Waterborne Automobile Paint
When it comes to automobile painting, waterborne automobile paint is safer and more environmentally friendly than paints made with harsh solvents. Tsawwassen Collision was one of the first Vancouver area automobile painting shops to upgrade to waterborne paint, with the change to Sikkens Autowave in 2007.
These waterborne automobile paints for automobile painting required quite extensive changes to the spray booth and paint curing systems but the spraying equipment and techniques are very similar and with basic training a good technician could adapt easily.
By making the switch early we were able to get very good support from our paint and equipment suppliers and were able to plan changes and upgrades logically. Our experience with waterborne paint provided invaluable background to the decision to install the Junair 4 Spray Booth in 2009.
The results to the customer are excellent as the paint is very well developed and every bit as durable as the old solvent based systems.
The effect on the environment has been greatly reduced as well. You can tell immediately just by stepping into a waterborne automobile paint shop; the paint odour is greatly reduced. These odours were caused by evaporation of harsh solvents and volatile chemicals, all of which were bad for the air and water systems. And just as importantly, the working conditions of the paint technicians is now much safer and healthier.
At Tsawwassen Collision we are proud to have been an early adopter and industry leader in this new, safe, and clean waterborne automobile paint technology.
