The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Vo-tech paint job

There is a Jr. college here that teaches welding, auto mechanica, & paint & body. They will alloe the public to bring in their vehicles from time to time allow the students to gain experience & only charge for materials & paint. I was thinking about taking my truck over to let them paint it. Anyone ever let a Vo-tech do theirs?

i just graduated from high school, and i attended a vo-tech school, but not for anything automotive. they too let the public bring their vehicles in and only pay for materials. its a hard decision, best thing to do would to go and talk to the shop teacher and see if you can get an idea of what they can do. theres students who try hard and are there to actually learn and do there best and then there are other that just go to fool around. there is good and bad paint jobs. my brother was thinking of getting his 94 pontiac trans-am painted by the school, so i asked around and most said the they wouldnt get it painted there as even the teacher didnt do the best job. id get in contact with the shop teacher and see if he could get his best students to work on your truck.

It sounds like a "roll of the dice" to me.

Its the old rule of "You get what you pay for". I used to work for a local tech school and I have seen a few decent paint jobs. Seems like they are teaching more about parts replacement on late model vehicles and not enough about traditional bodywork. It really is a roll of the dice as to the quality of work you will get.

I went to a vo-tech school for ag/diesel mechanics and we did a lot of work for area farmers. But as in any program you have the kids that care and the ones who really don't give a hoot. I would do a lot of research and veiwing on what they've worked on to see if any of them are capable of giving you the the results to want to prevent having to have it repainted later.

I went to school for Auto Body Collision and I'd put a coat of house paint on my truck with roller before I'd let a student paint it.

I get tears in my eyes just thinking about what we did to people's cars.

Keep in mind that the people doing the painting will not be experts. If you're OK with a paint job that isn't good, if it turns out that way, then go ahead. If you'll be unhappy it there are runs, orangepeel, dry spots, bare spots or peeling paint then don't do it.

I had the local vo-tech put in some floor pans on the 72 Nova we used to own..They did a great job. I only paid for parts, I did tip the students that were from my school that worked on it. I was very pleased with their work. Their instructor was an excellent teacher though, he really was very strict with his students.

Floor pans I would maybe let them do. After all the carpet/mat covers what could be a mess. But 4 coats of hand rubbed base and then the clear coat by some skinny pimple hauler? Not on your life!

My sister uses the local vo-tech as her mechanic as they are about a block from her home. I diagnose the problem, she buys me a beer, then buys the parts and takes it to the school to have the parts replaced.

Primer and body work maybe, not sure if I would have them do the paint.

I agree that it would be wise to talk to the Body Shop teacher. Usually they have past eperience in the body shop business and can explain what you should expect.Most times you CANNOT give them a time frame. You are at the mercy of their class schedule. We are fortunate in our area to have a very excellent vo-tech school that is partially funded by Ford and has a waiting list of for service. Student owned vehicles always come first.

I went to a vo-tech school for autobody just a couple years ago, there was some very nice work that came out of my class! As mentioned though, there are always a few students who's work is less than desireable. Talk to the shop teacher, he knows the students and what kind of work they are capable of. There were two students in my class that brought stovebolt cabs in and replaced about a third of the sheetmetal on the cab, primed and painted them, they turned out great. Good Luck with whatever you decide!