco location and stayed for about a year. His next move was to CSN-427 Auto Collision.

It’s worked out very well.

“It was the best move I’ve ever made,” he says. “They treat you like family and we’ve got a really great foreman. If I run into any trouble, I just speak to Tom (Grunstein) and get the right answer right away.”

Mombourquette has a passion for his work,

BODYWORXMAG.COM BODYWORX PROFESSIONAL

and it’s something he’s been interested in since a young age. It seems like a career in autobody should have been an obvious choice.

If it wasn’t for the Tropicana program, though, there’s a chance he never would have entered the industry. It’s important for everyone in the industry to encourage more young people to join the trade.

“I think we need to show kids more opportunities while they’re in high school,” says Mombourquette. “If we had more high schools doing automotive courses, a lot more people would get interested and the skills would start early. It’s the experience factor. You need that practical experience to really get going, and it’s what shops want to see.”

Mombourquette says he might like to own his own shop one day, but one focused more on restorations than collision work.

“I like the classic muscle cars, like Shelbys,” he says.

He’s passionate about cars and dedicated to his work, and it’s paid off in a career. But it’s a sad fact that many people like Mombourquette fall through the cracks without ever finding their place in the autobody world.

“That’s the thing about the Tropicana program,” he says. “It really changes your life.”

Health and Safety

ZAP!

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The basics of working on hybrids and electric vehicles.

By Mike Davey

Hybrids are more common than ever these days, although this 2017 Porsche 918 Spyder Plug-In Hybrid is anything but common. In all cases, exceptional care must be taken when working on hybrids and electric vehicles.

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here’s nothing particularly difficult or unusual about the repairs to most hybrids and electric vehicles (EVs). The body panels and structure are no more or less exotic than any other car.

However, they do present critical safety issues that simply aren’t present with conventional vehicles.

Mark Hodgins is an I-CAR instructor with 15 years of experience. In Canada, he’s become the go-to teacher for the I-CAR courses on electric hybrid safety.

“I’m very familiar with them, as I’ve been teaching the course for about nine years now,” he said in an interview with Bodyworx Professional.

“Really, what’s essential is that you know how to approach it.”

Hodgins mentions that when he first started teaching the course, the majority of I-CAR instructors had little experience with

EVs. He had even less experience than that, though. Paradoxically, this is why he decided to take it on.

“I thought it would be a perfect fit,” he says. “Since I didn’t know anything, if I could learn it, then I could definitely pass the knowledge on.”

The I-CAR training or its equivalent is absolutely essential for anyone who needs to work on these vehicles. As Hodgins points out, most techs have very little experience with electrical systems, but the I-CAR courses (ALT 01, ALT 02 and ALT 03) provide a good grounding in keeping yourself and other team members safe.

“The first concern is that you’ve got to make sure the hybrid or EV is powered down,” says Hodgins. “Get permission from the owner to open the glove box and read the manual. After you’ve done

that, contact the dealer and get the latest information. There might be an updated method and you want to make sure you’re doing it correctly.”

Once the vehicle is powered down, the most important thing to do is to figure out if there are any fault codes. In part, this is because faults may leave a charge somewhere in the system.

“Always assume the vehicle is energized, even if you’ve powered it down,” says Hodgins.

“Don’t pull on bare metal, and always wear the right equipment.”

At minimum, the right equipment includes goggles, a robe and linesman’s gloves.

These are heavy, insulated gloves used for working on electrically charged cables or devices. Hodgins notes that these be kept separate from other gloves and clearly labeled.

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Health and Safety

The Spyder on the preceding page is undeniably sexy, but you’re more likely to see a 2016 Chevy Volt roll into the shop.

The 2016 Volt is the only fully revised second-generation gas-electric plug-in car, and the one with the highest range.

“You don’t want to use them if someone has been using them to haul scrap metal or something. Even a small tear means electricity can get inside,” he says.

It’s also important to indicate to the rest of the shop that the vehicle is a hybrid or EV. The I-CAR recommendation is to place a cone on the vehicle’s roof. This will help to prevent an unsuspecting technician from placing a hand on bare metal and receiving a serious electric shock.

It should be pretty obvious that these vehicles can carry a serious charge. What’s not obvious is just where the danger can be lurking.

“If it’s got an automatic start, disconnect the 12-volt battery and store the key fob,” says Hodgins. “You’ll also need to always have the drive wheels up on casters. This is because the drive wheels essentially act like generators. When you’ve got a damaged system, they could end up pushing power into some part of the system where there’s a short circuit.”

The first-generation hybrids and EVs used the big batteries just for propulsion and the 12-volt battery for almost all other functions. This worked, but it also drained the 12-volt very quickly.

“The solution for a lot of manufacturers was to tie some of those systems into the big batteries,” says Hodgins. “It works great, but now if you’ve got a 300-volt vehicle, you’ve also got a 300-volt air conditioning system! Other systems are often tied into it as well, like the power steering. You’ll see high-voltage cables running to these systems. That’s something else to be aware of.”

Most hybrids and EVs are now equipped with inertia switches that disconnect the power system on impact. However, there’s still an inverter/converter in the wiring harness. If you’re moving the vehicle, you may be charging the inverter/converter. This can also lead to a serious electric shock if you’re not careful.

Hodgins also points out that some batteries need extra caution when it comes to time in the booth.

“With nickel-hydride batteries, they can’t take more than about 160 degrees,” says Hodgins. “Make sure you keep the booth under that temperature, even when baking, or you may end up damaging the battery.”

Lithium-ion batteries aren’t affected by heat this way, but they’re less common.

Finally, Hodgins has one final piece of advice for techs who may be called on to work on hybrids or EVs. “Take the courses,” says Hodgins. “Then you’ll have a good understanding of just what you’re up against.”

For more information, please visit i-car.ca.

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Lithium-ion battery pack, with cover removed. Lithium-ion batteries are the less common type, due to their relatively high cost.

A high power Ni–MH battery from a Toyota NHW20 Prius.

High-temperatures can damage these batteries, so keeping booth temperatures within an acceptable range is critical.

SCHOOL PROFILE

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Algonquin College Algonquin College’s Auto Body Repairer program offers a good balance between theory and practice.

BY ADRIEN MONTOYA

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Auto Body Repairer and Automotive Painter programs are offered at the school's Ottawa campus.

lgonquin College has a number of campuses in Ontario, located in the nation’s capital and the Ottawa Valley. The college has also extended its wings all the way to Jazan, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, while also offering online studies.

The Auto Body Repairer and Automotive Painter programs are taught on the Ottawa campus, which is located 15 minutes by car from Parliament Hill, at 1385 Woodroffe Ave.

PROGRAM LENGTH The Auto Body Repairer program runs 24 weeks, with 30 hours per week of in-class sessions. The Automotive Painter program is a one-level, eight-week program.

ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS In order to gain admission into the Auto Body Repairer program or the Automotive Painter program, one must meet the following criteria: the applicants must be formally registered as apprentices with the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities (MTCU); must present a successful Diploma of Ontario Secondary School; must be currently enrolled in the trade; and must be released by their employer to attend school. Eligibility is ultimately determined by the MTCU.

PROGRAM OVERVIEW Apprentices attending the Auto Body Repairer program will learn through three eight-week sessions. Each session will gradually increase in difficulty, starting with beginner before moving on to intermediate and advanced. Students will be taught different types of body construction, repair techniques and refinishing procedures.

Students of the Automotive Painter program will learn about trade practices, health and safety, vehicle surface preparation, corrosion protection, paint blending, tinting, matching and overall vehicle refinishing.

GRADUATION OUTLOOK Students who graduate from the Auto Body Repairer program will find job opportunities working as an apprentice or journeyperson auto body technician, at independent collision and auto body repair facilities, automobile dealerships, government, vehicle salvage facilities and insurance companies. Automotive Painter program graduates can forge careers working as shop foremen, estimators, painters, and business owners in both the private and public sectors.

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