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My boss said DA sanding was faster, but I timed both methods on the same car and now I don't know what to think
Two years ago I would've bet money that a dual action sander beats hand blocking on every single panel. My old lead guy at the shop in Bakersfield swore by it and honestly his work always came out fine, so I never questioned it. Then last month I got a 2019 Silverado in with a pretty rough driver door and decided to run a little test on my own time. I DA'd the front half of the door and hand blocked the back half with 180, then 320, then 600, and I actually wrote down how long each side took me. The DA side was done in about 35 minutes but I could still see a few low spots with the guide coat that the machine just glazed right over. The hand side took me almost an hour and ten minutes but it came out dead flat the first time and needed almost no extra work. So now I'm stuck, do you guys chase the clock and fix it later, or eat the extra time up front and save yourself the rework? Maybe I'm just slow with the DA, but I'd like to hear how the rest of you handle this.
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elliot62514d ago
That line about the DA glazing right over the low spots really hits home for me. I had almost the same thing happen on a Tacoma bed side last year, machine made it look pretty but the guide coat told the real story once I got it in the sun. In my experience the DA is great for knocking down the bulk fast but it loves to skip over dips instead of cutting them flat, so you end up paying for that saved time later with extra primer and block work. Hand blocking is slow and my arms hate me for it, but that door coming out flat the first time is worth way more than the 35 minutes you saved. Take this with a grain of salt since every panel is different, but I'd rather eat the time up front than chase a wave I can't see until paint goes on.
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